Though separated by geographical distance, a student with disabilities, his advisor, and his writing coach consorted in the Cloud using Google applications to achieve a writing goal. Our scenario demonstrates how emerging technologies can bridge transactional distance and "virtually" supplant face-to-face conferencing around a college writing assignment. Individual levels of technical acumen with digital technology evolved to bridge the psychological and communication space between the student and his instructors. As a result, the telecollaborators developed an efficient coaching process adaptable for all students who need assistance in revising college writing assignments at a distance. Action research frames our discussion of the Cloud collaboration and provides a scaffold for student autonomy. The advantages as well and disadvantages of Cloud collaboration are outlined with reference to the National Institute of Standards of Technology definition of Cloud Computing and the Seven Principles of Universal Course Design.

While text-based feedback is normally used by college instructors to help students improve their written assignments, it is important to consider using voice comment tools for further personalization. New and easily-accessible technologies provide this option. Our study focused on surveying undergraduates who received voice comments on their written assignments. Students were queried on their preferences for feedback delivery and survey questions probed student responses both quantitatively and qualitatively. Two voice comment tools were used: Adobe Acrobat Reader and Kaizena voice comments. Results showed the majority (66.7%) of students surveyed preferred the addition of voice comment feedback over written comments alone. Appendices supply tool information, full data sets and extensive student commentary regarding their experience after receiving voice comments.

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Point-of-care testing (POCT) provides rapid, accurate results that facilitate diagnosis and patient management. POCT for infectious agents allows timely infection prevention and control interventions and informs decisions around safe patient placement. However, POCT implementation requires careful governance as they are primarily operated by staff with limited prior education on laboratory quality control and assurance processes. Here, we describe our experience implementing SARS-CoV-2 POCT in the emergency department of a large tertiary referral hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe collaborative governance between pathology and clinical specialities, quality assurance, testing (volume and positivity rates), impact on patient flow and focus on lessons learnt during implementation that should be incorporated into revised pandemic preparedness planning.