THE VIEWS OF PH.D. SAUDI STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW TO UTILISE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS TO SUPPORT LEARNING

Abstract

This paper examined the perception of using social media tools to support learning among Ph.D. Saudi students at the University of Glasgow. It also examined the benefits of using social media tools for learning and the important role that these tools can play to facilitate the educational process. Moreover, it examined the barriers they could face during the use of social media tools in the education process. Participants in this study were 3 Ph.D. Saudi students at the University of Glasgow. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data for this study. The results indicate that students, both male and female, are using social media tools and their opinions largely coincide regarding the benefits of and barriers to social media usage. The results pointed out that the major barriers to using these tools in learning were a distraction, privacy, and the lack of available high-speed Internet. The study recommended that this study could be replicated at other Saudi Ph.D. students at different universities to investigate teachers and students' perception to use these modern technologies for learning as well as find out factors and barriers that might affect Saudi teachers and students’ attitudes toward using social media tools for learning.