In this video, McKinsey Senior Partners Kate Smaje and Robert Levin and Special Adviser Eric Lamarre, authors of Rewired: How Leading Companies Win with Technology and AI (Wiley, April 2026), discuss what’s real—and what isn’t—about AI-driven workforce disruption. The authors reflect on how AI is changing the kinds of skills organizations value most and what business leaders need to do now to build teams and capabilities that can keep pace with an AI-enabled enterprise. “The core issue is that we’ve really got to think about how organizations are going to work fundamentally differently,” says Smaje.
Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Update by UPCEA
Daily updates of news, research and trends by UPCEA
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Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Five big changes coming to higher education July 1 - Meredith Kolodner, Matt Krupnick and Jon Marcus, the Hechinger Report
From student loan repayment to career and technical training, big changes in higher education are coming July 1. Tens of thousands of students are sent each year to Texas' alternative disciplinary schools, sometimes for minor offenses like being disruptive. Plus, hundreds of college-based programs around the country are designed to help students who are former foster youth graduate with plans to build stable careers.
Workforce Pell
Scrapping the SAVE loan program
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Graduate student loan limits
Parent loan limits
California Senate passes bill that would create $12B in state research funding - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive
California’s state Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would create a new public entity to help fund health and science research, including at California universities, amid the Trump administration’s disruption to the federal research system. SB 895, which passed by a 29-9 vote, would establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and issue $12 billion in bonds to fund the foundation’s grants and awards. That’s down from $23 billion in an earlier version. To become law, the proposal would require passage in the House, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature and voter approval at the next statewide general election. Dozens of unions, professional associations, faculty groups, universities and other organizations have endorsed the bill.
Monday, June 8, 2026
White House Aims to Establish Political Oversight of Federal Grants - Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed
The White House is advancing a sweeping rule change that would give administration officials more power over billions of dollars in federal grants. The regulations seek to codify that Trump officials have the right to keep doing what they started last year: canceling thousands of grants that they said didn’t align with the president’s priorities, and shooting down new ones for the same reason. The proposed rules would set up a process for this political review, possibly helping insulate it from legal challenges that stymied the administration in the past. Among many other changes, the rules direct “senior appointees” at federal agencies to take charge of awarding and terminating new and existing research grants and other federal awards—a change that reflects an August executive order.
2026 EDUCAUSE The Impact of AI on Learning Assessment Report - Jenay Robert, EDUCAUSE
Few areas of higher education have been as passionately debated as learning assessment in the age of AI. Since the debut and rapid adoption of readily available generative AI chatbots, educators have grappled with how learning assessment would be impacted. By only surveying individuals who are currently doing the hands-on work of learning assessment, we can provide you with information about how the learning assessment landscape is changing in practice, not just in theory. Explore the full Impact of AI on Learning Assessment report: https://library.educause.edu/resources/2026/6/2026-educause-the-impact-of-ai-on-learning-assessment-report
eHBCU: A first-of-its-kind HBCU online consortium to expand economic mobility through education - McKinsey
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are essential for creating economic mobility. According to McKinsey research, they enroll more than twice as many Pell Grant-eligible (low-income) students as non-HBCU institutions, and their graduates are 51 percent more likely to move into a higher-income quintile than graduates of non-HBCUs. The mean mobility rate across all US colleges is 1.6 percent, but the mean mobility rate for HBCUs is 3.0 percent.Yet many HBCUs face persistent structural challenges that limit their ability to scale impact—particularly in online education. Fragmented admissions processes, limited staffing dedicated to online learners, and uneven access to capital and technology partners have constrained growth, even as demand for flexible, high-quality digital learning has accelerated.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Choosing to Stay Human - Ethan Mollick, One Useful Thing
But using AI for writing has a cost beyond turning off readers, it risks undermining the development of an important human task. I am lucky enough to have been writing for decades, and I have developed my own style which I think shines through whether I am writing a book, a tweet, or a blog post. That style took a lot of super annoying work to get to: good teachers and rewrites and mean online comments all contributed. If the AI does fine writing, I could skip all of that, but I would have done so the cost of giving up something that has turned out to be very important to my career and my happiness. This is not a condemnation of using AI to help with writing in any way. I think AI can be a fantastic tool for good writers (I have AI check all of my writing and roleplay different reader perspectives to see if I missed something important). For those who struggle with communication, AI can help get their ideas across better, and writing may not be thinking for everyone. Plus, a little bit of effort can make AI writing less cliche, more personal, and more worth using (in moderation). So, this is instead a condemnation of using AI as a default, or, even worse, without thinking at all. Balancing using AI with our own mental abilities is going to be a defining challenge of the coming years.
Autistic students who make it through college face a bigger challenge: getting jobs - Kelly Field, Hechinger Report
Today’s college graduates are entering one of the tightest job markets in years, as companies scale back entry-level hiring amid economic uncertainty and the explosion of artificial intelligence. Just under a third of 2025 graduates - and fewer than half of 2024 graduates - have found full-time employment related to their education, according to one recent report. The market is even tougher for young adults with autism, who have long had one of the highest rates of joblessness among individuals with disabilities. Even before the hiring slowdown, more than 30 percent of autistic college graduates were unemployed, and about a quarter of those who did have jobs were in office- and administration-support roles, one study found.
Rural Opportunity,Through Apprenticeship - Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed
Howard isn’t originally from Exeter, a town of roughly 700 people, but she grew up on her family’s cattle farm in a similarly rural area just a half hour away. Over her years in school, she was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, and she struggled to get the support she needed. Now, she’s training to teach kids like her through Pathways for Paraprofessionals, a registered apprenticeship program sponsored by Missouri State University. The apprenticeship advances paraprofessionals like Howard, who are already assisting high-needs students in Missouri classrooms, toward bachelor’s or master’s degrees in special education through on-the-job training and coursework. Apprentices also work toward their teaching certifications. While the program doesn’t exclusively train rural teachers, it’s explicitly designed for them, with all classes taught online by Missouri State professors or virtually or in-person in local school districts by K–12 teachers and administrators. Fundamental to the earn-and-learn apprenticeship model, paraprofessionals continue to work full-time during their training.
Thursday, June 4, 2026
How to choose the right AI tools for teaching - Laura Milne, Times Higher Education
University educators have a duty to prepare students for an AI-enabled world. This can be challenging, given the plethora of tools available; the temptation to try every shiny new one is common, but doing so without careful consideration may raise ethical concerns. So which AI tools should we use? And how should we incorporate them into our teaching, learning and assessment sustainably? To understand this, we must build our own AI knowledge first.
Free course empowers people with disabilities - McPherson Media Group, Shepparton News
The world‑first program, delivered by Collaborating 4 Inclusion and The University of Sydney, supports inclusive, practical and person‑centred emergency preparedness. It was co-designed by people with a disability and focuses on emergency preparedness for individuals and groups. The training consists of six self-paced online modules completed over five weeks, which include reading, videos and activities, with the opportunity to connect with others through the P‑CEP learning community. Greater Shepparton City Council emergency management and resilience manager Belinda Conna said the course was a great opportunity for at-risk groups in the community to access practical and inclusive information.
Assessing critical thinking in critical times - Kate Williams, Times Higher Education
Improving critical thinking is neither easy to do nor easy to measure. Outside educational philosophers, it is often defined as something “you know when you see it”. Or, perhaps more clearly, you know it when you don’t see it. When people opine on the absence of critical thinking, they often use examples of illogical assumption, unsupported arguments and poor decision-making. Bolstering critical thinking skills prepares learners to listen to others’ ideas, seek evidence and draw logical conclusions. The way we assess critical thinking offers a pathway for higher education’s sustained relevance in the age of AI.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Generative AI use and misuse call for assessment reform in higher education - Igor Chirikov, Ivan Smirnov, and René F. Kizilcec, Science
The debate about the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on higher education is polarized. Some portray GenAI as normalizing cheating at scale (1), whereas others argue that misconduct patterns have changed little (2). These competing narratives underscore the need for reliable data on where GenAI use is concentrated and where misuse is most likely. Existing studies of GenAI adoption and perceptions in higher education provide useful early signals but often rely on small samples and lack measures designed to capture sensitive behaviors such as cheating across fields (3–5). We addressed this gap with survey data from 95,513 students in a representative sample of 20 major public researchintensive universities in the United States and an indirect method for estimating GenAI-assisted cheating across disciplines. We found substantial heterogeneity in GenAI use and misuse across disciplines and student groups. These patterns call for discipline-specific assessment reform, not blanket bans or universal detection regimes.
How Golden Gate’s big AI bet will energize fundamental changes - Alcino Donadel, University Business
At the height of California’s gold rush, a YMCA night school was founded to train students in gold assaying and assist Chinese immigrants with learning English. It marks the humble beginnings of Golden Gate University—and an enduring tale that inspires President Brent White to capitalize on a new national phenomenon.Golden Gate made three major announcements in April that emphasize the university’s radical embrace of artificial intelligence as a tool and societal force. It founded the School of Psychology to research how AI will transform human behavior. GGU Digital upgrades the university’s distance education platform with personalized, AI-assisted instruction. Lastly, nine new board members were introduced to help expand the university’s global footprint in emerging fields.
Education Department releases final rule for Workforce Pell - Natalie Schwartz, Higher Ed Dive
The U.S. Department of Education on Monday released final regulations detailing the process for how programs as short as eight weeks can get approval from their governors and the federal government to be eligible for Pell Grants. The rule carries out the statutory standards that short-term programs must meet related to student outcomes — including earnings and job placement rates — to remain eligible for the new Workforce Pell program. The rule’s provisions governing Workforce Pell take effect July 20, and institutions have the option to implement them as early as July 1. The final rule hews largely to the agreed-upon regulatory language hashed out between the Education Department and stakeholders last year during a process known as negotiated rulemaking.
https://www.highereddive.com/news/education-department-final-rule-workforce-pell/820543/
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
College students are booing commencement speakers celebrating AI, but the wave of hate hasn’t stopped them from using it to cheat on their exams - Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune
On one hand, they’ve made their ire toward the technology clear: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was met with hisses during his commencement remarks at the University of Arizona’s graduation ceremony on Sunday when he invoked the inevitability of a future with artificial intelligence. “The question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will,” Schmidt said, pausing for a moment as students booed. “The question is whether you will have shaped artificial intelligence.” But the outward disgust toward the AI boom doesn’t tell the full story of the 2026 graduating class’s relationship to AI. The same cohort is also adopting the technology at a rapid clip, with 57% of U.S. college students reporting using the AI tools in their coursework weekly, and 20% using it daily, according to the Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2026 State of Higher Education study published last month. But where some see a contradiction, experts see a peek into the minds of young graduates—the first generation of college students to experience their four-year undergraduate experience with tools like ChatGPT, launched in late 2022, at their fingertips.
Online Education Market Hits New High | Major Giants edX, Pearson, FutureLearn - Open PR
The latest study released on the Global Online Education Market by HTF MI Research evaluates market size, trend, and forecast to 2033. The Online Education study covers significant research data and proofs to be a handy resource document for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people to have ready-to-access and self-analyzed study to help understand market trends, growth drivers, opportunities and upcoming challenges and about the competitors. Consider how these insights might influence your strategic decisions
Why Professional Development Matters for Museum Professionals - Manuel Charr, Museum Next
Museums are at a crossroads. Visitor expectations are changing, digital transformation is reshaping how collections are shared, and conversations around inclusion, decolonisation, and community engagement are redefining what museums are for. In this environment, professional development isn’t a nice-to-have for museum professionals — it’s essential. Whether you’re a curator, educator, collections manager, digital lead, or in museum leadership, continuing to learn is one of the most powerful things you can do for your career, your team, and the communities you serve. This article explores what professional development means for people working in museums, why it matters, and how to make the most of the opportunities available to you.
Monday, June 1, 2026
Green Card Seekers Must Leave U.S. to Apply, Trump Administration Says - Madeleine Ngo and Albert Sun, NY Times
The change could upend the lives of people who entered the country lawfully through temporary visas and are seeking green cards to remain in the United States, including students, spouses of U.S. citizens and a wide range of foreign workers. The process of obtaining a green card — which gives immigrants the right to live in the country permanently and provides a path to citizenship — takes months or longer, meaning families could be separated for extended periods.
If Canvas Goes Down Again, What’s the Contingency Plan? - Lisa Anderson and Mairéad Martin, Inside Higher Ed
Faculty and administrators across the country, shaped by their experience adapting instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, knew what to do last week. Shifting the modality of instruction is not new for us. Instructors quickly improvised alternative assignments, delayed quizzes and exams, populated offline course materials, and adjusted timelines in order to keep learning moving forward. When it came time to notify students of these adjustments, however, a more fundamental issue became apparent. Many instructors came to discover they had no reliable way to contact their students outside the learning management system itself. Some did not know how to access their course rosters outside Canvas. Others teaching large online lectures encountered institutional email delivery limits. Many had no established communication pathways beyond LMS announcements.
Cuts and hiring freezes spread as spring semester closes - Alcino Donadel, University Business
Numerous public universities are closing out the spring term with hiring freezes, layoffs and structural cuts as leaders confront budget shortfalls. Last week, the University of Oregon announced that it has frozen hiring and pay increases while it works to close a projected $65 million structural deficit, largely tied to lower out-of-state enrollment and tuition revenue. These actions reflect a “changing reality across higher education” as universities wrestle with enrollment declines, state funding reductions, rising costs and uncertainty in federal research funding and other factors, President Karl Scholz said.
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