Free textbooks, when fully embraced by administrators and faculty, lead to better student outcomes, a new American Association of Colleges and Universities report finds. Open educational resources, or OER, emerged at the turn of the century to make college less expensive. A two-year study examining 700,000 student records and featuring 240 faculty interviews across 15 institutions contends that free learning materials accomplish much more. Courses that offered students free course materials lowered course withdrawals, increased the number of A’s earned and decreased, by a year, the time to graduation for community college students.
Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Update by UPCEA
Daily updates of news, research and trends by UPCEA
Click on the URL at the end of posting to visit the relevant article or website mentioned in the post.
Friday, July 24, 2026
Coursera adds five Workday courses to enterprise learning catalog - Emma Thompson, Ed Tech Innovation Hub
Coursera has added five Workday courses to its enterprise catalog, expanding access to training on the cloud software provider’s finance, human resources, payroll and student applications for organizations using Coursera’s workforce learning service. Workday provides enterprise cloud applications for financial management, human resources, planning, spend management and analytics. Anthony Salcito, Coursera’s Senior Vice President and President of Enterprise, announced the additions in a LinkedIn post.The courses are listed in English and are available to enterprise learners. The content focuses on the terminology, frameworks and operational use of Workday systems rather than software development. “Making this content available to enterprise learners gives teams broader access to training that supports real operational readiness,” Salcito wrote. Learners can now explore the courses through Workday Education on Coursera. Coursera and Workday did not provide details about pricing, course length, assessment formats, credentials, geographic availability or whether access varies between enterprise agreements.
How to integrate AI-enabled lifelong learning across disciplines - Tim Brown, Times Higher Education
The traditional boundary between a traditional degree and active professional development has permanently dissolved, writes Tim Brown. AI skills need to be taught in a similarly joined-up way. An uncomfortable truth for the higher education sector is that artificial intelligence is reshaping how work gets done. Graduates will need to enter AI-enabled workplaces with a clear sense of how to work alongside intelligent systems, and millions of experienced professionals are going to require reskilling. Yet our institutions are not preparing new students or providing structured upskilling pathways at the pace this moment demands. While we debate policies at the margins, business and government are moving ahead – with or without us. Serving traditional students and those seeking continuing professional development are not separate challenges; they are a single lifelong learning problem. To address this, faculty must move beyond teaching AI tools and start developing AI-enabled professional fluency.
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Measuring the Impact of Continuing Education - Lisa Rochman, Evolllution
Continuing education (CE) is often one of the most responsive parts of postsecondary institutions. It is where many institutions move quickly to respond to changing workforce needs, emerging industries, community priorities and the growing need for lifelong learning. That role is becoming more important as workers must adapt quicker, employers respond to changing skill requirements and postsecondary institutions support learning across a longer span of more people’s lives. What we don’t have is a clear picture of the impact, volume and scope of the work continuing education does as a sector. When continuing education is not clearly measured, its full contribution is hard to see.
https://evolllution.com/measuring-the-impact-of-continuing-education
Course Design as an Act of Care - Julian King and Catherine Patterson, Faculty Focus
Designing a learning experience is too often treated as a workflow task rather than a relational practice. It becomes about moving content online, checking accessibility boxes, or aligning outcomes to rubrics. In the process, design can become transactional. But course design is, at its core, an act of care. Care is the everyday practice of meeting people where they are and responding with compassion and support. It is the intentional work of helping others thrive. Designing with care means anticipating needs, reducing barriers, and creating environments where both faculty and students feel seen and supported. When care is centered, design becomes relational: designers partner with faculty, and faculty design with students’ humanity in mind. This article examines how care shapes the designer–faculty relationship and how that care extends into faculty and student experiences.
'Workforce Pell' kicks off, but colleges find that few programs qualify - Elissa Nadworny, NPR
To qualify, programs must meet length and time parameters (between eight and 14 weeks and between 150 and 599 instructional hours), train for an in-demand field and demonstrate earnings and job placements. But like thousands of existing workforce training programs, this CNA class at St. Paul College doesn't quite meet those qualifications: It is only 112 hours. In fact, none of St. Paul College's workforce programs do. "I think maybe a year ago, I was living in a world where I was like, 'Oh my gosh, July 1 is going to be so great, and we're just going to start handing out money to people,'" says Jennifer Huston, the executive director of workforce training at St. Paul College. "Slowly, as we got closer and closer to July 1, you realize, nope, it's going to take us a while to get there." All across the country, community colleges are finding many of their workforce training programs are too short or too long or just don't fall within the allotted hours.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Online Computer Science Degree: Why Flexible Tech Education is becoming a Business Priority (UK)
Technology skills are no longer confined to the IT department. Retailers need data teams, manufacturers depend on software systems, financial firms compete through automation and small businesses increasingly rely on digital platforms to reach customers. The result is a labour market in which computer science knowledge has become a practical business asset.For many people, however, the route into the sector is still difficult. Leaving work to study full-time is not realistic for every learner, while employers cannot always wait for traditional graduate pipelines to meet urgent skills needs. This is why the online Computer Science Degree has become more relevant: it offers a structured academic pathway for students and working professionals who need flexibility without reducing the importance of depth.
Bridging the gap between secondary, further and higher education: a tale of three sectors - Sue Williamson and Michelle Morgan; Higher Education Policy Inatitute (UK)
In this blog, we explain why there is an urgent need for the secondary, further education and higher education sectors to interact and collaborate more effectively to create a better understanding of student learning at these levels of study – helping to more effectively bridge the transition of students. This is especially critical as a result of the Independent Curriculum and Assessment Review chaired by Professor Becky Francis which looked at year groups spanning 5-19, and published its final report in November 2025. The report highlighted an overloaded and inflexible curriculum, narrowing of subject options, severe assessment stress and burden and a lack of adequate digital literacy skills. All these education sectors have experienced major changes in the past few years and are under pressure to chase metric-based outcomes. We need to recognise the impact of those changes on one another and on the students. Through collaboration and mutual understanding, we can be more effective in raising student education aspirations across the sectors, regardless of the route an individual undertakes.
How does online deep learning occur among college students? An empirical investigation based on CoI - Qingshuang Huang & Rong He; Nature
In the context of global digital transformation in education and post-pandemic reforms, online teaching has evolved from an emergency response into an essential instructional mode in higher education. Enhancing the quality of university students’ online learning and fostering their capacity for online deep learning (OnlineDL) have thus become key concerns in the educational field. Drawing on the extended Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework—which integrates teaching presence (TP), social presence (SP), cognitive presence (CP), and learning presence (LP, encompassing self-efficacy (SE) and self-regulated learning (SRL) as key antecedents of learner agency)—this study surveyed 3,167 Chinese university students and employed structural equation modelling to examine how these four core presences jointly facilitate OnlineDL. The results reveal that CP, LP (via its components SE and SRL), and TP exert significant and positive direct effects on OnlineDL.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Trump, who had signed an order to the effect, handed legal defeat after judge sided with Democratic-led states - the Guardian
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from implementing a new rule stripping public service workers of eligibility for federal student loan forgiveness if it deems their employers to have a “substantial illegal purpose.” US district judge Myong Joun in Boston sided with Democratic-led states, cities and non-profits that argued the US Department of Education’s rule would allow it to target groups supporting immigration rights, transgender healthcare and other causes the Trump administration disfavors, by disqualifying them from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. That program allows borrowers to have their federal student loans forgiven after 10 years working for government or non-profit employers. More than a million borrowers have received debt relief since Congress established it in 2007.
ETS acquires ACT, consolidating two testing giants - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive
The move comes as more colleges are going back to requiring standardized tests for admissions. Educational nonprofit ETS is acquiring ACT — roughly two years after the standardized test maker was taken over by a private equity firm. The deal will create a testing giant reaching 35 million people every year and comes as several universities announce a return to requiring standardized tests for admissions. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal was expected to close on July 1, according to an ETS spokesperson. Los Angeles-based Nexus Capital Management acquired ACT in 2024, converting the nonprofit college admissions assessment organization into a for-profit company in the process.
Understand AI in 14 minutes - Anthropic's Chloe Lubinski [ARC 2026], Alliance for Responsible Citizenship
In this presentation, Chloe Lubinski from Anthropic warns that AI is advancing at a breakneck speed driven by massive capital, scaling laws, and the onset of recursive self-improvement. Unlike traditional coded software, these neural networks learn from vast amounts of human language, meaning they are trained on our collective thoughts, values, and concepts. Crucially, internal alignment research shows that AI models can infer a generalized "character" or psychology from their reinforcement; if rewarded for deceptive shortcuts, they can develop a broader corruption that extends to unrelated tasks. Because these human-like systems mirror us so closely, Lubinski emphasizes that the quality of their character will have profound consequences for our future. She calls on moral voices and critics outside of tech labs to help steer the incentives and push development in a better direction. Ultimately, ray, she challenges us to use our moral imagination to ensure AI does not displace humanity, but instead enhances our capacity for care, hospitality, and meaningful human connection. [assistance with summary by Gemini 3.5 Flash]
Monday, July 20, 2026
Building Synergy and Empowering Learners: Strategies for Higher Ed Success - Adam Fein, Evolllution
For higher education broadly, it’s been great to see the growth in diversity. For us, we’re a federally designated Minority- (MSI) and Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). We are now the third-largest university in Texas, and 41% of our students are first-generation. It says a lot about our nation’s changing demographics and being prepared, not only to serve diversity in that way but to also be really good at it. More specifically, within our division at UNT, 67% of students are taking at least one online course. It’s our job to ensure they have flexibility in the new hybrid landscape. Those courses need to be world class and as good or better than their in-person counterparts. Higher education is really making strides in better understanding what it needs to do to evolve out of a degree-or-nothing industry. While degrees remain powerful for social mobility, not everyone wants or needs an entire degree at all times. We need to unbundle the degree, especially for adult learners.
Making Learning Stick - Jason Lodge; Philipp Lorenz-Spreen; American Scientist
A significant bottleneck is our ability to only pay attention to a certain number of things at a time. Decades of research have told us that things we selectively pay attention to are much more likely to be processed, because they enter into consciousness and memory. These things then impact us in a persistent way. For various reasons, the way that technology has evolved—including built-in advertising—has been about trying to capture that selective attention. Philipp Lorenz-Spreen [PLS]: We prefer novelty and surprise. Our attention guides us to that because it’s important to know new things. But there are other factors as well, especially if you think about the competition between sources of information. Also, negativity and other emotions such as outrage often guide our attention. There’s negativity bias; negative headlines are more successful. There’s another factor, in-group and out-group feelings, that humans are quite susceptible to. Whenever content talks about “us versus them,” it tends to succeed more than other content.
One New Thing: Giving Students Individualized Work and Feedback, Even in Large Classes - Melissa Morriss-Olson, US News
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed PrairieLearn, an online assessment platform designed to provide students with immediate feedback and opportunities to practice course concepts. Originally created to support high-enrollment engineering and computer science courses, the system generates unique versions of problems for each student and instantly evaluates their responses. This allows students to work through multiple variations of a concept, learn from mistakes and refine their understanding as they progress. PrairieLearn shifts assessment from a one-time measurement of learning to an ongoing process of practice and improvement. By automating routine grading and providing immediate feedback, the platform frees instructors and teaching assistants to spend more time supporting student learning. Rather than waiting days or weeks to see if they understand a concept, students receive guidance in real time, helping them move more efficiently toward mastery.
Saturday, July 18, 2026
Trump administration caps student visa stays at 4 years under final rule - Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive
The Trump administration will cap international students’ stay in the U.S. at four years, regardless of the length of their academic program, under a rule finalized Thursday. Two types of visas popular among foreign students and academics — F and J visas — will require holders to apply to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for an extension if they need more time to complete their studies. The change is set to take effect mid-September. Under the rule, eligible international students already studying in the U.S. can stay for the remainder of their program or for up to four more years. However, they could lose that option if they leave the U.S. during that period.
Friday, July 17, 2026
Top Companies Driving Innovation in AI-Powered Education: Carnegie Learning and More - Globe NewsWire
The artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching market is witnessing substantial growth, with projections indicating an increase from $1.71 billion in 2025 to $2.16 billion in 2026, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.8%. By 2030, the market size is expected to reach $5.55 billion, influenced by factors such as AI integration in classrooms, the demand for skill-based learning, and emerging hybrid education models. Key trends driving this growth include personalized adaptive learning, AI-powered intelligent tutoring, and predictive learning analytics. Personalized learning is at the forefront of AI-driven education, prompting significant transformations in the market. Leveraging technology to cater to individual student needs, personalized learning enhances engagement and outcomes by adapting educational experiences. Notably, in January 2024, a U.S. Department of Education report revealed a rise in the use of generative AI among primary and secondary educators, jumping to 42% in November 2023 from 17% in April the same year. This trend underscores AI's role in shaping modern education.
I start my lectures by introducing my teaching assistant: GenAI - Dan Sarofian-Butin, Times Higher Education
Eighty students stare out at me on the first day of the semester, waiting for me to begin lecturing so they can disappear into their own thoughts, their laptops, their surreptitious texting with friends. It is the perfect embodiment of how large classes have fuelled the depersonalisation of higher education. That’s exactly why I, in the first 10 minutes of the class, introduce them to their “teaching assistant” by telling them to log into a frontier AI model such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. I share with them a prompt to cut and paste into the AI – “I don’t really understand why I am taking this general education course. My professor says it has something to do with learning how to be a critical thinker. What does that even mean?” – and tell them to have a quick “conversation” of at least five back-and-forth responses.
UC Berkeley shows no signs of AI grade inflation as professors adapt - Amanda McLeod, Daily Californian
A study released by UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education found a correlation between the release of ChatGPT in 2022 and an increased share of A grades for classes with take-home assignments at a selective public university in Texas. However, Berkeleytime data collected by The Daily Californian found no equivalent trends at UC Berkeley. Between 2019 and spring 2026, A’s at UC Berkeley consistently stayed between 30% and 35%, with a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic likely due to increased pass/no pass courses. The study, authored by Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher and director of the Student Experience in the Research University Consortium at the Center for Studies in Higher Education, analyzed 500,000 grades from 2018-25 and found that the share of A grades increased by 13 percentage points at the Texas university.
Thursday, July 16, 2026
What if the U.S. Government Owned Stock in AI Companies? - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
Who is responsible for compensating Americans for jobs lost to AI? OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has floated the idea that the United States government should become a stockholder in artificial intelligence companies. Yes, actually own shares of the thriving major AI companies! Altman’s concept is that companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and other leaders in the field would share 5 percent of their valuation with the American public through the U.S. government. The background on this move is key to understanding how the federal government might be able to respond to the widely predicted AI-induced job shakeout expected to come in the next five years. The concern is growing as we approach 2030 that tens of millions of Americans will be impacted by job losses or pay reductions due to businesses employing AI for efficiency reasons to replace human workers. The question is, how can one find a way to extract funds from those who stand to make billions of dollars in providing AI substitutions for the workers who stand to lose their jobs?
Why embedding lifelong learning in university is needed - Lyndsey El Amoud, University World News
The European Union has positioned lifelong learning at the heart of its competitiveness agenda, while universities are routinely identified as key actors in supporting citizens to learn throughout their lives. At first glance, higher education appears to be responding. Microcredentials are expanding rapidly. Professional and executive education continues to grow. Digital delivery has accelerated. Lifelong learning now features prominently in institutional strategies and national policy frameworks across much of Europe. Yet beneath this visible growth lies a more uncomfortable reality. European universities have become remarkably good at delivering lifelong learning. What they have not yet done, in most cases, is redesign themselves around it.
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