Will artificial intelligence close the student success gap or widen it into a permanent caste system? That is the question higher education leaders should be asking as AI advising tools move from pilot to procurement. The temptation is to treat AI as a cost-savings lever: deploy a chatbot, deflect the tickets, claim a productivity win.…
Each spring, campuses quietly rehearse a familiar transition. The cadence shifts. Energy returns. Commencement ceremonies are scheduled, and multiple beautification processes are underway, from reenergized flower beds to window washing and clean walkways. What was dormant begins to move again. In higher education, this seasonal rhythm offers more than symbolism. It provides a useful leadership lens for…
The Chief Online Learning Officers at colleges and universities are increasingly charting the future of teaching and learning. It was three decades ago that my career in higher education took a turn. I was promoted to full Professor and given the golden opportunity of my career to lead our campus in the use of the…
Many of us utilize AI daily in our higher education work, yet we may not have assessed the ethical and human-centered nature of the tool we have selected and trained through our prompts. AI tools are no longer a relatively simple search engine that is driven by marketing metrics to help us conduct our research.…
Colleges want to expand continuing education but don’t devote resources, survey says (Higher Ed Dive)
Dive Brief: Continuing and online education programs offered by traditional brick-and-mortar colleges endure staffing issues, high administrative workloads and challenges accessing real-time student data. That’s according to an annual survey from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, and Modern Campus, a higher ed software provider. Among surveyed college employees, 71% said their institutions’ senior leaders supported…
Continuing-education leaders need more data and better tech, says report (EdScoop)
The continuing education arms of colleges and universities are poorly integrated into institutional systems and resources, according to survey findings published Wednesday by the software firm Modern Campus. Non-degree credentials and certificates are an important revenue stream for universities and colleges, but many continuing education leaders said they don’t have enough staff, systems or investment,…
Creating Noncredit to Credit Pathways
Alternative credential experts identify the conditions necessary to design and deliver noncredit to credit pathways at postsecondary institutions. Over the course of 2022, the Typology, Terminology, and Standards Subcommittee[1] of the Council for Credential Innovation discussed the conditions necessary to create noncredit to credit pathways at postsecondary institutions. Their deliberations eventually narrowed to noncredit learning…
As Colleges Focus on Quality in Online Learning, Advocates Ask: What About In-Person Courses? (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
As colleges’ online catalogs grow, so too has the push to develop standards of quality for those courses. But are in-person classes getting the same attention? If you ask many online-education advocates, the answer is “no.” While decades of research and the pandemic-spurred expansion of online learning have helped demystify it and build confidence in…
The tagline for Convergence, Credential Innovation in Higher Education, raises two important questions: First, what kind of credentials are we talking about? Is the scope of credentials unlimited, blue sky, or confined to incremental changes on the margins of the status quo? And second, who is leading that innovation, and what do they need to…
We are pleased to share the foreword by UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen from the newly released Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education. The guidebook, now available from Routledge in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats, provides a comprehensive framework for today’s online learning leaders. Learn more and purchase…
“Higher ed doesn’t have a strategy problem. It has an execution problem,” says Jim Lummus, Executive Vice President at University Solutions. For Jim, that tension sits at the heart of almost every challenge facing universities today. “Universities can identify the problem. They can plan for it. But getting things done is so challenging,” he says….
Some conferences feel long. This one flew by. And still, I kept thinking I wish I could have attended even more sessions. Over the past few days at the UPCEA Annual Conference, a few very clear themes kept coming back. Not just in presentations, but in conversations with people across institutions. Yes, AI is still very much…