Mobile devices and applications are expected to have a significant impact on teaching and learning in the near future. Yet colleges and universities are currently facing severe budget constraints and discretionary funding is restricted for new initiatives. The question addressed in this paper is: “What strategy should an institution of higher learning with limited resources use in adapting the capabilities of mobile devices to benefit its academic programs?” To help answer this question, students were surveyed to identify their perceptions on the importance of a selected set of mobile learning functions, their experience with using those functions, their recommendation for a mobile learning adoption strategy, and information on the particular mobile devices they possess. The recommended strategy was “pick and choose special capabilities to develop” with the selected functions being (1) Receive alerts and reminders about assignments and appointments concerning the course being taken; (2) Communicate individually with faculty, an advisor, or other students using voice, email, or text messaging; (3) Post or reply to items in a poll, discussion board, or other application; and (4) Download and review lesson materials from a course being taken. Other recommendations included techniques for faculty and student support services as well as institutional policies for limiting models of mobile devices for use in courses, making online courseware for laptops and desktops the same as mobile learning courseware, and making the opportunity for mobile learning optional.

U-Pace, an instructional intervention, has potential for widespread implementation because student behavior recorded in any learning management system is used by U-Pace instructors to tailor coaching of student learning based on students’ strengths and motivations. U-Pace utilizes an online learning environment to integrate content mastery with Amplified Assistance (instructor-initiated, individually tailored feedback on concepts not yet mastered and constructive support that every student receives via email weekly or more often as needed). Evaluation findings for U-Pace instruction revealed that compared to conventional, face-to-face instruction, U-Pace instruction was associated with greater academic success for all students and reductions in the achievement gap for “disadvantaged” students.Additionally, “disadvantaged” U-Pace students showed improvements in the rate of content mastery and intrinsic motivation.  Consistent with these indicators of improvement in self-regulated learning skills, U-Pace students reported greater improvements in their time management and study skills, greater control over their learning and a greater sense of achievement than conventionally-taught students. The convergence of findings from student reports, performance measures recorded within the learning management system, and objectively determined grades suggests U-Pace instruction holds promise for higher education.

Over   the   last   two   decades,   students   and   teachers,   across   educational   levels   and   disciplines,   have   been   subject  to  a  variety  of school  reform  efforts.  Nevertheless,  some  instructional  practices,  such  as  portfolio   assessment,   persist   and   grow   in   popularity   even   in   the   midst   of   changing   educational   reform   goals   and   shifting   priorities.   Teacher   education   programs   have   used   paper-­based   portfolios   for   more   than   three   decades.   Recently,   institutions   have   migrated   to   electronic   portfolios   since   these   provide   several  advantages.   Early   models   of   these   systems   required   special   technical   skills,   hardware,   or   fee-­based   contracts   with   service   providers.   The   newest   iteration   of   portfolio   platforms   are   based   on   social   media   applications,  which  are  easy  to  use,  free,  and customizable.  However,  the  accelerated  adoption  of  social   media  applications  as  repositories  for  student  portfolio  content  has  produced several  gaps  in  the  literature.   Three   of   these   include   steps   for   implementing   electronic   portfolios   in   social   media   platforms,   instructional   methods   for   soliciting   quality   entries   from   students   through   questions   and   prompts,   and   student  perceptions  about using  social  media  as  a  repository  for  electronic  portfolio  content.  Results  from   a   case   study   identifying   student   perceptions   of   combining   social   media   and   electronic   portfolios   are   examined.  Future  lines  of  inquiry  are  discussed.

Over the past twelve years, Monroe Community College (MCC), in Rochester, NY, has administered three surveys to non-successful online students to ask about their perceptions of online learning and to learn about student perceived barriers in the online environment. For these surveys, non-successful students were defined as those students who received a grade of F or W in an MCC online course.

Typically, these particular students do not share their perceptions of online learning with the college because they rarely participate in end of the year student satisfaction surveys. Thus, their perceptions are often invisible and unknown to institutions. In the MCC surveys, students were asked to: share their perspectives on why they felt that were not successful in their online class; comment on their expectations for online classes; and share the advice that they would give to a student who was considering taking an online MCC class. The students’ responses to these questions were fairly consistent over the course of time that the surveys were conducted, 2000-2001, 2005-2006, and 2009-2010. The combined responses for the three surveys indicated that the number one reason why students felt that they were not successful in their online course was because they “got behind and couldn’t catch up.”

Although online student satisfaction surveys provide insights into the perceptions of online students, the voluntary respondents to these surveys are those students who typically did well in the course. A review of the results of the responses from unsuccessful online students broadens the scope of the voice of the students and brings to the forefront the perspectives of students who were not successful. These data can help to inform the types of student services support that unsuccessful online MCC students feel are needed.