Measuring What Students Can Actually Do
The big idea: Technology, especially AI, is making assessment easier, more authentic, and more scalable for adult learners by shifting the focus from seat time to demonstrated skills. Why it matters: Assessment is where most learning friction lives. When done poorly,...
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Recent Stories
How AI Turned Public Comments Into Policy Insight
Why it matters: Public comment processes shape federal policy, but volume has made them hard to use. AI is changing that. What happened: Analyst Phil Hill used AI tools to analyze all 1,124 public comments submitted to the Department of Education ahead of negotiated...
How WGU’s LERs Power Smarter Pathways for Every Learner
By Scott Pulispher, Western Governors University At WGU, we believe that education must be designed to benefit individuals first and foremost by connecting them with opportunity. After all, when individuals thrive, workforce strength, economic vitality and innovation...
Making Education Work for Working Learners
Q&A with Gregory W. Fowler, PhD, President, University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) The question of higher education’s value is front and center for today’s learners andemployers. How is UMGC improving outcomes for adults in the workforce and military? Today,...
Dual Enrollment That Delivers
Weber State shows what early-college innovation can deliver. Their dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment programs give high school students access to real college courses for just $5/credit—and a faster, more affordable path to opportunity. Why it matters: Early...
What Cengage Work Is Watching on Workforce Pell
We spoke with Rya Conrad-Bradshaw of Cengage Work to understand how their organization is approaching Workforce Pell as federal rulemaking begins. Her comments reflect Cengage Work’s perspective and add to the range of viewpoints emerging across the workforce and...
Designing Community Colleges for Today’s Learners
Community colleges are being redesigned for the new majority of learners — working adults, parents, and career shifters. Presidents Kate Smith (Rio Salado College) and Janet Spriggs (Forsyth Tech) explain how. Why it matters: The traditional “full-time, first-time”...
What the RISE Committee’s Consensus Means
Why it matters: The Department of Education’s RISE Committee reached full consensus on major components of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” giving institutions and students early clarity on coming federal aid changes. Loan amounts will scale with enrollment Students...
Opportunity in Action: The 3D Scholarship Advantage
A model for access and affordability. Prince George’s County Public Schools, Prince George’s Community College, and the University of Maryland Global Campus are proving what’s possible when systems align around student success. How it works: Up to 50 students enter...
When Compassion Drives Completion
The big picture: Students carry life with them into learning. Family responsibilities, health crises, and loss don’t pause for coursework—and too often, these challenges derail even the most determined learners. Why it matters: Compassionate design in higher education...
Redesigning Affordability to Make College Work for Students
The problem College costs have outpaced earnings for decades, and the system that determines them is too complex for students to navigate. Affordability can’t just mean cutting expenses — it must mean redesigning higher education around the needs of learners. The idea...
Student Voices Matter More Than Ever
The big idea November is all about Student Voices—the stories and perspectives that remind us why innovation in higher education must start with the learner. Why it matters Students are the pulse of every conversation about change. Their lived experiences cut through...
Mastery Over Minutes: Modernizing Federal Aid for Today’s Learners
Why it matters: Higher education still measures learning by time—the Carnegie Unit. But “seat time” doesn’t reflect what students actually know or can do. The shift: Competency-Based Education (CBE) measures mastery, not minutes. It’s built for working parents,...
Designing Easier Paths to Student Success
The big picture: Chancellor David Andrews from UMass Global and President Brian Blake of Georgia State University, reframed what it means to make higher education easier. It’s not about lowering standards — it’s about smarter design, stronger connections to work, and...
Boston 2025: Action and Alignment
The big picture: At the Presidents Forum Boston 2025 meeting, higher ed leaders, researchers, and policymakers came together to confront the defining challenges shaping the future of colleges and students — from declining enrollment and public trust to the governance...
AI, Cheating Services, and the Fight for Academic Integrity
The big picture: Artificial intelligence hasn’t changed what academic integrity means—submit your own work, credit sources—but it’s made violations easier, faster, and harder to detect. The result: a new arms race to preserve credential credibility. Driving the news:...
Designing for Persistence: Embracing a Student-Centered Approach to Completion
By Gregory W. Fowler, PhD, with Susan Hawkins-Wilding and Matthew Belanger At University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), we serve a population with extraordinary potential and complexity—adults in the workforce and the military, career changers, first- generation...
Redefining College Completion Through Partnership and Persistence
The big picture Higher education has a completion problem—and a completion opportunity. Only 62% of students finish a four-year degree within six years. Another 43 million Americans have college credit but no credential. Why it matters Degrees change lives—but only if...
Reducing Friction in Higher Ed
The big picture: Higher education was built for a different era. Today’s students expect the same simplicity they find everywhere else—but too often, they get roadblocks instead. Why it matters: When institutions cling to outdated processes, students lose time, money,...
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