ComDev at Malmö University as a representation of “Digital for Development”. An example of a pioneer in distance-based learning

• Main Author: Sedikova, Daria
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS) 2020
• Subjects: ICT; Mediatization; Communication for development; Glocalization; Interviewing; Survey research; Globalization; Engineering and Technology; Teknik och teknologier
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-23518

AbstractThe importance of technological progress is hard to downplay, and it becomes even moreobvious in the times of the crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has been changing the normalflow of everyday life: a lot of countries have closed their borders, unnecessary travel isreduced to minimum, online grocery shopping breaks any possible records, we live withthe feeling of uncertainty what tomorrow may bring...But despite all that, life is goingon. Work processes have not stopped, on the opposite, “home office” has become the newnormal; universities still provide knowledge to students thanks to distance learning. Allkinds of technological tools help us keep different processes running – we areexperiencing a rapid turn to a more digital and sustainable future.Long before the coronavirus and its effect on the mankind in general, the Communicationfor Development programme at Malmö University (Malmö, Sweden) has demonstratedan example of the use of information and communication technologies in practice. Theprogramme has been running for almost 20 years already (September, 2020, marks its20th anniversary), and its distance learning format has been one of the main attractivefactors for students with other commitments, such as family, job, voluntary work, etc.More than that, an innovative and interdisciplinary nature of the programme has made itpossible for people from all around the world, with different backgrounds and lifeschedules, participate in it.On the one hand, it looks like ICT and new media have created a perfect ground for thestudying process. But on the other hand, probably it is quite early to be too optimisticabout it.This paper tries to look deeper into the role that the pedagogical approaches,communication, media and digital channels play for the ComDev students and alumni.The current work also aims at investigating the impact of ComDev on their alumni’s pathsand practical use of the acquired theoretical knowledge in the field of social change.Survey research in the form of an online questionnaire and semi structured interviews areused as a quali-quantitative methodological approach in the body of the paper.I would like to carry out this study as action research for optimization of the learningprocess and finding more efficient ways of promoting social change, that could be helpfulin the future for ComDev.