Date
12-19-2024
Department
School of Communication and the Arts
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Communication (PhD)
Chair
Wesley Hartley
Keywords
Communication, multimedia, uses and gratifications theory, faculty, students
Disciplines
Communication | Education
Recommended Citation
Lord, Shelby, "Exploring the Uses and Gratifications of Higher Education Online Multimedia Instructional Tools: A Qualitative Study" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6408.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6408
Abstract
This research study examined the communication goals that motivate California Community College (CCC) faculty to employ multimedia instructional tools in their online classes. Additionally, this study investigated the positive and negative impacts of multimedia instructional tools on faculty-to-student communication. A qualitative research method was utilized for this research study. Findings were obtained from June 2024 through August 2024 using 25 qualitative semi-structured one-on-one interviews. Participants were faculty who were currently teaching remote classes through the CCC system, faculty who approved the informed consent for the study, and faculty who agreed to participate in a semi-structured interview. A thematic analysis process was utilized in this study to discover keywords, codes, themes, and sub-themes. Some major themes were discovered, including multimedia instructional tools enhancing communication and engagement, customizing learning through multimedia instructional tools, diversity in learning and communication approaches through multimedia instructional tools, technological challenges and barriers of multimedia instructional tools, and personalization, flexibility, efficiency, and accessibility in instruction and communication through multimedia instructional tools. Numerous sub-themes were developed and explained in chapters four and five. Many of the sub-themes uncovered throughout this study support and reinforce previous findings and existing research discussed in chapters one and two. However, some sub-themes that were revealed in this research study contradict earlier research cited in chapters one and two. These findings were explained in chapters four and five. Ultimately, uses and gratifications theory and the socio-psychological tradition were utilized to help connect and comprehend the research findings.
