How Undergraduate Female Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Perceive Social Media as a

115 Pages·2015·4.1 MB·English

University of Windsor
Scholarship at UWindsor
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
7-11-2015
How Undergraduate Female Students in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Perceive Social Media as
a Learning Tool: An Exploratory Study
Alaa Ibraheem Kutbi
University of Windsor
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Kutbi, Alaa Ibraheem, "How Undergraduate Female Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Perceive Social Media as a Learning
Tool: An Exploratory Study" (2015).Electronic Theses and Dissertations.Paper 5290.
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How Undergraduate Female Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Perceive Social
Media as a Learning Tool: An Exploratory Study
by
Alaa Kutbi
University of Windsor

A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
through the Faculty of Education and Academic Development
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Master of Education at the
University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
2014

© 2014 Alaa Kutbi
ii

How Undergraduate Female Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Perceive Social
Media as a Learning Tool: An Exploratory Study

by
Alaa Kutbi

APPROVED BY:

___________________________________
W. Park
School of Social Work

_________________________________
K. Smith
Faculty of Education and Academic Development

___________________________________
Z. Zhang, Advisor
Faculty of Education and Academic Development

18 February 2015
iii

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this
thesis has been published or submitted for publication.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon
anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques,
quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis,
published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard
referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material
that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act,
I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include
such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my
appendix.
I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as
approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has
not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution.
iv

ABSTRACT
Social media in the classroom is no longer a hot topic for many countries
because most schools are taking advantage of the technologies. However, most of the
Saudi students do not experience the use of social media in education.
This study is intended to determine how Saudi female undergraduate students
perceive the social media in education. The sample was 25 students at a Saudi University.
The study was qualitative; a questionnaire and an interview were used.
Three research questions were explored: How do they perceive social media in
education? Do they prefer social media in education, and Why? What could be done to
make social media a better tool for education?
The study revealed that most participants had positive perception of the use of
social media in education. Reasons were ranged between personal, educational, social,
and technical. Students’ suggestions regarding improving the use of social media in
education were varying.
v

DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my husband, Madani, and my kids, Lana, Toleen and Faris. I
give my deepest expression of love and appreciation for the encouragement that they gave
and the sacrifices they made during this graduate program. I thank them for the support
and company during late nights of typing. I thank them for encouragement during the
challenges of graduate school and life. I am truly thankful for having them in my life.
This work is also dedicated to my parents, Ibrahim and Zainab, who have always loved
me unconditionally and whose good examples have taught me to work hard for the things
that I aspire to achieve.
vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Zuochen
Zhang, for the continuous support of my Master study and research, for his patience,
motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time
of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor
and mentor for my Master study.

Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Dr. Kara
Smith, and Dr. Wansoo Park, for their encouragement, insightful comments, and hard
questions.

My sincere gratitude also goes to Dr. Norah Almalki, for sharing her class and experience
with me. I would like to thank her for all the time and the effort she has put to send me all
of the necessary information required to complete my thesis.

Last, but not the least, I would like to thank my parents, my husband, and my kids for
supporting me spiritually throughout my life.
vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY .............................................................................. iii
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iv
DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………………………x
LIST OF APPENDICES ..…………….…………………………………………………xi
Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Purpose Statement ..................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 2: The Review of Related Literature ...................................................................... 5
2.1 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at a Glance ............................................................... 5
2.2 Social Media ........................................................................................................... 13
2.3 The Advantages of Social Media ............................................................................ 14
2.3.1 Communication. ........................................................................................... 14
2.3.2 Safe environment. ........................................................................................ 15
2.3.3 Self-directing intentional learning. .............................................................. 16
2.3.4 Entertaining factor. ....................................................................................... 17
2.3.5 Multiple media. ............................................................................................ 17
2.3.6 Knowledge Building. ................................................................................... 18
2.4 Challenges of Using Social Media .......................................................................... 20
2.4.1 Language Barrier. ......................................................................................... 20
viii

2.4.2 Internet technical problems. ...................................................................... ...25
2.4.3 Social Media. ............................................................................................... 32
Chapter 3: Methodology and Procedures .......................................................................... 38
3.1 Recruitment and General Procedures ...................................................................... 38
3.2 Participants .............................................................................................................. 38
3.3 Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 39
3.3.1 Instrumentation. ........................................................................................... 39
3.3.2 Questionnaire. .............................................................................................. 40
3.3.3 Interview. ..................................................................................................... 41
3.4 Research Design ...................................................................................................... 42
3.4.1 Twitter. ......................................................................................................... 43
3.4.2 Facebook. ..................................................................................................... 44
3.4.3 YouTube. ...................................................................................................... 44
3.5 The Role of the Researcher ..................................................................................... 48
3.6 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 48
3.6.1 Questionnaires. ............................................................................................. 48
3.6.2 Interviews. .................................................................................................... 49
Chapter4: Results and Findings ......................................................................................... 50
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 50
4.2 Findings ................................................................................................................... 50
4.2.1 Students’ overall experience. ....................................................................... 50
4.2.2 Students’ opinions regarding the use of social media as learning tool. ....... 53
ix

4.2.3 Students’ reasons behind preferring or not preferring social media as a
learning tool. ......................................................................................................... 55
4.2.4 Students’ recommendation to improve the use of social media as a learning
tool. ....................................................................................................................... 63
Chapter 5: Discussion and Limitations .............................................................................. 64
5.1 Review of the Major Findings and Research Questions ......................................... 64
5.2 Research Question 1 ............................................................................................... 67
5.3 Research Question 2 ............................................................................................... 68
5.3.1 Students who preferred social media in education. ...................................... 69
5.3.2 Students who don’t preferred social media in education. ............................ 74
5.4 Research Question 3 ............................................................................................... 75
5.5 Limitations of the Study .......................................................................................... 76
5.6 Recommendation for Future Studies ...................................................................... 78
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 79
APENDECES…………..……………………………………………………………...…92
VITA AUCTORIS…………..……..…………………………………………...………105