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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  • How gen AI can take customer [read that as students and prospective students] personalization to the next level - McKinsey
    The way customers interact with retailers and brands is evolving. To maintain an edge, companies should reevaluate their existing strategies and explore new avenues for growth. Consider, for instance, the transformative potential of personalization through gen AI. "To reach consumers where they are and how they want to be met, marketers can embrace two powerful […]
  • AI Passes the Turing Test: What this really means - Julia McCoy, YouTube
    This podcast discusses a significant development in artificial intelligence: AI passing the Turing test in a controlled scientific study for the first time [00:00]. The Turing test evaluates a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human's [01:30]. In this instance, the AI model GPT 4.5 successfully convinced human judges it was a […]
  • 11+ Real-World AI Agent Examples - Martina Bretous, HubSpot
    AI agents are like the backstage crew at the concerts we attend: Operating independently on the backend to deliver a smooth experience on the user end. They power many of the tech we use – and have for a while – but haven’t gotten that visibility until recently. In this article, we’ll break down real-world examples […]
  • ChatGPT became the most downloaded app globally in March - Sarah Perez, Tech Crunch
    ChatGPT became the world’s most downloaded app in March, excluding games, topping the usual contenders for the No. 1 spot, Instagram and TikTok. This is the first time the app has topped the monthly download charts and ChatGPT’s biggest month ever. According to new data, ChatGPT’s installs jumped 28% from February to March to reach […]
  • Northern Arizona University Profs Receive $5K Each to Study AI - Jesselle Ortegon, Arizona Daily Sun
    Select faculty members at NAU will use grant funding from the Transforming through Artificial Intelligence in Learning (TRAIL) program to study potential uses for AI in higher education and how students interact with it. The Transforming through Artificial Intelligence in Learning (TRAIL) program granted select faculty members at Northern Arizona University a reward of $5,000 […]
  • Morehouse College Unveils AI Teaching Assistants - Eric Glick, Ed Tech
    In what is being hailed as a significant technological leap forward, Morehouse College is offering 3D avatars that can stand in for teaching assistants. These humanlike figures can answer student questions 24 hours a day. The school, regarded as a higher education innovator in immersive learning, notes that the artificial intelligence-powered instructors are trained from […]
  • Google Issues Early AGI Warning " We Must Prepare Now," The AI Grid
    This YouTube video summarizes a Google paper emphasizing the urgent need to prepare for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) due to its potential risks and transformative impact. The paper defines AGI as AI matching or exceeding the capabilities of highly skilled humans in non-physical tasks [01:22] and suggests there are no fundamental blockers to achieving this […]
  • The Ripple Effects of Draining the Ph.D. Pool - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed
    Deep cuts to federal research funding and crackdowns on international students could mean far fewer graduate students next fall and beyond. If that happens, undergraduates, faculty and research productivity would all suffer. Under mounting financial and political pressures, universities have paused or rescinded graduate student admissions on an unprecedented scale, which could create cross-campus ripple […]
  • How apprenticeships can broaden access to education and quality jobs - Marieke Vandeweyer and Vlasis Korovilos, OECD Ed Today
    In today’s economy, rapid changes such as the digital and green transition are creating a demand for specialised skills. But in many sectors, the demand for skills outpaces the supply of qualified professionals. This situation underscores the urgent need for accessible educational pathways – including in higher education. One promising option is the expansion of […]
  • The Disruptive Future of Society as AI Dominates the Workplace - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
    Generative AI’s rapid evolution has generated fear and anxiety among some observers and enthusiasm among others. The enthusiasm is for the many ways in AI will improve the lives of people and other life on Earth. The fear is generated by the awesome power and influence this technology may have over our very existence as […]
  • These micro-credentials have taken over traditional degrees: Self-taught skills redefine learning in a digital age - Vera Emoghene, Rolling Out
    The classroom is no longer confined to brick-and-mortar walls. A do-it-yourself education boom has taken root, driven by YouTube tutorials, coding bootcamps, and micro-credentials. These tools, fueled by digital access and a hunger for practical skills, are challenging the dominance of traditional four-year degrees. With college costs soaring and job markets shifting, learners are turning […]
  • What is an AI agent? - McKinsey
    An AI agent is a software component that has the agency to act on behalf of a user or a system to perform tasks. Users can organize agents into systems that can orchestrate complex workflows, coordinate activities among multiple agents, apply logic to thorny problems, and evaluate answers to user queries. If you’ve ever interacted […]
  • Promoting AI-Enhanced Performance in the Online Classroom - Amy Winger, Faculty Focus
    One way that online instructors can use AI in the classroom is to become a digital master and use generative AI, such as ChatGPT, to develop deeper content ideas or analyze student contributions within discussion (Mora and Semingson 2023, 57). Such tailored discussions add depth and rigor to courses, captivating students and bringing forth relevant […]
  • Howard University Responds to Students' Demand for Digital Learning Modality - Christen Hill, Howard
    Howard University continues to demonstrate leadership in higher education innovation by expanding its digital learning infrastructure, responding to what research confirms is the fastest-growing sector in education. According to recent data published by Devlin Peck (2025), online learning has grown 900% since its creation in 2000, making it the fastest-growing market in the education industry. […]
  • Honing leadership excellence in the public sector - McKinsey
    When asked what characterized the most outstanding leaders they had worked with, the respondents suggested that character is destiny: One of the most-cited traits was being respected for character, values, and integrity. As one interviewee put it, “Your integrity and ethics are the core of being in the public service.” This set the foundation for […]
  • Artificial intelligence in educational leadership: a comprehensive taxonomy and future directions - Martin Sposato, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education
    Through a systematic literature review and inductive analysis of publications from 2017 to 2024, the research synthesizes diverse AI applications into ten distinct domains: Administrative Efficiency, Personalized Learning, Enhancing Teaching Practices, Decision-Making and Policy Formulation, Student Support Services, Organizational Leadership and Strategic Planning, Governance and Compliance, Community Engagement and Communication, Ethical AI Leadership, and Diversity, […]
  • Resilience and online learning emotional engagement among college students in the digital age: a perspective based on self-regulated learning theory - Dandan Ge, BMC Psychology
    The study was conducted on 2182 college students from China using questionnaires, and a structural equation model was established to test the mediating effects. The results showed that: firstly, resilience, self-regulated learning efficacy, self-control, cognitive reappraisal, and online learning emotional engagement were all significantly positively correlated with each other, while expressive suppression was significantly negatively […]
  • This AI Clones Itself 999 Times Creating an AI Swarm Army! (9999% Faster)" - AI Revolultion, YouTube
    This podcast introduces Lindy AI's "agent swarms" feature, which is designed for their no-code automation platform [00:10, 00:29]. This feature allows a single AI workflow agent to clone itself, creating potentially hundreds of agents that can simultaneously handle large lists of tasks in parallel, such as researching conference attendees, preparing for meetings, conducting competitive analysis, […]
  • Large Language Models Pass the Turing Test - Cameron R. Jones, Benjamin K. Bergen, arXiv
    We evaluated 4 systems (ELIZA, GPT-4o, LLaMa-3.1-405B, and GPT-4.5) in two randomised, controlled, and pre-registered Turing tests on independent populations. Participants had 5 minute conversations simultaneously with another human participant and one of these systems before judging which conversational partner they thought was human. When prompted to adopt a humanlike persona, GPT-4.5 was judged to […]
  • One step closer to the Intelligence Explosion... - Matthew Berman, YouTube
    Matthew BermanThis podcast discusses a recent OpenAI paper demonstrating that AI agents can replicate cutting-edge AI research, suggesting potential for self-improvement [00:00]. The core of this capability is the Paperbench framework, which allows AI agents equipped with tools like web Browse and coding environments to tackle the complex process of understanding a research paper, developing […]

Other Curated News: 

News from UPCEA: 

GPT in Higher Education

ChatGPT has caught our attention in higher education. What will it mean in 2023? First, let’s do a quick review on the technology. GPT has become the internet’s best-known language processing AI model. The initials stand for Generative Pretrained Transformer. That’s not a very descriptive…

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The Impact of the New Adult Learner – Trends in Higher Education in 2023

A decade ago, the buzz phrase was the Internet of Things or IoT. Cell phones had limited power and apps were just starting to bridge the internet with mobile devices. Uber had only recently launched (2010). Online banking was in its early stages of acceptance…

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A Dozen Years of Decline

For 150 years dating back to the 1800s, college enrollment in the U.S. experienced annual growth in enrollments with only a handful of short-term drops during wars and other major societal events. That record of steady increases was disrupted a dozen years ago, by the recession of…

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