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

Abstract

In this article, the quality of media studies education through effective teaching utilizing audiovisual media technologies and audiovisual content (audiovisual media communications) to budding journalists as adult learners (18 years and older) is researched, with results primarily intended for application in radio lessons at all educational levels and disciplines (including adult education). Nowadays, audiovisual media communications play an important role in the modern and visual-centric way of our life, while they require all of us to possess multiple-multimodal skills to have a successful professional practice and career, and especially those who study media studies, such as tomorrow’s new journalists. Data were collected after three interactive teachings with emphasis on educational effectiveness in technology-enhanced learning, through a specially designed written questionnaire with a qualitative and quantitative form (evaluation form), as case study experiments that applied qualitative action research with quasi-experiments. The results (a) confirmed (i) the theory of audiovisual media in education, as well as (ii) the genealogical characteristics and habits of budding journalists as highlighted in basic generational theory, something which appears to be in agreement with findings of previous studies and research; and (b) showed that (i) teaching methodology and educational techniques aimed primarily at adult learners in adult education kept the interest and attention of the budding journalists through the use of such specific educational communication tools as audiovisual media technologies, as well as (ii) sound/audio media, as audiovisual content may hold a significant part in a lecture.

Media Trends and Prospects in Educational Activities and Techniques for Online Learning and Teaching through Television Content: Technological and Digital Socio-Cultural Environment, Generations, and Audiovisual Media Communications in Education

“…The use of audiovisual media communications as ICTs in education nowadays contributes to educational effectiveness in technology-enhanced learning as well as to the provision of knowledge or specific or/and combined skills that creating a new streamlined digital era and experience for generational cohort [6,11,15,17,[23][24][25]57]. Furthermore, audiovisual media communications play an equally important role in the modern and visual-centric way of our daily habits [24], while requiring everyone who uses them for work purposes (not only for educators) to have multiple-multimodal skills and abilities for a successful professional practice on the job and professional career [6,15,24,25,39,47,57].…”

“…On the other hand, the rapid developments of ICTs, as well as the combination of technological and digital social changes, have led researchers over the last three decades to baptize the generations with different names. Following the "Fourth Turning" theory of generations by generational experts William Strauss and Neil Howe [58,59], as well as Tapscott's research [60,61], the chronological rage of generations coincides and is influenced by the individuals' motivations and the use of the media, who have different ways of thinking, communicating, and learning, while contributing to the evolution of their own linguistic models and new communication codes [6,[19][20][21][23][24][25]40,[42][43][44][45][46][60][61][62][63][64]. The most discussed-about and researched generations of recent times are mainly the new generations, such as Generation Y (GenY from here on) (people born from 1980 to 1994) [65][66][67] and Generation Z (GenZ from here on) (people born from 1995 to 2010) [68,69], whose members were born during the period that the Internet began to enter our daily lives.…”

“…It was proposed mainly for adult learners in media studies aiming at the quality of the educational process using technology-enhanced learning [15]. Moreover, this theory has so far been applied to non-distance education teaching (or regular teaching) in higher, professional, and adult educations through research, and the research results and findings confirm it [6,24,25,51,52]. Finally, part of this specific theory has been presented and published in the proceedings of numerous (inter)national scientific conferences with international participation in Greece and Cyprus from 2015 after blind peer reviews by experts in the field [9,10,13,14,56].…”

“…The new order which has emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has led education administrators and educators to make (new) "changes", such as adjusting, adapting, or/and applying old (and forgotten) teaching methodologies and methods, educational activities, techniques, and communication tools [1][2][3][4][5]. The new modifications and changes, the so-called COVID-19 teaching methods or/and COVID-19 teaching tools and so on [4,5], have already been thoroughly studied, researched, and applied with different names in the recent past and led to various interesting research findings and results [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], following the development of the first web browser by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 [18], thus marking the creation and development of online learning and teaching. Furthermore, throughout the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, all educational systems worldwide suddenly shifted to online learning and began to plan and design the (new) future of education and digital transformation at all educational levels and disciplines (including adult education).…”

“…The new approaches in teaching methodologies through utilization of audiovisual media technologies and audiovisual content (audiovisual media communications), which have been proposed in recent years and have revolutionized the educational process in technology-enhanced learning, may be able to generate and further increase the likelihood of successful enhanced learning outcomes if used properly [15]. To accomplish this, we must keep in mind the genealogical characteristics, culture background and needs of each generational cohort must be taken into account [6,15,[23][24][25], because it that is, the recipient of these "new changes".…”