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Perspectives on Online and Professional Education
from UPCEA’s Research and Consulting Experts

What Higher Education Leaders Can Learn from NGA’s Intersectional Policy Lab

September 8, 2025

In late August, I had the opportunity to join the National Governors Association’s Intersectional Policy Lab on Non-Degree Credentials and Skills-Based Practices in Minneapolis. This first in-person gathering of NGA’s Data and Non-Degree Credential Learning Community and Skills in the States Community of Practice brought together state leaders, researchers, foundations, and employers for two days…

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AI Payoff vs. the Web: What It Means for Higher Ed

September 3, 2025

When the New York Times ran a piece in August pointing out that companies are throwing billions into AI with little to show for it, I had déjà vu. It took me right back to the late 1990s, when everyone thought the web would change everything overnight. It did change everything—but not before years of…

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Unique biweekly insights and news review from Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA

AI Companies Roll out Educational Tools

September 4, 2025

Fall semesters are just beginning and the companies offering three leading AI models: Gemini by Google, Claude by Anthropic and ChatGPT by OpenAI have rolled out tools to facilitate AI-enhanced learning. Here’s a comparison and how to get them. Each of the three leading AI providers has taken a somewhat different approach to providing an…

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AI Can Facilitate Mastery Learning in Higher Education

August 21, 2025

Learning in contemporary higher education is rooted deeply in calendars and time rather than mastery of the topic of the learning. With an inflexible semester or quarter calendar and an often-inflexible schedule and length of meeting times, learners are marched through the system in the orderly method of an assembly line. As long as I…

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Your one-stop shop for the latest Association happenings, policy updates, plus thoughts from the desk of CEO Bob Hansen.

In Memoriam: Karen Swan

Long-time UPCEA member and colleague Karen Swan passed away in early September 2021. Dr. Swan served as professor of education at the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Center for Online Learning, Research and Service. Previously, she served as research professor at Kent State University’s Research Center for Educational Technology. Dr. Swan completed her doctorate in…

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Infrastructure Package Passes Senate + $3.5 Trillion “New Deal” Budget Passes House of Representatives | Policy Matters (August 2021)

Major Updates Infrastructure Package Passes Senate + “New Deal” Budget Passes House of Representatives The bipartisan infrastructure package passed the Senate, 69-30, providing a major upgrade to American transportation, broadband investment, water systems, and more, totaling $1 trillion. The legislation includes $14 billion to provide financial assistance to eligible households, including students who receive a…

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Reflections on trends in student success

While many of our colleagues across the country are in the throes of fall orientation, the first weeks of classes, and maybe even a little bit of college football, those of us on the quarter system have well over a month until our fall courses start. And if I’m being honest, I’m still knee deep…

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UPCEA Announces 2021 Diversity in Leadership Scholars

UPCEA is pleased to announce the 2021 cohort of Bethaida “Bea” González Diversity in Leadership Scholars. We look forward to these eight individuals joining our learning community as they pursue the courses in their chosen certificate program.  Representative and diverse leadership is a cornerstone of UPCEA’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusive Excellence. The goal of…

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Musings on trends and updates from UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen.

Foreword by Bob Hansen Featured in The COLO Guidebook

July 10, 2025

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…

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A new direction for the Distance Teaching and Learning Conference

November 7, 2024

Over the last three years, UPCEA engaged in an innovative partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to enable the latter’s Distance Teaching and Learning (DT&L) conference to continue under UPCEA’s leadership. The partnership’s goals included making this valuable event for the distance learning community more sustainable and accessible to online practitioners focused on teaching and…

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Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

Building Better Learners, Educators, and Outcomes with Scenario-Based Learning

August 25, 2025

Since the 1980s, higher education has steadily shifted from passive lectures to more active, student-centered learning. As Bonwell and Eison noted in Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom, this shift not only reinforces content mastery but also fosters critical thinking and problem-solving. Cynthia J. Brame, writing for Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, defines active learning…

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Building the Cyber Workforce the Future Can’t Live Without

August 11, 2025

Turn learners into the cyber pros every employer is chasing with stackable, multi-credential pathways The Cyber Talent Gap Is a Moving Target Picture this: the bad guys keep upgrading their playbook, but the good guys are still running last season’s plays. That’s the cyber talent gap in a nutshell. It’s not just about more people…

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