This study analyzed current uses of emerging Web 2.0 technologies in higher education with the intent to better understand which tools teachers are using in the classroom. A total of 189 faculty in higher education from three western US universities were invited to participate, with 54 completing the survey. The survey included open-ended questions as well to offer an alternative analysis approach. In this study, the respondents claimed that the intrinsic factors of a lack of time and training were the main barriers to use, and reported positive views of Web 2.0 use in class, with 75% saying that these tools would benefit students and 83% saying they would benefit teacher-student interactions. In contrast to these results only 44% of the respondents used at least 4 of the 13 listed Web 2.0 tools with students. The reported uses did not match with the reported benefits, and this would support the results that extrinsic factors (time, training, support), instead of intrinsic factors (beliefs, motivation, confidence) are the main barriers to faculty in this study using more Web 2.0 in education. The top five Web 2.0 tools used, in order of preference, follow: (a) video sharing with tools like YouTube; (b) instant messaging; (c) blogs; (d) social communities, such as Facebook; and (e) podcasts or video casts. This data was originally submitted to the Abraham S. Fischler School of Education in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education.

A federally managed university in the United Arab Emirates implemented a one-to-one iPad program. In an effort to increase access to interactive digital learning resources on the iPads, they next transitioned from paper-based textbooks (pTexts) to electronic textbooks (eTexts) on the iPad for all course delivery formats. The goal of this study was to survey and report on faculty perceptions among three university divisions with the intent of highlighting factors and barriers influencing adoption of iPad-accessed eTexts in the classroom. The objective was to enhance understanding of factors that both contributed to or hindered successful implementation of eTexts. The main findings of this study were that increased training was not perceived as needed by faculty, but instead better support of technical challenges, more efficient workflows in implementation, and usability and interactive features of the eTexts were all the barriers to successful adoption of eTexts in the classroom. Suggestions for project management approaches are given, with reviews on specific factors that influenced successful adoption. The results of this study may be used to improve project management workflows and faculty support in similar implementation projects.