Is 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 MoreThe Replication Dilemma Today, higher education leaders face intense pressure: prove the value of credentials, raise attainment rates for adult learners, and do it all on shrinking budgets. We have access to high-leverage frameworks—like integrated student support or the guided pathways model—which identify proven principles for success often derived from successful regional or national initiatives.…
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 MoreThere is a new “cliff” in American higher education, and it is not the demographic cliff. Rather, it is the dramatic cliff in math knowledge, skills, and abilities. Let me be clear that other discipline deficiencies are found in this new generation of college students, however they are dwarfed by those in math. These have…
Read MoreTrump Administration Releases Budget Cutting Approximately 10% of ED Funding
On Monday March 11th, the Trump administration released their budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year. Included in the proposal is a $7.1 billion cut to the Department of Education, approximately equal to 10% of its total current operational budget. These proposals follow similar attempts in past budgets the administration has put forward. The cuts…
Five Key Trends for Professional and Continuing Education Leaders in the Next Five Years (The EvoLLLution)
Higher education is on the cusp of major changes. Enrollments are on the decline—both online and on campus—and the trend is expected to accelerate. Graduates are laboring under substantial college loan debts totaling more than $1.5 trillion. Employers are demanding that applicants possess soft and hard skills that many college graduates do not hold. At…
What is Regular and Substantive Interaction? The Term That Has Defined Online Learning Still Lacks Clear Definition (Elearning Inside)
There’s an issue with online higher education that has yet to be resolved. For learners to apply for federal student loans, and for institutions to receive these Title IV funds, online or distance programs must demonstrate “regular and substantive interaction” (RSI) between students and instructors. There’s just one issue in following this guideline. No policymaker…
Extend financial aid to cover more alternative education programs, groups say (edscoop)
Despite a surge of regulations in the 1980s designed to prevent fraudulent use of financial aid funds for online courses, the Department of Education still struggles to balance consumer protections with a growing need for short-term and distance education to offer student aid, according to a report released Wednesday by higher education policy advocates. The report — authored…
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 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…
Read MoreHalf of prospective students use AI tools every week. Yet, only about a third of higher education institutions have a formal strategy for AI search. That gap isn’t just a metric. It’s a brand visibility crisis. Students are using ChatGPT and Perplexity to research programs, compare universities, and narrow their lists, often before they ever…
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