UPCEA and Routledge Publish Landmark Guide to Elevating Online Education Leadership

WASHINGTON (June 17, 2025) – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, proudly announces the release of The Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education (co-published with Routledge). This essential new volume, co-edited by two of the field’s most respected leaders, Jocelyn Widmer, Ph.D., and Thomas B. Cavanagh, Ph.D., arrives at a critical moment as institutions navigate the strategic demands of online learning in the post-pandemic era.

“The decade of the COLO is here,” notes co-editor Jocelyn Widmer, Dean for Weapons Learning Transformation at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “As higher education confronts dramatic shifts in student expectations, delivery modalities, and financial pressures, the Chief Online Learning Officer has become indispensable in setting and executing institutional strategy.”

Framed by UPCEA’s eight professional competencies for PCO (Professional, Continuing, and Online) leaders, the guidebook serves as both a practical toolkit and a strategic manifesto. It is tailored for current and aspiring COLOs, but its insights speak to a broad audience of academic decision-makers—presidents, provosts, deans, and innovators alike.

 

A Competency-Based Guide for a New Era of Leadership

The Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook explores the essential competencies required of COLOs using insights from real-world leadership and expert perspectives across higher education. As digital and online learning have emerged as strategic priorities for institutions working toward enrollment growth, revenue generation, brand diversification, and student flexibility, this guidebook presents a unique framework that substantiates and demonstrates the skills that define the COLO role. Featuring over 50 contributions from COLOs, Chief Information Officers, university presidents, and other senior leaders, the guidebook provides practical strategies and forward-looking guidance for leaders shaping the future of digital education. In addition to experts from across the UPCEA community, contributors include senior leaders from peer organizations central to the evolving online learning landscape—OLC, EDUCAUSE, WCET, QM, and the leadership team behind the CHLOE survey—offering readers an unparalleled breadth of expertise and national perspective.

“The role of the COLO today mirrors the trajectory of the CIO 25 years ago,” adds co-editor Thomas Cavanagh, Vice Provost for Digital Learning at the University of Central Florida. “From a niche functional leader to a cabinet-level strategic voice, COLOs are being called to not only support but to define the future of their institutions.”

 

An Inflection Point in Higher Education

The foreword, penned by UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen, traces the institutional evolution of online learning leadership. He contextualizes the COLO’s emergence as a response to long-standing gaps in serving adult and nontraditional learners—gaps made starkly visible by the pandemic.

“This current ‘decade of the COLO’ could not have come at a better time for higher education,” Hansen writes. “We face strong headwinds: the enrollment cliff, declining financial assistance from the states, and the devaluation of a college degree in public surveys. Now the question is not whether online learning should be a major institutional priority, but how best to fulfill its potential for strategic transformation.”

 

Widely Endorsed by Academic Innovators

The Guidebook is already earning praise from prominent voices in higher education:

“Widmer and Cavanagh have assembled the very best thinkers and doers in the online education space and created an invaluable resource for any institutional leader seeking to launch, advance, or improve online education programs.”

— Paul J. LeBlanc, former President, Southern New Hampshire University

 

“A deeply practical yet visionary guidebook that every Chief Online Learning Officer, or any academic leader, will find indispensable.”

— Anne Keough Keehn, CEO & Founder of Quantum Thinking, and Co-PI for the Leading Academic Change National Survey 2.0

 

“A timely guide to the issues, competencies, and roles of COLOs… a must-read for aspiring leaders and a broader audience.”

— Phil Hill, publisher, OnEdTech newsletter

 

AVAILABILITY

The Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education, 250 pages, is available now in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats from Routledge. Learn more and purchase here.

 

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Jocelyn Widmer, Ph.D., is Dean for Weapons Learning Transformation at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a leader in organizational learning and academic innovation.

Thomas B. Cavanagh, Ph.D., serves as Vice Provost for Digital Learning at the University of Central Florida and is a nationally recognized voice in online education strategy.

 

ABOUT UPCEA

UPCEA is the online and professional education association. Our members continuously reinvent higher education, positively impacting millions of lives. We proudly lead and support them through cutting edge research, professional development, networking and mentorship, conferences and seminars, and stakeholder advocacy. Our collaborative, entrepreneurial community brings together decision makers and influencers in education, industry, research, and policy interested in improving educational access and outcomes. Learn more about us at UPCEA.edu and follow us on social media @UPCEA.

 

ABOUT ROUTLEDGE

Routledge is the world’s leading academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We publish thousands of books and journals each year, serving scholars, instructors, and professional communities worldwide. We have partnered with many of the most influential societies and academic bodies to publish their journals and book series. Readers can access our extensive catalog of print and e-books titles at www.routledge.com. Follow us on social media @RoutledgeEd.

 

CONTACT:

Molly Nelson
Vice President for Communications
UPCEA
[email protected]