Examining the impact of emerging media on classroom community and engagement in higher education.

Over the years, the affordances of the digital age have had implications in nearly every industry, including education. Through the connectivism learning theory and the diffusion of innovation lens, this study seeks to understand how the integration of emerging media and digital tools in higher education has impacted factors such as classroom community and student engagement. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 professors to gain their perspectives on the implications and challenges of integrating emerging media into higher education. The interviews were categorized based on the conceptual framework and key variables under study to reveal recurring themes. The findings of the study explicate how professors define and implement emerging media, which forms of media professors are integrating, the perceived impact of these emerging tools on student engagement and classroom community, and the training, challenges and benefits professors encountered throughout the process of selecting and implementing emerging media resources into their courses.