Online and Professional Continuing Education News
See below for a listing of curated news articles of the day brought to you by Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA.
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- The impact of artificial intelligence on students’ 4C skills: A meta-analysis - Qian Tian, Xudong Zheng, Educational Research ReviewThe widespread integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has highlighted its potential to enhance students’ higher-order competencies, particularly the 4C skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity). However, the effectiveness of AI in fostering these skills remains debated, primarily due to inconsistent findings across studies. To address this research gap, this study employs the […]
- Google's New Universal Translator AI is FREE & More AI Use Cases - The AI Advantage, YouTubeIn the first part of this podcast, the host discusses Google's new universal voice translator, a significant improvement in translation technology. This new feature, available as a free update to the Google Translate app, allows for real-time conversations between two people speaking different languages through a "conversation" feature. The translator is noted for its impressive […]
- San José Completes First City-Led AI Startup Grants - Scarlett Evans, AI BusinessThe city of San José California has announced the winners of its inaugural AI Incentive Program, the first city-run grant program of its kind in the U.S. Under the initiative, early-stage startups using AI to tackle everything from maternal health to food waste competed for public funding and professional services. From a pool of 170 […]
- How AI Is Changing—Not ‘Killing’—College - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher EdKey findings from Inside Higher Ed’s student survey on generative AI show that using the evolving technology hasn’t diminished the value of college in their view, but it could affect their critical thinking skills. Some of the results are perhaps surprising: Relatively few students say that generative AI has diminished the value of college, in […]
- Are microcredentials the future of education? How short-term programs are changing higher ed - Juliet Schulman-Hall, Mass LiveMicrocredentialing programs enable people to complete industry-certified certificates and credentials to enter the workforce or gain additional skills for a promotion. They can be used later as credits for an associate’s degree and are often more affordable than obtaining a degree. “You can get up to speed without having to have that commitment to a […]
- Mass Intelligence: From GPT-5 to nano banana: everyone is getting access to powerful AI - Ethan Mollick, One Useful ThingThere have been two barriers to accessing powerful AI for most users. The first was confusion. Few people knew to select an AI model. Even fewer knew that picking o3 from a menu in ChatGPT would get them access to an excellent Reasoner AI model, while picking 4o (which seems like a higher number) would […]
- Online Learning's Moment: How Colleges Struggle To Meet Rising Demand - Alison Griffin, ForbesNearly nine in 10 colleges plan to expand online programs to meet surging demand—a complete reversal from just two decades ago when policymakers actively restricted digital education. At that time, the “50% rule” required colleges and universities to seek special approval if more than half of their courses or programs went digital, or if more […]
- Ask the experts: How research and development labs prepare OPWL students for the workforce - Boise State OnlineThis systematic review aims to explore blended learning in vocational education (VE), where the benefits, challenges, and influence on student engagement will provide information on some recommendations that can be adopted to better design and implement. The need for this review arises from the global emphasis on technology-driven and flexible vocational training, given the rapid […]
- Could AI Crush the Ivy League? - Toby Stuart, US News OpinionA more frightening scenario is that universities and employers stick with yesterday’s playbook while AI takes on the work that once justified junior hires, leaving us with a generation of over-credentialed, under-employed alumni. A society that promises upward mobility but delivers diminishing returns on effort is a powder keg. Mishandle this transition, and we could […]
- Why did the CSU spend millions on ChatGPT amid a budget crisis? We asked school leaders - Julia Barajas, LAistCSU CIO Ed Clark explained. We were [also] seeing that some universities in our own system were starting to negotiate deals with these vendors, but then others couldn't afford to do that. So, we're thinking: “We're not going to create a digital divide within our own system. We're going to make sure that everybody has […]
- Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins - Elissa Nadworny, NPROver the last six months the Trump Administration has clamped down on international student visas, temporarily pausing and then revamping the student visa interview process and bringing more scrutiny to the vetting system. That led to long delays and meant many accepted students couldn't get appointments at embassies or consulates in time for the start […]
- Here are 4 pain points amid the new normal of online learning - Alcino Donadel, University BusinessThe rapid pace of AI development is transforming the online experience. More students will access AI tutoring and adaptive learning that create personalized programs. At the same time, respondents predicted declining prominence in full-time faculty and lecture-based instruction as central components to online learners’ experiences, as students rely instead on a mix of adjunct faculty […]
- A ‘Great Defection’ threatens to empty universities and colleges of top teaching talent - Jon Marcus, Hechinger ReportPaulina Cossette spent six years getting a doctoral degree with the goal of becoming a university professor. But it wasn’t long before she gave up on that path. With higher education under political assault, and opportunities as well as job security diminished by enrollment declines, Cossette felt burnt out and disillusioned. So she quit her […]
- Your next move: Thriving in a changing job market - McKinseyIn a job market marked by rapid change, many HR functions are still reacting to change rather than preparing for it—leaving gaps in workforce planning, hiring success, and skills development, according to McKinsey research from Julian Kirchherr, Vincent Bérubé, and coauthors. For individuals, that means opportunity for those ready to act. By building future-facing skills, […]
- Visa Delays Persist, Causing Some Students to Defer to Spring - Johanna Alonzo, Inside Higher EdThis week marked the start of the semester for hundreds of colleges across the U.S. But many international students, plagued by difficulty getting visa appointments and unusually high rates of visa denials, are still unsure if they’ll be able to attend college in the U.S. this year. At the University of Maryland Baltimore County, a […]
- AI Companies Roll Out Educational Tools - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher EdFall 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 array of […]
- Teaching Online Podcast - Tom Cavanagh and Kelvin Thompson, University of Central FloridaEpisode 193. Guests Ray Schroeder and Dr. Melissa Vito unpack decades of practical wisdom on leadership vision in conversation with hosts Tom and Kelvin. This episode is the first in a mini-series of “pillar panels” offering distilled insights from esteemed community members on key, “structural support” topics essential in the future of strategic online/digital education. […]
- Leading From an Office of One - Mabel Perez-Oquendo, Inside Higher EdNo office operates in isolation in higher and medical education. Whether your office is run by a team of many or a team of one, the quality of your work and the extent of your impact are directly dependent on the clarity of your vision, the partnerships you develop and your alignment with the institution’s […]
- Anthropic Education Report: How educators use Claude - AnthropicWe previously reported data on how students were using AI. Our new analysis looks at professors: we analyzed ~74,000 anonymized conversations from higher education professionals across the world on Claude.ai this past May and June.1 We also partnered with Northeastern University to hear directly from faculty how they were using AI within the university. Our […]
- The Typical College Student Is Not Who You Think - Alan Blinder and Steven Rich, NY TimesAs a fight over the future of elite higher education consumes university leaders and politicians, most college students live in a very different world with very different challenges. Community colleges, along with regional public universities, are the workhorses of higher education in the United States, which has roughly 4,000 degree-granting schools. Some nine million students […]
Other Curated News:
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Falling Gracefully Into Fall Semester
August is fast-approaching. We look in the rearview and wonder, “Where did summer go?”. We start bringing ourselves to terms with the reality that the lofty project list we created at the start of summer is going to end the season with some (and maybe…
92% of Higher Education Leaders Say Microcredentials Support Institutional Competitiveness
New study from UPCEA and Modern Campus highlights the opportunity for colleges and universities to improve enrollments and student workforce readiness TORONTO and WASHINGTON, D.C., July 20, 2021 — Higher education leaders across North America are citing the value of alternative and microcredentials to support…
[Snap Poll Results] Retention and Persistence
It is clear that higher education will face a number of challenges over the next decade as the pandemic has accelerated a number of technological, societal and economic trends. Further complicating the matters for institutions of higher education in the U.S. is the fact that…
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