Leadership in Online Learning
UPCEA is dedicated to advancing quality online learning at postsecondary institutions and is uniquely focused on excellence at the highest levels–leadership, administration, strategy. Learn from the experts as you network with our engaged community of leaders in education who steward the online enterprise at their institutions.
UPCEA provides resources for educational leaders in online learning, ranging from industry-leading events, quality standards and best practices, research and benchmarking, and consulting.
News & Events
2027 Digital Teaching & Learning (DT&L) Conference
February 3-4 - Virtual | Free to UPCEA Members
The 2027 Digital Teaching & Learning Conference (DT&L) is centered around the theme "Designing the Future of Higher Education." This free* virtual conference brings together instructional designers, faculty developers, online educators, learning leaders, and technologists from across postsecondary education to explore the ideas, innovations, and strategies shaping the future of teaching and learning. Together, participants will discover what's next through peer-reviewed sessions, interactive workshops, lightning talks, roundtables, keynote conversations, and collaborative experiences designed to spark new ideas, share practical approaches, and strengthen professional connections. DT&L provides a welcoming, community-driven environment where colleagues can learn from one another while embracing emerging technologies and evolving approaches to teaching and learning. By eliminating the time and cost associated with travel, DT&L expands access and participation while continuing the more than 40-year tradition of excellence established by the Distance Teaching and Learning Conference (1984–2024).
*Free for UPCEA members.
2026 Summit for Online Leadership and Administration (SOLAR) Conference
July 29-31 - Boston, MA
The Summit for Online Leadership and Administration (SOLAR) conference is an opportunity for leaders in education and practitioners in postsecondary online learning to convene in beautiful Boston, MA to focus on digital learning, innovation, and strategic leadership in higher education.
Digital leadership is integral to the access mission, commitment to excellence, and sustainability of today's institutions. SOLAR’s program focuses on the best practices, thought leadership, and strategy that school leaders need to embrace digital transformation, online teaching and professional development in postsecondary education. The event, located at the Westin Boston Seaport, affords us the opportunity to offer a more intimate and curated conference that lends itself to meaningful networking, fellowship, and idea sharing.
Join key educational leaders – presidents, provosts, deans, instructional designers, faculty, and others focused on digital leadership – July 29 - 31, 2026.
Online and Professional Continuing Education News
Get top news articles curated daily by Senior Fellow at UPCEA and Professor Emeritus at University of Illinois Springfield, Ray Schroeder.
Get Involved
Join the Online Administration Network
The Online Administration Network (OA) serves as a bridge between the administrative functions of online learning (marketing, online student services, program development, etc.) and the design of online learning. Participation in the OA Network provides access to authentic institutional online operational models, best practice trends in online management, professional analysis of learning design applications, and the formulation of best practices in the use of educational tools and learning design in online instruction.
Join the eDesign Collaborative Network
The UPCEA eDesign Collaborative (eDC) Network serves higher education instructional design teams (instructional designers, multimedia developers and team administrators) seeking networking and professional development. Participation in the eDesign Collaborative Network provides access to a community of professionals who are interested in best practices for online course creation, advancing the work of leaders in education who drive innovation in digital learning within their education systems and institutions.
Advance Your Career with the UPCEA Digital Learning Academy
Build the knowledge, practical skills, and leadership capabilities you need to succeed in today's rapidly evolving higher education landscape. The UPCEA Digital Learning Academy offers flexible professional learning through self-paced courses, instructor-led experiences, short learning opportunities, and leadership development designed specifically for online, professional, and continuing education professionals. Learn from recognized experts, connect with peers across the field, and choose learning pathways that support your career goals at every stage.
The Academy features three integrated learning pathways—Essential Learning, Professional Practice, and Leadership Development—including the new Enterprise Leadership Certificate with concentrations in Chief Online Learning Officer (COLO) and Professional and Continuing Education. Whether you're building foundational knowledge, strengthening workplace skills, or preparing for executive leadership, the Academy offers flexible learning designed to help you make an immediate impact.
UPCEA Professional Development Courses:
Resources and Publications
UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Digital Learning Enterprises
Digital learning is no longer a specialized initiative or alternative modality—it is essential institutional infrastructure. These Hallmarks provide a research-informed framework to help colleges and universities strengthen leadership, governance, operations, innovation, and learner success.
Online: Trending Now
Unique, biweekly insights and thought leadership from Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA.
From Knowledge Building to Wisdom Building in Higher Education
In years gone by, we said that students went to college to gather knowledge. Now, college is appropriately expected to be much more about building wisdom. The expectations of prospective students and families, employers and society at large have shifted. Knowledge and information have become instantaneously available at speeds approximating personal recall. The next step…
What if the U.S. Government Owned Stock in AI Companies?
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has floated the idea that the United States Government should become a stockholder in Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies. Yes, actually own shares of the thriving major AI companies! Of course, it is not without precedent that the feds assume partial ownership of private companies. Benjamin D. Connard of Carnegie Investments reports…
“RAISE US” Is a Rare Positive Development in AI Transformation
Remarkably, in this highly-partisan era of American history, there is a newly-formed, non-partisan 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 top-of-mind of…
A Course Refresh this Summer
Today’s title carries a double meaning for those of us in higher education. Summers traditionally bring the opportunity to refresh and update the courses we teach, and it also brings the chance to look afresh at the course of our own personal careers. First, as we review our courses, their currency, relevance and value, it…
Tech Future Promotes Continuing Professional Education
Do you recall when continuing professional education was considered outside the mainstream of the higher education hierarchy, often relegated to extension services? It wasn’t that long ago that professional education was the less-respected, fragile forum for night school, weekend programs, extension and applied study at many colleges and universities. More recently housing the nascent online…
For Whom the Bell (Curve) Tolls? Classes That Yield Too Many “A”s!
Much is being said about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the hands of students resulting in “too many “A”s being granted! We are seeing colleges and universities across the country cracking down on “grade inflation.” It is my long-held belief that striving to have a near-equal number of “A”s and “F”s in a…
Leadership Vision of the COLO to Shape Higher Ed Future?
The Chief Online Learning Officers at colleges and universities are increasingly charting the future of teaching and learning. It was three decades ago that my career in higher education took a turn. I was promoted to full Professor and given the golden opportunity of my career to lead our campus in the use of the…
Is Your AI Ethical, Human-Centered, and Pro-Social?
Many of us utilize AI daily in our higher education work, yet we may not have assessed the ethical and human-centered nature of the tool we have selected and trained through our prompts. AI tools are no longer a relatively simple search engine that is driven by marketing metrics to help us conduct our research.…
What Deans and Department Chairs Must Do Before Fall
The spring semester is coming to a close with the normal host of routines. Yet, beneath those routines, something is unfolding in the labor market that will greet your new graduates who will face an incrementally tighter job market. I asked Claude Sonnet 4.6 Extended Thinking to research the tasks relevant to preparing our new…
What to Teach Now?
Technologists, economists, and visionaries are warning us that in the next three to 18 months, we are going to experience rapid and pervasive disruption of our professional lives, workplace models, and distribution of income. Professional positions requiring college degrees will be lost, remade into highly-productive, cost-efficient, hybrid human-AI models where human contributions and compensation will…
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UPCEA has the knowledge and resources colleges and universities need to serve adult learners, online learners and contemporary students.
Contact Us!
To learn more about how UPCEA can help you and your organization navigate the vastly changing landscape of online and professional continuing education please complete this form or email us at [email protected]
