The potential and use of mobile devices in higher education has been a key issue for educational research and practice since the widespread adoption of these devices. Due to the evolving nature and affordances of mobile technologies, it is an area that requires ongoing investigation. This study aims to identify emerging trends in mobile learning research in higher education in order to provide insights for researchers and educators around research topics and issues for further exploration. This study analysed the research themes, methods, settings, and technologies in mobile learning research in higher education from 2011 to 2015. A total of 233 refereed articles were selected and analysed from peer reviewed journals. The results were compared to three previous literature review-based research studies focused between 2001 and 2010 to identify similarities and differences. Key findings indicated that: (a) mobile learning in higher education is a growing field as evidenced by the increasing variety of research topics, methods, and researchers; (b) the most common research topic continues to be about enabling m-learning applications and systems; and (c) mobile phones continue to be the most widely used devices in mobile learning studies, however, more and more studies work across different devices, rather than focusing on specific devices.

Recent research on e-learning shows that blended learning is more effective than faceto-face learning. However, a clear empirical response has not been given to the cause of such improvement. Using a data set of 9044 students at two Catalan universities and a quasi-experimental approach, two possible hypotheses identified in previous research are studied. The results show that the principal cause of the improvement is not, in itself, the increase in time spent online for educational purposes. Rather, increasing the time devoted to studying online is only useful when it takes place as some form of interactive learning. The educational implications of these results are discussed.

The use of technology is changing the way things are done, including the work in universities where the teaching and learning process are changing, and it is required to know the effect of technology on student achievement. In this research work, we present the influence of Internet use on academic success of students from five universities in Ecuador. A random sample of 4,697 people was got up and categorized in two groups: the use of Internet in academic activities and entertainment, using factor analysis and cluster analysis; the resulting categories were used as independent variables in multinomial logistic regression model which are seeking to determine if the use of Internet has impacted on academic success. The results show that people who perform interactive activities with peers and teachers or use in a balanced way the different internet tools tend to have more academic success than those who only seeks information. Regarding to the use of Internet in entertainment, a positive impact was found on academic achievement. Students who download audio, video and software, and students who use all the entertainment possibilities show less likely to fail than who using minimally Internet. In terms of gender, it has different effects for entertainment and academic purposes. El uso de la tecnología provoca cambios sociales. Esto incluye el trabajo en el ámbito universitario en donde está cambiando tanto la forma de ejercer la docencia como la forma de aprender y se requiere conocer el efecto del uso de la tecnología sobre el rendimiento del alumnado. En este trabajo se investigó la incidencia del uso de Internet sobre el éxito académico del alumnado de cinco universidades de Ecuador. Se levantó una muestra aleatoria de 4.697 personas y se las categorizó en perfiles de uso de Internet para actividades académicas y para entretenimiento, utilizando análisis factorial y análisis clúster. Las categorías resultantes se utilizaron como variables independientes en modelos de regresión logística multinomial que buscaban determinar si el uso de Internet tenía incidencia sobre el éxito académico. Los resultados muestran que quienes realizan actividades interactivas con pares y profesores o quienes utilizan de forma balanceada las distintas herramientas de Internet tienden a un mayor éxito académico que aquellos que solo buscan información. En lo referente al entretenimiento, se encontró una incidencia positiva del uso de Internet sobre el éxito académico. Los estudiantes que realizan descargas de contenido de audio, video y software, y quienes utilizan todas las posibilidades de entretenimiento, presentan menor tendencia a suspender que los estudiantes que utilizan mínimamente Internet. En cuanto al género se presentan diferencias en los usos académicos y de entretenimiento.

La relación de los individuos con internet conlleva una serie de consecuencias sociales y económicas para su vida. Este hecho es de especial relevancia en el caso de los estudiantes universitarios ya que sus conocimientos y hábitos de uso de internet pueden influir en las posibilidades de ocupar los trabajos cualificados para los que se están formando. Partiendo de la teoría de la segunda brecha digital, en esta investigación se investiga qué variables se relacionan con el nivel de habilidades de uso de internet y el uso de la web 2.0. entre los estudiantes universitarios. Para ello, se utiliza una base de datos con información sobre 14.727 estudiantes de las universidades públicas y presenciales catalanas. Los resultados muestran con claridad la relación entre la experiencia de uso de internet, el tipo de aprendizaje formal cursado y las características sociodemográficas con la variación en habilidades y usos de internet. Los resultados obtenidos son de utilidad para conocer que variables están influyendo, a través de la relación con internet, en la futura estratificación de los estudiantes en el mercado laboral y la sociedad. Palabras clave: Internet, educación superior, brecha digital; segunda brecha digital, desigualdad digital; usos de internet, habilidad de uso, web 2.0.

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In recent decades, there has been a steady growth in the population who enter higher education in both brick-and-mortar and, in particular, online universities. This has led to an increase in heterogeneous student profiles in a relatively short period of time. The purpose of this paper was to explore the student profiles at a university that gives all its courses online, namely the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), and analyse students’ perceptions of their university experience. With this goal in mind, we constructed a student typology based on their social conditions and backgrounds using multiple correspondence analysis. Subsequently, an analysis of variance (Kruskall-Wallis test) was run to detect whether there were any differences in students’ perceptions of the impact of their university experience (N = 1850). Although the prevailing profile of students in the online university continues to reflect students with responsibilities outside of the university (e.g., work and/or family), new profiles have been observed, made up of younger students without any work or family responsibilities. In turn, younger students’ distinct perceptions of their university experience has been observed, depending on student profiles, with older students having more intrinsic perceptions, focused on learning and the acquisition of theoretical knowledge.

A highly touted feature of the so-called global ''revolution'' in higher education is the trend to use information technology to reach a broader clientele. Although there is evidence that students may be learning the material in on-line courses as well as in traditional face-to-face universities, how well students learn content is not the only reason they persist to a degree, and student persistence is an important goal of higher education institutions. In this paper, we make the case that the life conditions for students attending virtual universities are different from those of ''traditional'' students in face-to-face universities, and that this difference puts a particular (largely non-pecuniary) premium on time to degree. With our data from a Catalan virtual university, the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), we are able to test this hypothesis directly by using the heterogeneous degree structure of the Catalonian/Spanish higher education system to estimate whether the number of courses required to get various degrees (the length of the degree program) is significantly related to student persistence. The study analyzes several cohorts of students (those who entered in [2000][2001][2002][2003] studying in the UOC and estimates the factors that influence their degree completion. We find that the completion rate is generally low, but that students taking shorter degree courses at the UOC are much more likely to complete their degrees. This suggests that, given their clientele, on-line universities operate under very different constraints from their face-to-face counterparts. Our results are important for higher educational researchers, who have mainly focused on younger populations attending

REsUMENNos encontramos en el inicio de una nueva evolución, como resultado del desarrollo de las TIC, y su introducción y uso intensivo en las dinámicas sociales y en la realidad educativa. Este avance de la tecnología digital ha creado entornos que favorecen en gran medida la interacción social. En los últimos años han emergido nuevas tendencias en el e-learning como el aprendizaje móvil, el modelo "Flipped Classroom", los MooC, los entornos personales de aprendizaje, el aprendizaje basado en juegos y las analíticas de aprendizaje; y en todas ellas está presente y se fortalece el aprendizaje colaborativo. Además, se comentaron efectos negativos que puede provocar un uso superficial de actividades colaborativas. Por último, se identificaron aspectos claves para llevar a cabo el diseño de actividades colaborativas, relativos a la formación de los grupos, la selección, claridad, flexibilidad y significatividad de la tarea, y su monitoreo y control.Palabras clave: e-learning, aprendizaje colaborativo, CsCL, TIC, tecnología educativa.ABsTRACT We are at the beginning of a new evolution because of the development of Information Technology and Communication (ICT), and their introduction and intensive use in social dynamics and educational reality. This advance of digital technology has created environments that greatly favor social interaction. In recent years, new trends have emerged in e-learning as mobile learning, the model "Flipped Classroom", massive open online courses, personal learning environments, game-based learning and learning analytics; in all of them, the collaborative learning is strengthened. In addition, some negative effects that can be caused by indiscriminate and superficial use of collaborative activities were discussed. Finally, main issues were identified to be considered to perform the design of collaborative activities, such as those relating to the formation of groups, selection, clarity, flexibility and significance of the task, and monitoring and control.