The Next Stage for NC-SARA

Inside Higher Ed | May 22, 2019 - A national group dedicated to coordinating state approval of online programs selects a new leader and plans to focus more on program quality. Six years after the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity emerged to attack a knotty problem -- making it feasible and... Read More>

Online Learning Consortium Announces Chief Executive Officer Transition

OLC Chief Strategy Officer Jennifer Mathes to Serve as Interim CEO NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (May 14, 2019) The Online Learning Consortium announced today that Kathleen Ives, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, has resigned. The Board of Directors has named Chief Strategy Officer Jennifer Mathes as interim CEO, effective immediately. Ives served in... Read More>

It's Sunday evening, where are online colleges' student services?

Education Dive | April 18, 2019 - As institutions move to tap the ripe market of remote adult learners, they are realizing their support services need to be available around the clock. With college enrollment mostly flat and the number of adult learners taking online classes expected to increase, it doesn't take... Read More>

Aligning the Regulatory Environment with the 21st Century Realities

The evolllution | April 8, 2019 - A group of advocates are calling for major changes to bring federal regulations up to speed with the 21-st century model of higher education. Despite changing student demographics and technological advancements, the American higher education regulatory infrastructure and related legislation continue to address only the... Read More>

Rethinking Professional Development for Learning Professionals

Inside Higher Ed | March 6, 2019 - The higher ed learning professional conference industrial complex is in full swing. Among the ed tech, online and digital learning convenings that occur in the early part of 2019 are ELI, SXSW EDU, UPCEA and OLC Innovate. Later this year we will have the opportunity to travel to Educause, WCET, POD, OLC Accelerate or any... Read More>

Extend financial aid to cover more alternative education programs, groups say

EdScoop | March 4, 2019 - Despite a surge of regulations in the 1980s designed to prevent fraudulent use of financial aid funds for online courses, the Department of Education still struggles to balance consumer protections with a growing need for short-term and distance education to offer student aid, according to a... Read More>

Higher ed groups ask for flexibility with online learning rules

Education Dive | February 27, 2019 -  Dive Brief: As regulators and industry representatives hash out a potential future for higher education accreditation, particularly rules governing online learning, three industry groups have put forward their own policy recommendations. Covering topics such as competency-based education (CBE), regular and substantive interaction and state authorization, the policy... Read More>

Policy Briefs from Key Digital Learning Support Organizations

Inside Higher Ed | February 27, 2019 - Discussions of federal rules around digital learning and educational innovation are ongoing at the U.S. Department of Education. Some of those issues may end up requiring intervention from Congress. Three key digital learning organizations released today a set of policy briefs to guide these... Read More>

Education Organizations Release Federal Policy Briefs Addressing Needed Modernizations To Higher Education Regulations

Briefs Authored by UPCEA, OLC, and WCET Cover Competency-Based Education, Financial Aid, Regular and Substantive Interaction, and State Authorization WASHINGTON, DC - February 27, 2019 - Today, three organizations in higher education—UPCEA, OLC and WCET—have issued a set of policy briefs relating to necessary changes to federal regulations affecting the professional,... Read More>

Expanding access, success, and equitable outcomes through the effective implementation of digital learning

WCET | February 21, 2019 - A Sense of Urgency Many public colleges and universities have embraced the mission of increasing access to higher education by recruiting more diverse student populations. Unfortunately, institutions continue to see significant persistence and completion gaps for their low-income students, students of color, and first-generation students. In response... Read More>