Teaching Innovation Experience for COVID-19 Times: A Case Study on Blended Learning of Television Journalism Courses with Moodle

Abstract

The effective implementation of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in higher education is not guaranteed without serious and rigorous pedagogical reflection. It is essential to maintain an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of the learning process. A debate accelerated by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the growing role of virtual and remote learning in universities worldwide. This research aims to overcome the quantitative approach of previous work with qualitative evidence to contribute to the field knowledge. The designed case study is based on a Moodle teaching experience in communication studies at a Spanish university. This innovative methodology is developed within a hybrid teaching ecosystem (blended learning) with the support of a virtual platform (Aula Virtual). The sample analysed is composed of 77 students enrolled in the subject ‘Television Journalism’. The design of an original and novel data collection instrument has supplied various quantitative and qualitative data. The triangulation of four data collection techniques has provided a demographic profile, an activity report, a grading report and a satisfaction report. The findings suggest a high degree of student satisfaction, with the experience and a significant improvement in students’ television writing skills, thanks to the implementation of Moodle.

A multivariable analysis on news production in Spain: digital newsroom profile, polyvalent journalists and gender perspective

“…Journalists no longer work for a specific section, not even for a news show, but they now work for the entire television outlet. These current dynamics occur independently of the medium and might lead to a decline in journalistic specialization (Mayo Cubero, 2021). In Deuze's (2008) words, it is liquid journalism, taking up the concept coined by Bauman (2000).…”

“…The manifest tension between polyvalence and specialization suggests the need for a serene, ethical, and scientific reflection (Mayo-Cubero, 2017). Whatever the medium, polyvalence can lead to a decrease in journalistic specialization and quality news production (Mayo-Cubero, 2021). Subcontracted news production has further altered journalists' working routines and undermined quality standards (Daum & Scherer, 2018).…”

Challenges and Opportunities for Education Systems with the Current Movement toward Digitalization at the Time of COVID-19

“…The application of different AI-based methods and digitalization plans have been considered for the automation of work processes and upholding of social distancing [2,30,32,40,48,106,107]. It will be necessary to focus on the application of AI methods for career planning and consulting with students and fostering their decisionmaking.…”

“…The highest emphasis will be on the digital skills of the students and learners for job-seeking in the post-coronavirus period. The departments can establish different short-term skillbased programs and long-term educational courses in novel fields such as digital psychology, motivational courses for remote employees, and digital management, to name a few [1,2,11,20,22,40,56,104,105]. In particular, in some fields such as medical education new competencies will be expected from the graduates [30,32,48,106,107].…”

“…Hence, classes have been shifted toward virtual meetings, remote instructions, and distant mentoring [15,20,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. Therefore, on the one hand, while faculty members and teachers needed to put into place a new scheme of distance teaching and mentoring [35][36][37][38][39], on the other hand, the students were also required to adopt the skills of using new technologies in order to learn the contents of their courses, relying on Moodle [40][41][42] and other digital devices [17,27,[43][44][45][46], alongside the difficulties in dislocation from their classmates that semester [2,27,47].…”