Get the essential skills and knowledge you need and earn a recognizable credential from the leading association for online and professional continuing education - UPCEA! Bringing you the leading experts with real-world experience in the field, these programs offer high-value, relevant content and actionable takeaways for practitioners at all levels. Engage with peers from across the field in a virtual classroom to strengthen understanding, breadth of knowledge, and skills. A badge will be awarded upon successful completion of each course. See below for courses and events that are now open for registration.
Closed, Custom Cohorts: Your institution is unique—your professional development should be too. UPCEA delivers tailored learning experiences designed to align with your goals and produce meaningful results. Through closed cohort programs, your team engages in a private, focused learning environment where training connects directly to your strategic priorities, strengthens cross-team collaboration, and empowers participants to apply insights to real-world challenges. With no outside participants, your team builds shared momentum while advancing together. Contact us to learn more: pd@upcea.edu
SAVE with UPCEA Institutional Impact Bundle: UPCEA members get 10 course enrollments for $3,500—saving over $1,000. Flexible access - courses may be taken within one full year from purchase date. Courses can be applied toward the PCO Pro Certificate. Learn more.
UPCEA PCO Professional Certificate
Build your expertise and advance your career in Online and Professional Continuing Education with the UPCEA PCO Professional Certificate. Great price!
UPCEA PCO Leader Certificate
Elevate your leadership in higher ed with this transformative program designed to empower you to manage people, data, and ideas with purpose and precision.
UPCEA Course Catalog
Earn essential skills and a recognized credential through UPCEA’s expert-led programs, featuring actionable insights, peer engagement, and high-value content for all levels.
Upcoming Professional Development Courses
UPCEA's online professional development courses can be taken individually and in any order. Courses are primarily asynchronous and online, and include a weekly live virtual classroom meeting hosted in Zoom. Courses count towards the UPCEA Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Professional (PCO Pro) Certificate. Complete five UPCEA courses within two years and earn your UPCEA PCO Professional Certificate! Learn more.
Credential Innovation: University-to-Business (U2B) Stakeholder Engagement
As demand grows for workforce-aligned learning, employer engagement is critical to designing relevant, scalable, and sustainable credentials. This five-week pilot course offers a just-in-time learning experience grounded in UPCEA’s University-to-Business (U2B) Stakeholder Engagement Tenets and supported by Human-Centered Design (HCD) principles.
Next Offering: 05/04/2026
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Credentials Beyond Degrees – the Role of Online and Professional Continuing Educators in Credential Innovation
Faculty Member: Stacy Chiaramonte, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Operations for UPCEA Research and Consulting, UPCEA
In recent years, new forms of credentialing – micro-credentials, certificates, digital badges, among other designations – have emerged as new measures of educational attainment. This course delves into the role online and professional education units play in alternative credentials, from evaluating program opportunities to the design, implementation, quality assurance, and administration of these credentials.
Next Offering: 05/18/2026
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UPCEA AI Labs: AI for Teaching and Learning Design
Faculty Members:
- Shawndra Bowers, Associate Director for Learning Experience Design, Auburn University
- Betsy Gilbertson, Instructional Designer/Design Specialist , Auburn University
This one-week, hands-on course introduces participants to the practical application of artificial intelligence in course design. Learners will explore foundational AI concepts, examine ethical considerations and intellectual property issues, and evaluate how AI is shaping teaching and learning in higher education.
Next Offering: 05/18/2026
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Strategy in Action: Planning for Dynamic Academic Environments
Faculty Member: Heather McCullough, Ph.D., Director, Learning and Technology at the University of North Carolina System Office
PCO units operate in fast-moving environments shaped by enrollment pressures, workforce demand, online learning economics, and emerging technologies such as AI. This course helps PCO professionals translate strategy into practical, executable action within the realities of their unit’s capacity and constraints.
Rather than producing a comprehensive strategic plan, learners will develop a focused, realistic action plan for a single PCO initiative, supported by a simple logic model. This course provides an overarching lens for thinking about adaptability, human-centered skills, and institutional responsiveness.
Next Offering: 05/18/2026
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