Exploring vodcasts as a supportive learning tool.

Abstract

Open and distance learning witnessed a paradigm shift, especially in communication science which is an inherently innovative discipline, to inventive advances designed to facilitate the parallel distance education streams. Virtual learning became a key component to enhance the effectiveness of online learning systems in the 21st century. Vodcasts, a relative new technology and novel medium used worldwide to enhance information transfer and allow students to download and transfer it to their own electronic devices, have demonstrated to be one such learning method. It is argued that vodcasts can be used as a resource to challenge comprehensive learning objectives, to supplement the fundamental delivery of content and curriculum and to improve the learning of students. Various studies indicated that the open and distance learning based approach should be reformed to an integrative approach with increased emphasis on student-centeredness and self-learning. To explore this, the aim of this article is to conduct a comprehensive study that investigates the use and perceptions of undergraduate communication science students on vodcasts available for download from the communication science module web site to enhance their learning. Twenty-four module-related vodcasts were accessed within an interpretivistic paradigm based on thematic categories derived from Monge’s (1999) three notable influences of globalisation on communication, namely: time and space compression; global consciousness and reflexivity; and disembeddedness in single locations. This analysis was supplemented with the perceptions of the students to the newly introduced medium and perceived benefits.