I recently contributed a chapter in the recently released book, AI Applications in Online Higher Education Administration: Strategies for Maximizing Returns and Improving Outcomes edited by Kathleen Ives, Marie Cini, and Ray Schroeder. This blog highlights key take-aways from my chapter. Higher education recruitment is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in decades. Traditional…
Microcredentials remain firmly embedded in the higher education landscape, but institutional momentum appears to be leveling off. In the recently released 2026 Institutional Perspectives on Microcredentials Report, jointly produced by UPCEA, The EvoLLLution, and Modern Campus, institutional leaders describe a sector that is committed to workforce alignment but constrained by structural and strategic barriers. Based…
Technologists, economists, and visionaries are warning us that in the next three to 18 months, we are going to experience rapid and pervasive disruption of our professional lives, workplace models, and distribution of income. Professional positions requiring college degrees will be lost, remade into highly-productive, cost-efficient, hybrid human-AI models where human contributions and compensation will…
I asked Gemini 3 Thinking, ChatGPT 5.4 Thinking, and Sonnet 4.6 Extended to tell me what jobs in higher education are most vulnerable to replacement by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the next five years. I also asked for recommendations for current and prospective employees in the field. First, let me share with you links to…
UPCEA Announces Online Leadership Roundtable Advisory Council Changes
WASHINGTON, October 22, 2020 — UPCEA, the Washington, D.C.-based association for college and university leaders in professional, continuing, and online education, announced changes this month to its Online Leadership Roundtable Advisory Council. The Online Leadership Roundtable (OLR) is the body for senior leaders charged with driving online strategy at the unit or campus level….
People & Programs: New Online Graduate Certificate Programs Create ‘Stackable’ Pathway to University of Texas at Austin Master’s Degree
The Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has launched a new program allowing learners to pursue career-focused course bundles that can be applied as academic credit toward a graduate degree. Starting with two 100% online graduate certificates — a Mechanical Engineering Controls Certificate and a Petroleum Engineering Data Analytics Certificate —…
Evolving the College Model to Meet Demands
By SmartBrief Editors This post is produced in partnership with UPCEA. As the Associate Vice Provost for Professional and Continuing Studies at the University of Delaware (UD), Dr. George Irvine has spent the last six months transitioning his division’s programs from in-person to wholly online due to the pandemic. He chaired a university-wide committee to…
UPCEA Supports New Community College Workforce Education Study
UPCEA is excited to be supporting a new study of community college workforce education, funded by Lumina Foundation and spearheaded by Opportunity America. Opportunity America and Lumina Foundation are partnering with Wilder Research to conduct this national study. What. The study aims to answer the following questions: How extensive is the workforce education offered…
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…
Discover how to explain AI SEO ROI to university leadership when attribution is imperfect, with insights and strategy from Search Influence. Across higher education, marketing teams are being asked to explain AI search visibility before institutions agree on how to measure it. Leadership discussions are moving quickly, while reporting frameworks remain centered on keyword rankings,…
Community colleges play a vital role in helping learners access affordable education and career-ready training. Students can earn credentials that lead to meaningful jobs quickly, especially in healthcare. Yet for many, financial stress and unmet basic needs make it difficult to enroll or stay enrolled. These barriers often weigh heaviest on part-time, nontraditional, first-generation, and low-income…