Online Education Leadership
The resources, tools, and network you need to run a successful online enterprise
UPCEA is dedicated to advancing quality online learning at the institutional level. UPCEA is uniquely focused on excellence at the highest levels – leadership, administration, strategy – applying a macro lens to the online teaching and learning enterprise. Its engaged members include the stewards of online learning at most of the leading universities in the nation.
UPCEA advances online learning by providing:
- professional development and events
- industry-leading networking
- quality standards and best practices
- research and benchmarking
- advocacy; and
- consulting
UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence
Standards, aspirations, and principles essential to a successful enterprise
Online education is now critical for the future of America’s universities. Institutions can no longer establish a presence in this arena without a concerted institutional strategy and structure to accomplish this now major undertaking.
The UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership are an attempt to articulate those features and principles that will create opportunities for students that far exceed anything already achieved in higher education, take pedagogy to a new level, and demonstrate the capacity of universities to be an even more vital force in our society.
The Hallmarks of Excellence in Professional and Continuing Education are an opportunity to define a set of standards that reflect the ambitions, potential, and importance of the PCE unit’s work—standards few achieve often enough to be complacent. Commitment to mission, enrollments, innovation, and academic excellence are the inseparable aspirations of professional and continuing educators.
These Hallmarks of Excellence presume that professional and continuing education is central, pervasive, and critical within institutions of higher learning—crossing internal boundaries and extending external ones, promoting change, and responding to current dynamics that convert challenges into opportunities.
The Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation are intended to be both aspirational and a practical toolkit to assist those in Professional, Continuing, and Online Education (PCO) to think systematically and concretely about the nature of credentials at their institution as well as the strategy and logistical components of supporting learners throughout their lifetimes.
These Hallmarks focus on alternative credentials, which includes certificates, micro-credentials, digital badges, or micro-certificates, signaling specific competencies, certification, and sometimes licensure.
Benchmarking Research & Consulting
Data you can use, and the experts to help you get it
UPCEA offers the gold standard of research and benchmarking information in the industry through its Center for Research and Strategy. Under the experienced leadership of Jim Fong, the Center conducts several free studies per year for the benefit of all UPCEA members.
Whether you need benchmarking studies, market research for a new program, or specific information to evaluate and develop strategies to take your online programs and instructional design to the next level, UPCEA Consulting is the right choice. Consulting is offered via the Center for Research and Strategy and the National Council for Online Education. UPCEA also offers Peer Review Teams for on-site visits.
Career Center
Job Board - Connect the right person with the right role for your team
UPCEA offers online job recruitment advertisement on its website. Ads are posted immediately for members and within 2-3 business days for non-members. Ads are posted for 60 days. UPCEA also provides social media and publication promotion of job listings.
To submit an ad:
- If you want to post a job ad and have a UPCEA login, click here.
- If you are a non-UPCEA member: Please complete our online job ad form.
Benefits of a UPCEA Job Ad:
- Prominent mention in one of our UPCEA Briefing email communications sent to all UPCEA Members
- Tweeted from our UPCEA Twitter Account (@UPCEA)
- Posted to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages
Rates Per Individual Job Posting:
Member Rate: $500
Non-member Rate: $675
If you have any questions or problems with posting a position on our Job Board, or are a third party posting on behalf of an organization and need to receive the member rate, please contact Brandan Kaiser at [email protected] or 202-844-4242.
For UPCEA internal positions, please follow the instructions for applying. We do not accepting calls from recruiters.
There are no refunds given for job ads. Credit card payment due prior to posting of ads. Ads will not be posted until credit card payment has been received
Executive Search with AGB Search
UPCEA has partnered with AGB Search to bring full executive search capabilities to professional, continuing, and online education. AGB Search is focused exclusively on all aspects of executive search for higher education institutions.
Publications
The timely and topical information you need
UPCEA Weekly Briefing
The UPCEA Weekly Briefing gives UPCEA members and others in the field a quick look at professional, continuing, and online education news, along with upcoming events and association updates. Delivered most weeks, this newsletter features content by and for our higher ed community.
Membership Matters
Membership Matters is a monthly newsletter exclusively for UPCEA members. Members have access to a wide array of benefits, including discussion groups, resources, and networking. Look forward to each issue of Membership Matters for membership news and updates on maximizing your benefits.
Unbound: Reinventing Higher Education
Unbound: Reinventing Higher Education is an online journal intended for all those who are interested in higher education issues, especially those that affect adult students. The name 'Unbound' calls to mind the many innovations that are taking place in education across our country and our world, where technology is helping us break the bonds of space and time to make education accessible to a broad audience. As educators, we no longer have to think in terms of limits, whether those are drawn by campus boundaries, geographic location, or even conventional definitions of school and community.
The possibilities for the future are boundless, and we hope to hear from those who are helping to lead the way.
UPCEA Blogs
Catch up on the latest news from the UPCEA blog suite
Data Privacy Regulations Set to Impact Higher Education Marketing and Enrollment
For 25 years, the collection and trading of financial, social, personal, and location data via digital means has been a booming, multi-billion-dollar business. Web cookies and other tracking technologies, such as personal identifiable information (PII), have basically followed digital users almost everywhere they went, and they rarely had much control over what was collected and…
UPCEA Seeks Part-Time Data Analyst to Join Center for Research and Strategy Team
UPCEA is currently seeking a part-time Data Analyst for a fully remote position with our Center for Research and Strategy team. The Data Analyst is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and transforming data into actionable insights on various projects for UPCEA. Role responsibilities include identifying, gathering, and analyzing data to produce understandable and insightful figures and…
Higher Ed: Short Term & Long Term
We are witnessing the remaking of higher education. Strategies for mainstream colleges and universities must change from the short term to the long term as large-scale collaboratives and huge corporations enter the field. The pandemic has accelerated trends that were already established in the past decade. Over the prior centuries, universities competed for students with…
Three Ways to Improve Communication and Increase Student Engagement
It’s no secret that COVID-19 disrupted higher education. Overnight, students and instructors shifted from traditional, face-to-face instruction to a fully-virtual model. Student retention was already top-of-mind for college and university administrators. But this sudden shift made the challenge of keeping students engaged even more difficult. A return to traditional, in-person learning is imminent. But…
In Memoriam: Karen Swan
Long-time UPCEA member and colleague Karen Swan passed away in early September 2021. Dr. Swan served as professor of education at the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Center for Online Learning, Research and Service. Previously, she served as research professor at Kent State University’s Research Center for Educational Technology. Dr. Swan completed her doctorate in…
AI Is Leading a Revolution in Roles, ROI and Opportunities
The world is in the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, which is what the World Economic Forum describes as a new era that extends the impact of digitization in new and unanticipated ways. The fourth industrial revolution has shown up first and most prominently in the high-tech fields. Unsurprisingly, they are the ones leading…
Investing in Future Talent: Results of Staffing Needs Snap Poll
With society adapting to a second year of the pandemic, institutions of higher education struggle to find a place of strength in a quickly transforming economy. For obvious reasons, many colleges and universities are banking on a full recovery of demand for undergraduate and graduate degrees and the robustness of the campus experience. Those that…
Infrastructure Package Passes Senate + $3.5 Trillion “New Deal” Budget Passes House of Representatives | Policy Matters (August 2021)
Major Updates Infrastructure Package Passes Senate + “New Deal” Budget Passes House of Representatives The bipartisan infrastructure package passed the Senate, 69-30, providing a major upgrade to American transportation, broadband investment, water systems, and more, totaling $1 trillion. The legislation includes $14 billion to provide financial assistance to eligible households, including students who receive a…
Reflections on trends in student success
While many of our colleagues across the country are in the throes of fall orientation, the first weeks of classes, and maybe even a little bit of college football, those of us on the quarter system have well over a month until our fall courses start. And if I’m being honest, I’m still knee deep…
UPCEA Announces 2021 Diversity in Leadership Scholars
UPCEA is pleased to announce the 2021 cohort of Bethaida “Bea” González Diversity in Leadership Scholars. We look forward to these eight individuals joining our learning community as they pursue the courses in their chosen certificate program. Representative and diverse leadership is a cornerstone of UPCEA’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusive Excellence. The goal of…
Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Update by UPCEA
A curated, daily update of news, research, and trends brought to you by our Director of the National Council for Online Education, Ray Schroeder. See what's the latest in Professional, Continuing, and Online news!
Virtually Inspired
Showcasing innovations in online learning
From holographs and educational games, to drones and robots, 21st century educators are forging new and amazing trails in technology-enhanced teaching and learning. UPCEA and Drexel University Online (DUO) are pleased to welcome you to Virtually Inspired, your resource center for high-quality videos illuminating how educators worldwide are utilizing the latest technologies in online and blended education.