1995 Volkswagen Jetta AC/Heat Blower Speed Controls

I have a question pertaining to the knob that is responsible for controlling the output of the AC and heat and the speed setting of the blowers. The knob has settings 0 through 4. Over the past few months, I noticed that while running my air conditioning during the summer that the area around the knob with the knob included began to get extremely hot to the touch, so much so that it would have burned my fingers to touch it for more than a couple of seconds. Subsequently, air stopped being blown from the vents on the lower knob settings with the AC on. It would work on the higher ones. Now, in using my heat as the winter months have started, all of the knob settings have stopped working and no air (hot or cold) can be blown from the vents. I was wondering from all of this if this is somewhat of a straightforward problem that could be fixed without a long expensive trip to the repair shop or if it should be diagnosed more extensively before anything can be said for sure about it. I am very naive when it comes to car repair but would like to do what I can myself! Thanks!

--Christopher Hall