There’s a moment from my college days I remember more clearly than any midterm I ever took. I had stepped away from my bachelor’s degree at Penn State because I wanted to live a little. I’d grown up in the same town that I went to college and I just needed an extended reprieve, something…
Read MoreIs your online and professional continuing education unit looking for ways to improve job-market outcomes for graduates and alumni? Are you exploring strategies that better align your program portfolio with the skills business and industry leaders say they need both for new hires and for upskilling current employees? Recent employer data provides a clear signal that high-demand employees are ones with verified AI skills and practical experience. A 2025…
Read MoreAgentic AI is no longer merely an interactive tool we talk to; it is a colleague that acts for us. In a very active and highly competitive environment, AI has grown at breakneck speed. As with so many technologies, business and industry have moved far faster than academe to embrace the cost savings, capability expanding…
Read MoreAI in Higher Ed Will Come Slowly, Until All of a Sudden! Higher education is, by nature, very slow to change. So it is with embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI). Yet, when it finally comes, the changes will come in an avalanche. In discussions with faculty and staff, I have encountered some reluctance to take AI…
Read MoreRegional conferences go virtual — and are free for members!
Exciting news: All five of our 2020 UPCEA Regional Conferences this fall will now be fully virtual AND are free of charge to our members! Choose one or all five regions for this new conference experience—Virtually Together: 2020 UPCEA Regional Conference Series. All are open and complimentary for members this year. Gather your team and…
Survey: Emergency Move Online Forced More than Half of Faculty to Learn New Teaching Methods (Campus Technology)
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all higher education institutions (90 percent) in a recent survey used some form of emergency distance education to complete the Spring 2020 term. And 56 percent of faculty who moved courses online were using teaching methods they had never used before. That’s according to “Digital Learning Pulse…
UPCEA Asks Congress for Additional Funding, Online Student Support, Waiver Authority
Today UPCEA has sent a letter to Capitol Hill congressional leadership regarding the need for additional funding, waiver authority, and online student support in future funding calculations. Once on the periphery of institutions of higher education, today our members are front and center as all postsecondary learning has rapidly shifted to a remote format. Over…
Special Edition Policy Matters | Major Covid-19 Stimulus Bill Passed + ED Releases Substantial Draft Regulations on Distance Ed, CBE, Credit Hour + More (April 2020)
Major Updates Major Coronavirus Relief Bill (CARES Act) Passes | Provides Financial Aid Relief, $30B+ Stabilization Fund for Education After temporarily stalled negotiations, Congress has passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the CARES Act, the largest package of its kind ever passed into law. Higher education advocates, including UPCEA,…
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…
Read MoreWe 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…
Read MoreIntroduction Higher education is at a crossroads, marked by declining public trust, diminishing enrollments, substantial budget cuts, and increased scrutiny on post-college outcomes. Recent research from UPCEA underscores growing skepticism about the value of traditional degrees, driving institutions and learners alike to explore innovative educational pathways and revenue models (UPCEA, 2025). To address these challenges…
Read MoreOnline programs are no longer a nice-to-have. They are essential, with many schools looking to online as their primary growth lever amid market headwinds. A strong portfolio of online programs can allow institutions to grow enrollment, reach new student populations, and future-proof their offerings. But building, launching, and sustaining a successful online program operation requires…
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