In the digital era and with the prevalence of media usage in open, distance, and digital education, learners increasingly use media to facilitate their learning in various ways. Media usage in today’s learning environment ranges from watching a video or listening to a podcast to annotating a digital book collaboratively or sharing thoughts on Twitter. Learners demonstrate diverse media usage behaviors under different settings for different purposes. The goal of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive overview of learners’ media usage in open, distance, and digital education settings. In this chapter, the authors first review the development of media usage in open, distance, and digital education, as well as learner media usage behavior as a research-agenda shift from a contemporary research and practice perspective. Next, the diverse learner typologies regarding media usage behaviors, as well as research on learner media usage and its implications, are discussed. The chapter concludes with an outlook on media usage in open, distance, and digital education and research directions in the near future. Understanding learners’ media usage will guide research on how to promote learning with the facilitation of media and provide insights into the design and development of future open, distance, and digital education.

In the digital era and with the prevalence of media usage in open, distance, and digital education, learners increasingly use media to facilitate their learning in various ways. Media usage in today’s learning environment ranges from watching a video or listening to a podcast to annotating a digital book collaboratively or sharing thoughts on Twitter. Learners demonstrate diverse media usage behaviors under different settings for different purposes. The goal of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive overview of learners’ media usage in open, distance, and digital education settings. In this chapter, the authors first review the development of media usage in open, distance, and digital education, as well as learner media usage behavior as a research-agenda shift from a contemporary research and practice perspective. Next, the diverse learner typologies regarding media usage behaviors, as well as research on learner media usage and its implications, are discussed. The chapter concludes with an outlook on media usage in open, distance, and digital education and research directions in the near future. Understanding learners’ media usage will guide research on how to promote learning with the facilitation of media and provide insights into the design and development of future open, distance, and digital education.