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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- Oregon State’s new AI fundamentals microcredentials prepare learners for an AI-driven future - Tyler Hansen, Educational Ventures Oregon StateOregon State University is turning artificial intelligence breakthroughs into accessible, short-form learning opportunities through the launch of its AI fundamentals microcredentials, a new collection of interdisciplinary credentials available to all OSU students and learners everywhere. These offerings bridge Oregon State’s strengths in research, applied learning and ethics, empowering learners to understand, question and apply AI […]
- Agentic AI explained: When machines don’t just chat, but act - McKinseyThree McKinsey experts explain how agentic AI could reshape workflows, decision-making, and how humans and machines collaborate. Agentic AI - the latest wave of artificial intelligence—doesn’t just generate text or code. It takes action. Whereas early large language models (LLMs) could answer questions or summarize information, agentic systems can now perform complex tasks independently, autonomously […]
- A leader’s guide to the future of learning at work - McKinseyThe race to embrace AI in the corporate world means that people at all levels of an organization urgently need to build new tech skills and knowledge. In turn, many companies are accelerating their learning and development programs to help executives and employees keep up with the pace of change. This dynamic landscape presents an […]
- How AI and data analytics are transforming higher education in 2025 - AZ Big MediaArtificial intelligence is reshaping how universities teach, assess, and operate. Imagine a classroom where every student receives personalized lessons, where educators can predict challenges before exams, and where every academic decision is driven by data. For decades, higher education relied on intuition and tradition. But as digital learning expands, institutions are turning to AI and […]
- AI is changing job roles in higher education - Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Sunday GuardianToday, most universities handle a huge amount of data. They use it to manage student admissions, exam processes, academic records, degree checks, and official reports. Artificial Intelligence has become an essential component of the higher education system over the last few years. The 2024 Times Higher Education survey found that nearly 60% of university professors […]
- The more that people use AI, the more likely they are to overestimate their own abilities - Drew Turney Live ScienceResearchers found that AI flattens the bell curve of a common principle in human psychology, known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, giving us all the illusion of competence. When asked to evaluate how good we are at something, we tend to get that estimation completely wrong. It's a universal human tendency, with the effect seen most […]
- 5 McKinsey insights on how agentic AI is reshaping industries - McKinseyNearly eight in ten companies report using gen AI—yet, paradoxically, just as many report no significant bottom-line impact. Now, with the rapid rise of agentic AI, organizations must continue to upskill their workforces, adapt their tech infrastructure, and deploy agent-specific governance mechanisms. “AI agents offer a way to break out of the gen AI paradox,” […]
- The Future of Education: Trends That Will Change Learning Forever - Daily Blend, Media EducationPotentially the most transformative shift in the future of education will be the growth of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is already being used to develop customized learning pathways, grade assignments, and even serve as virtual tutors. For example, imagine an AI system that knows your strengths, weaknesses, and learning pace—and it personalizes lessons accordingly. AI […]
- How A.I. Could Change College Education - Andrew Daume, Merrimack NewspaperIf Greg didn’t ask ChatGPT for an intro, would the one he would’ve come up with have been better? Would it have stimulated his learning more? He’ll never know. These types of AI usages happen every day at Merrimack, and at Colleges all around the world. Not to mention how people from all over the […]
- Beyond the Hype: Transforming Academic Excellence and Leadership Culture in the Age of AI - Joe Sallustio, Campus TechnologyWhile most higher education leaders focus on AI's operational benefits — and rightfully so — the deeper transformation lies in how artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping what it means to learn, teach, and lead in the 21st century. The question isn't just whether institutions can keep pace operationally; the real challenge is whether we can […]
- Immersive AI and VR Experiences Bridge the Skills Gap in Higher Education - Greg Henderson, EdTechHigher education IT decision-makers often talk about hardware specs, endpoint security and the networking backbone that keeps digital classrooms running smoothly. But the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s immersive learning environment, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR), was more than a proof of concept. It focused on building students’ skills to prepare […]
- Administration takes big steps in breaking up Education Department - Micah Ward, University BusinessThe Trump administration has announced six new interagency agreements to “break up” the U.S. Department of Education. Here’s what’s being changed. New partnerships with the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services and State aim to leverage each partner agency to deliver programs that are better suited based on their respective areas of expertise. […]
- No, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great - Zach Justus and Nik Janos, Inside Higher EdThere are dozens of examples we could pull together here, and we could dive much deeper into the historical archive to find professors complaining about study/reading/writing habits, but the point is clear enough. What we are interested in is, what are the impacts of being overly nostalgic about pre-AI/pandemic education? First, it allows us to […]
- U launches ChatGPT Edu, a university-centered generative AI tool for campus use - Office of Artificial Intelligence, University of UtahThe University of Utah has launched OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu, a version of the revolutionary generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool specifically designed for higher education and securely deployed for university use. Students, faculty and staff can request access to the tool via University IT’s Service Catalog and they’ll receive an email with login instructions. “We’ve been […]
- Europe is scaling back its landmark privacy and AI laws - Robert Hart and Dominic Preston, the VergeAfter years of staring down the world’s biggest tech companies and setting the bar for tough regulation worldwide, Europe has blinked. Under intense pressure from industry and the US government, Brussels is stripping protections from its flagship General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — including simplifying its infamous cookie permission pop-ups — and relaxing or delaying […]
- AI in the Ivory Tower: A Necessary Evolution or a Threat to Academic Integrity? - TokenRing AI, WRALThe integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into higher education has ignited a fervent debate across campuses worldwide. Far from being a fleeting trend, AI presents a fundamental paradigm shift, challenging traditional pedagogical approaches, redefining academic integrity, and promising to reshape the very essence of a college degree. As universities grapple with the profound implications of […]
- Gemini 3 Is Here—and Google Says It Will Make Search Smarter - Will Knight, WiredGoogle is also using AI to build popular new tools like NotebookLM, which can auto-generate podcasts from written materials, and AI Studio which can prototype applications with AI. It’s even exploring embedding the technology into areas like gaming and robotics, which Hassabis says could pay huge dividends in years to come, regardless of what happens […]
- New UK course builds AI skills across every major - Allie Barnes, University of Kentucky NewsUniversity of Kentucky students are invited to learn how to thrive in an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven world through a new online course. UK is offering a 100-level, one-credit-hour course — Transdisciplinary Educational Approaches to Advance Kentucky (TEK 100): Collaborative Intelligence — Understanding and Using Modern AI. This rolling, asynchronous course will be offered twice during […]
- Certain subjects in higher education can be better taught online, study shows - Shannon Roddel, Phys.orgNew research from the University of Notre Dame looks at how the abrupt move from classroom teaching to online learning during the lockdown affected college students' performance in China. Surprisingly, the undergraduates performed better in math after switching to online classes—improving their scores by about eight to 11 points on a 100-point scale, according to […]
- The agentic AI opportunity - McKinseyAgentic AI promises to unleash the full potential that companies had hoped to realize with gen AI. Here’s how leaders can make the most of the agentic era. An increasing number of companies are adopting gen AI, but few have seen substantial bottom-line value from their early investments. Agentic AI is poised to flip the […]
Other Curated News:
News from UPCEA:
Should I Get Microcredentials To Complement My Four-Year Degree In Today’s Job Market? (Forbes)
“Think about a professional stepping into the workforce—equipped with the strategic insights cultivated during a four-year business degree and bolstered by technical expertise gained through microcredentials. This balanced blend of broad understanding and specialized skills does more than make them competitive; it prepares them to…
The Rise of Multidisciplinary Research Stimulated by AI Research Tools
A revolution is quietly taking place in academic and scholarly research prompted by the advent of AI research tools. This will reshape the very nature of our studies and greatly accelerate synergies and collaborations across academic fields. AI research tools such as OpenAI o1 have…
The Department of Education recently published new distance education and program integrity rules that address a number of topics raised during negotiated rulemaking sessions held in early 2024. Many of the proposals shared in the Department’s July 24, 2024, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) have…
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