Audiovisual Media Communications in Adult Education: The case of Cyprus and Greece of Adults as Adult Learners

Abstract

Nowadays, audiovisual media technologies and audiovisual content (audiovisual media communications) play an important role in our physical/psychological health, education, and lifelong learning, causing the redefinition of the teaching methodology. As presented in the literature, the use of audiovisual media communications presuppose a new way of approaching effective teaching, which requires the educators on all educational levels and disciplines to display with competence many advanced skills and abilities. The aim of this research is to provide data that will contribute to the effective teaching utilizing audiovisual media communications in adult education. This research is a secondary research from two researches, which are qualitative and based on a quantitative method of analyzing. The primary data were collected through experiment method from adults (18 years and older), in Cyprus and Greece. The results confirm the current debate of using audiovisual media technologies within the educational process in technology-enhanced learning in education, both from the literature, and from the findings and results of various researches. This research is part of a larger, ongoing research that explores the multidisciplinary field that incorporates media, audiovisual content, and education (MACE), information and communications technologies (ICTs) in adult education (in Greece and Cyprus).

Media Studies, Audiovisual Media Communications, and Generations: The Case of Budding Journalists in Radio Courses in Greece

“…The results of the reported research with the secondary analysis showed that the educational techniques and the audiovisual media communications (in particular the audiovisual content) used maintained the interest and attention of the participants (students/learners) (Nicolaou et al 2021, p. 300), who were members of Generation Z (GenZ from here on) (people born from 1995 and onwards) (see Seemiller and Grace 2018;Twenge 2017), which was a risk in the field of education, but at the same time expected, considering their genealogical characteristics as members of the reported generation, and in particular how they consume audiovisual content compared to other generations (see also Podara et al 2021bPodara et al , 2020Podara et al , 2019c. The research through the secondary analysis concluded that young students/learners as adult learners (18-25 years) attending media studies as budding journalists may find it easier to adopt new approaches and technological innovations, as well as the consumption of audiovisual content, over other academic programs and professions , which is confirmed through other relevant research with young adult learners (see Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020;Podara et al 2021b) and/or with students/learners studying in the field of media studies (see Podara et al 2020;Matsiola et al 2019;Podara et al 2019bPodara et al , 2019cPodara et al , 2018Paschalidis and Milioni 2010).…”

“…Nowadays, the Internet as ICTs is the culmination of the field of communication as a body of information (Kholdarvovna 2021;Chen and Zhang 2009), with access to comprehensive multimedia communication (Nicolaou 2011b, p. 43) to the people as active online users from and through the Internet with multimodal content (i.e., text, images/photograph, sound/audio media in the form of sound recordings, certain sounds, music/songs, sound effects (sfx), etc., as well as in the combined format with video), such as the media websites that add a cumulative value through the contributions of users (Antonopoulos et al 2015, p. 48), which may even influence public opinion (Antonopoulos and Veglis 2013;Spyridou et al 2013). This phenomenon occurs primarily in the younger generations' users (see Ryberg et al 2011), such as GenZ (see Seemiller and Grace 2018;Twenge 2017) and Millennials (see Howe and William 2000;Howe and Nadler 2008), who tend to use the Internet and ICTs more and more in every aspect of their daily lives (see Podara et al 2021b;Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020;Podara et al 2020;Matsiola et al 2019;Podara et al 2018Podara et al , 2019aPodara et al , 2019bPodara et al , 2019c as digital natives (Prensky 2001a;Prensky 2001b). On the other hand, today we also have GenX (see Neil Howe [1991] 1992;Markert 2004), the Baby Boomer Generation (people born from 1946 to 1964) (see Owram 1996;Jones 2008), and the Silent Generation (people born from 1925 to 1945) (see Strauss and Howe 1997;Carlson 2008), who are unfamiliar with the use of technology and especially with new technologies (e.g., with smart devices) as digital immigrants (Prensky 2001a(Prensky , 2001b.…”

“…In conclusion, based on the relevant literature review and corresponding findings of previous studies and research on the generations and generational cohorts in relation to the media (see, for example, Podara et al 2020Podara et al , 2019aPodara et al , 2019bPodara et al , 2019c and the use of audiovisual media communications in education (see, for example, Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020), and especially in the field of media studies (see, for example, Matsiola et al 2019), we assume that most generations' members have exactly the same genealogical characteristics and habits (e.g., media use) as highlighted in basic generational theory (e.g., Neil Howe [1991] 1992;Tapscott 2009Tapscott , 1998. At this point, we should mention that beyond the broadly known generations and generational cohorts, there are also other generations, such as cusp generations (i.e., crossbreed generations or cross-over generations) (see Codrington andGrant-Marshall [2004] 2013;Smit 2017).…”

“…(see Georgiadou and Kolaxizis 2019;Matsiola et al 2019;Nicolaou et al 2019;Şardagı and Öztürk 2019;Quinn-Allan 2010), contributes to effective teaching, to technologyenhanced learning, and to the provision of easier acquired knowledge (Frolova et al 2020;Nicolaou 2019a;Nicolaou et al 2019;Ewing et al 2018). The triptych of information communication technologies (ICTs), which are the main backbone of the media (see Mbeke et al 2010;Schiffrin 2017), provide the kind of knowledge that creates a new modernized and digital age of experiences for each generation, respectively (Thurder 2021;Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020;Nicolaou et al 2019;Kim 2019;Edwards [2010] 2010) (something we will discuss below). Audiovisual media technologies (including mass media, e.g., radio and television) are integrated in ICTs and are ubiquitous in education at all educational levels and disciplines (including adult education) as educational techniques and/or communication tools (Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020;Nicolaou et al 2019), and they are used (a) to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and disseminate (digital) media literacy (see Gutiérrez Martín and Tyner 2012;Hobbs and Jensen 2009;Pulido-Rodríguez and Tortajada-Giménez 2008;Bleed 2005;Livingstone 2004); (b) to implement any advanced abilities and skills with competence (such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, etc.)…”

“…The triptych of information communication technologies (ICTs), which are the main backbone of the media (see Mbeke et al 2010;Schiffrin 2017), provide the kind of knowledge that creates a new modernized and digital age of experiences for each generation, respectively (Thurder 2021;Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020;Nicolaou et al 2019;Kim 2019;Edwards [2010] 2010) (something we will discuss below). Audiovisual media technologies (including mass media, e.g., radio and television) are integrated in ICTs and are ubiquitous in education at all educational levels and disciplines (including adult education) as educational techniques and/or communication tools (Nicolaou and Kalliris 2020;Nicolaou et al 2019), and they are used (a) to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and disseminate (digital) media literacy (see Gutiérrez Martín and Tyner 2012;Hobbs and Jensen 2009;Pulido-Rodríguez and Tortajada-Giménez 2008;Bleed 2005;Livingstone 2004); (b) to implement any advanced abilities and skills with competence (such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, etc.) (Farrington et al 2012;Nicolaou et al 2019); and (c) to achieve proper and constructive communication (verbal and non-verbal) as communication skills (see Nicolaou and Kalliris 2021;Nicolaou 2020;Tugtekin and Koc 2020;Nicolaou 2019c;Pulido-Rodríguez and Tortajada-Giménez 2008;Nicolaou 2014;Hargie [1986] 2006), for the teacher/instructor/educator (educator from here on) and the students/learners as well.…”