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While the integration of mobile and eTextbook technologies is rapidly growing throughout higher education learning environments, these technologies are often challenging to implement across the university landscape. Professional development tailored to these fluid and evolving technologies is essential to supporting effective classroom integration. The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate a special interest group approach to professional development regarding mobile and eTextbook technologies implemented by one university in the USA. Issues such as recruitment of members, selection of face-to-face and online spaces, and curriculum design are addressed.

To evaluate effectiveness, a survey was given to the participants that asked about sense of community, perceived increase in knowledge and teaching practices, and overall satisfaction with the experience.

The interrelated factors of sense of community, knowledge, and teaching practices were identified as valuable, along with group organization. Survey results revealed that participants highly valued the opportunity to share best practices with others they typically would not, and benefitted from the expertise of guest speakers. Online spaces were found to serve as a repository of on-demand resources and dissemination of information, while face-to-face meetings capitalized on interactivity and nurtured community. Sharing the work of the members with the university and beyond was critical to incentivizing members to produce, and also built further professional networks. The planning team identified a tension between encouraging active involvement from instructors and offering it in convenient ways given their other commitments.

Although this is a single case, this analysis suggests generalizable strategies that may create and sustain a community interested in mobile and eTextbook technologies.

Dynamic features of eTextbooks, such as taking interactive quizzes and sharing notes can make the practice of reading a textbook more supportive and engaging than before. While promising, challenges exist regarding the integration of eTextbooks in higher education, such as cost, usability, and lack of instructor development. There is a need for a more informed understanding of how instructors and learners are integrating eTextbooks to revolutionize learning spaces, in order to formulate next steps of action on a university level. While studies exist regarding universities with eTextbook initiatives, there is little empirical data concerning universities that offer eTextbooks without a focussed initiative. This paper aims to fill this gap.

In this paper, the results of a university-wide student survey are shared, which provide insight into factors such as the selection and use of eTextbooks, access, and beliefs regarding eTextbook use and learning.

Generally, we found that in a university setting without an eTextbook initiative, eTextbook use is relatively low and their features are not being effectively utilized by students or instructors. In any university that offers eTextbooks, instructor development is critical.

Findings from this survey guide the instructional design of instructor development. The findings also identify pertinent issues that any university is likely to face when considering an eTextbook initiative, such as raising student awareness, working with publishers, and providing effective technical and pedagogical support.

The aim for this chapter is to better understand the dynamics of social communication processes within Second Life®. Understanding communication processes in 3D online social virtual worlds is vital in embracing contemporary social issues and improving interpersonal and organizational relationships as these environments are rapidly growing in popularity in the education sector. In this chapter, we observed an undergraduate communication class and discussed four powerful interrelated forces behind the students' communication processes: (1) gamer status; (2) avatar appearance; (3) physical proximity; and (4) virtual proximity. Our findings can inform Arts and Science educators in general and Communication instructors in particular about how learners socially communicate and interact within a 3D online social virtual world and how teachers can foster students' communication and collaboration in this environment and support their content creation and collective knowledge building.

Robert Bodle received his Ph.D. in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. His research focuses on the social, political, and ethical implications of networked media (social media and networks, social reporting, alternative media, mobile and convergence culture, internet governance, information ethics, and new media literacies). As assistant professor of Communication Studies at the College of Mount St. Joseph, Bodle designs and teaches a digital media curriculum that includes Social Media and Social Change, New Media and Society, Human Rights in the Digital Age, New Media Ethics, and Visual Communication. His research appears in the Journal of International Communication, Information, Communication & Society, and the book collection The Ethics of Emerging Media: Information, Social Norms, and New Media Technology.

Universities are populated with a wide range of disciplines. The science disciplines and their instructors are stereotyped as tech-savvy while in the past humanities faculty have sometimes been seen as technophobic and traditional. As we advance through the second decade of the 21st century, we find instructors in all areas are embracing new technologies in their teaching. Our students have been born digital (Tapscott, 2009) and have not only experienced online games and social networking technologies such as Facebook but thrive in them. It should not be surprising that many of our colleagues are trying out the use of social media in their courses. This volume embodies a sharing of such experiences with the aim of moving you up the learning curve so that your thinking about how these new technologies might spark excitement, interaction, sharing, and enhanced work and learning by your students.