Global Advanced Research Journal of Educational Research and Review (GARJERR) ISSN: 2315-5132
October 2016, Vol. 5(6) pp. 074-076
Copyright © 2016 Global Advanced Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Usage of Social Media Technologies by Saudi Instructors at King Abdul-Aziz University to Support Students’ Learning

Hanan Ahmad Aifan

The University of Kansas

E-mail: hananaifan@hotmail.com

Accepted 11 October, 2016

Abstract

This paper is a report on the findings of a research investigating Saudi instructors' usage of social media to support their students learning as reported by the students. Descriptive statistics were used to examine whether the instructors use social media technologies to support the students’ learning; and what social media technologies the instructors are using as reported by the students. The findings revealed that 59 % of the students reported they have taken classes where social media were used by the instructors, while 41% of the students reported that social media were never used by their instructors. As reported by the students, the most frequently used tool by the instructors for learning purposes was WhatsApp (M= 3.01, SD=1.58). The second frequently used tools were YouTube (M=2.15, SD=1.36), and Twitter (M=2.04, SD=1.37). However, the least frequently used tool by the instructors was Skype (M=1.31, SD=.79). As social media technologies are emerging daily and adopted by the net generation, investigating obstacles, factors, and attitudes of the instructors to adopt social media to support students’ learning is crucial to help learners effectively utilize these tools to enhance their learning. Also, more studies are needed to examine how learning can be enhanced through the adoption of WhatsApp as one application of social media as it was the most used tool by the instructors in this current study.

Keywords: Social media, Saudi instructors, students' learning, instructors' attitudes, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter,  Facebook, Wikipedia, and Skype.