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 twilight of the chatbots - One Useful Thing, Ethan Mollickhe evidence points to accelerating capability gains as well (though the frontier stays jagged, and AIs remain weak in many places). This is especially obvious when we look at the ability of AIs to do real work. There are a few good assessments that try to measure how much human work AIs can do. Two […]
- The seven operating truths of AI-native companies - McKinseyThese are not isolated experiments. Over the past several months, we have met with the tech and business leaders at 15 AI-centric companies—spanning continents, industries, and stages of development, from four-person start-ups to established global platforms—to learn what it takes to make AI capabilities truly deliver. We expected to hear 15 different stories. Instead, this […]
- Why these three-year degree pilots are sparking strong pushback - Alcino Donadel, University BusinessTwo leading educators associations are speaking out against the growing wave of three-year bachelor’s degrees as two pilots gain approval in Massachusetts. On Sunday, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) lambasted accelerated programs for prioritizing speed over academic integrity. “A bachelor’s degree should both prepare students for the […]
- Online, Professional and Continuing Education Blog by UPCEA listed among the Best 80 Higher Education Blogs!Thanks to FeedSpot.com for once again listing this blog among the very best blogs on higher education. It is an honor to receive this recognition. We appreciate the affirmation and support. Thank you Feedspot!https://bloggers.feedspot.com/higher_education_blogs/
- Trump administration expands list of graduate degrees subject to higher borrowing limits - Annie Nova, CNBCMany graduate students will be subject to higher federal student loan caps than previously expected, after a court ruling last week. On Monday, the Education Department published the updated and longer list of over 20 professional degrees that will qualify enrolled students to borrow up to $50,000 a year instead of $20,500. Those eligible degrees […]
- Inside a University’s ‘AI Kitchen’ - Jashua Bay, Inside Higher EdEvery Friday Le helps welcome about 50 participants for nearly four-hour sessions where attendees test new AI tools and explore how they’re used across fields ranging from medicine and marketing to education and real estate. “During one session we had a staff member from [the] Anthropology [Department], and they brought in a lot of new, […]
- As international enrollment falls, U.S. students face program cuts and higher prices - Jon Marcus, Hechinger ReportHarrison Keller was starting only his second year as president of the University of North Texas last fall when he was abruptly confronted with a big problem. Enrollment was down. And the source of the crisis made it much worse: In the wake of Trump administration moves to deny and revoke visas, deport international students […]
- Virginia and Ohio join effort to design 3-year bachelor’s degrees - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed DiveVirginia is teaming up with Ohio to design a blueprint for three-year bachelor’s degrees that would require 90 credits for graduation. The partnership comes as more states and institutions mull shorter pathways to college. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia announced Thursday that it plans to work together with several private and public […]
- Will AI in education succeed? - Brad Olsen and Jobin Thomas, BrookingsIn May 1959, the first PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations) system was unveiled at the University of Illinois. This means that last month was the 67th anniversary of the birth of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI). Such an event merits a look at technology in education today. Many people are currently either for or against […]
- How Emerging Leaders Can Strengthen Their Strategic Thinking Muscle - Jennifer Flock, McKinseyAs you prepare for the C-suite, strategic thinking is the ability to lift your focus beyond immediate execution and see how your decisions shape the organization’s longer-term direction. You need to develop pattern recognition—the ability to spot themes across functions, markets, and stakeholders—and understand how trade-offs in one area affect performance in another. To be […]
- ‘RAISE US’ Is a Rare Positive Development in AI Transformation - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher EdRemarkably, in this highly partisan era of American history, there is a newly formed, nonpartisan association with the stated purpose of “partnering with governors, employers and training partners to help the American workforce make a successful transition to an AI economy.” This is the first large-scale, independent entity formed to address the challenge that is […]
- The Apprenticeship Wish List - Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher EdApprenticeships are growing. But experts say that without more funding, updated laws and better data, the U.S. is still far from the system they know is possible. The No. 1 thing missing, they say, is money. The most recent House Appropriations Committee bill to fund labor, health and human services, and education proposes $290 million […]
- Teaching, AI, and the Human Core of Education : The Future Worth Defending - Armand DoucetFor teachers, their unions, and the policymakers who shape the conditions in which they work, the question is no longer whether AI will shape education, but how that shaping will be governed. The purpose of this report is to take stock of that reality: to identify what has changed, what remains essential, and what education […]
- Judge Tosses ED’s ‘Professional’ Degree Definition, Likely Aiding Student Borrowers - Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher EdThe ruling says the Education Department violated Congress’s instructions by adding criteria strictly limiting which degrees qualify for higher federal student loan borrowing caps. Afederal judge has tossed out the Education Department’s rule that strictly limited graduate students’ access to higher federal student loan borrowing limits, a victory for universities, health-advocacy groups and others who […]
- The symbiotic enterprise - McKinseyAt scale, this transformation gives rise to a new enterprise model: the symbiotic enterprise, in which humans, AI agents, and intelligent robots each contribute according to their respective strengths within flatter organizations and under a new economic model, with technology becoming a primary cost driver. Beyond productivity, the symbiotic enterprise fundamentally changes the economics of […]
- Amazon is joining RAISE US as a founding member to help workers prepare for the jobs of tomorrow. - AmazonAmazon is partnering with RAISE US to help American workers develop skills for AI-era jobs. RAISE US brings together companies, policymakers, and educators to address the workforce impacts of AI. The coalition will further extend Amazon's reach to support communities and workers with the skills they need. Today Amazon is announcing that we’ve joined RAISE […]
- Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact - Jeffery Gottlieb, et al; Pew ResearchAbout half of U.S. adults now report using AI chatbots, up substantially from the summer of 2024.1 This includes roughly one-in-four who use these tools on daily basis. Some people are bringing AI into their homes. About a third of Americans say they have a smart speaker, and smaller shares have a doorbell or thermostat […]
- Universities must help shut down the illicit AI detection economy - Benjamin Luke Moorhouse and James Mian Jia, Times Higher EducationMany institutions now treat the AI-likelihood scores they generate as evidence in academic misconduct procedures, and some universities are setting explicit thresholds above which disciplinary action may follow. However, the role of these tools is not always articulated clearly to students (or sometimes even to instructors). And this generates anxiety – and a black market […]
- Would You Trust AI for Ethical Advice? - Knowledge at WhartonThe scholars said the study reveals shifts in how people think about AI. The studies were conducted in 2023 and 2025, and the scholars said they would be curious to see whether results would change if they redid the experiments now. Despite all the improvements to large language models like ChatGPT, Terwiesch said there’s still […]
- New Study In Texas May Have Shown How To Better Measure College ROI - Michael B. Horn, ForbesWith the release of a value-added earnings outcomes study in Texas that measured the economic outcomes of 935,767 students who enrolled in 86 public institutions in Texas between 2008–09 and 2018–19 and pursued a bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree, or certificate, the Postsecondary Commission, which accredits institutions that produce strong economic returns for their students, alongside […]
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News from UPCEA:
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AI in the University – from Generative Assistant to Autonomous Agent this Fall
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