Distance education initially emerged in the United States in the 1800s. At the time, students obtained the needed paperwork via the post and then returned it to the university.
Scholars claim that online education is currently in its “fifth generation”. This implies that, like so much else in the world, information is supplied over the internet. Students want to be able to access instructional materials at a time and location that’s convenient to them. Flexibility is crucial.
The increasingly essential significance of multimedia in higher education was underlined during the COVID-19 epidemic. Universities that formerly hosted in-person sessions moved to digital, remote learning. Even though open-distance colleges were conceptually better suited for the changeover, given that their model meant they already employed technology and digital tools, many felt more comfortable with a hybrid learning strategy (some in-person teaching and part remote teaching).
It is already almost four years after COVID-19 was declared a worldwide epidemic. Much of society, including much of higher education, has reverted to “normal”.
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However, higher education institutions mustn’t discard the lessons acquired at the height of the epidemic about the significant role that multimedia can play in learning and teaching. This is particularly the case for open distance education, as it provides a method to enhance access to higher education for individuals from varied civilizations and backgrounds.
So, for my Ph.D. in education, I set out to design a post-pandemic multimedia framework for teaching and learning in open-distance schools in South Africa.
The report highlighted several hurdles that would impede the country’s open-distance schools from adopting such a structure. One is inadequate access by both students and institutions, but largely students, to information and communication technology infrastructure such as competent networks, cloud infrastructure, and the appropriate hardware and software tools.
Institutions also need to continuously upgrade their software and guarantee that their workers are always acquiring new skills as technologies advance. Crucially, institutional websites must be zero-rated; service providers should not charge for access to and usage of certain internet pages. It also emerged from my study that instructors considered WhatsApp to be a strong tool for learning and teaching.
The study
The bulk of students in the country’s higher education institutions are enrolled via the contact approach. But 370,891 (34.5% of all students) are pursuing their education via distance learning.
To conduct the research, I interacted with 15 participants from three chosen support departments (four deans, eight lecturers from four selected colleges, and three support staff participants) at an open-distance higher learning institution in South Africa.
I gave out questionnaires and conducted interviews with these subjects. I wanted to determine what their skill levels were related to multimedia technologies and how they utilized such tools throughout the epidemic. I also analyzed pertinent institutional papers.
One participant underlined that not only were multimedia solutions made accessible to staff, but academics were educated to utilize them. The institution’s multimedia center, they alleged, also outfitted certain workers with “audiovisual instruments of the job, such as podcast equipment”.
Several guests underlined how important WhatsApp had been as a tool, especially for “fast communication” with students. It was also, they added, a fantastic way to create ties with pupils. One informed me that Facebook was their go-to channel for general communication but that “for module-related stuff, WhatsApp was the major tool we used”.
What happens next?
Based on the findings of my research, I argue that collaborative leadership is essential to guarantee that there are suitable frameworks for multimedia as teaching and learning tools at open-distance universities. This may serve as guidance to institutions for embracing multimedia; it helps to arrange the structure of video material, audio, graphics, and text in a way that promotes instruction.
The South African government (especially the Department of Higher Education and Training), individual researchers, educational institutions, and the commercial sector all have a role to play.
The government, for instance, could hire and engage mobile network service providers to establish fiber and internet access, especially in the country’s remote regions. This will widen access. Integrating solar systems into electrical supply, particularly but not limited to these locations, is also vital.
Watching and downloading videos requires a tremendous quantity of data. So, zero-rating all websites connected to education is another strategy to provide access. In this method, students may access all the necessary information, not only static, text-based programs.