Global Advanced Research Journal of Educational Research and Reviews (GARJERR) ISSN: 2315-5132

August 2018, 7(1): pp. 001-005

Copyright © 2017 Global Advanced Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Using Social Media in Higher Education as Tools for Learning: What do faculty think? 

Omar Alshehri

University of Glasgow

Corresponding Author Email: umar2022@hotmail.com    

Accepted 03 August, 2018

Abstract

This paper examines the attitudes of instructors at an emerging university in southern Saudi Arabia regarding the use of social media tools to support learning and to investigate their current usage of these tools. It also examines the barriers that instructors perceive when they use social media tools in the classroom. The study surveyed a sample of 23 faculty members (educators) using a questionnaire. The results indicate that educators, both male and female, across academic ranks, are using social media tools and their opinions largely coincide regarding the benefits of and barriers to social media usage. Moreover, the study found that there was a significant difference among educators regarding social media usage in teaching. Although instructors use social media applications every day, they tend not to use them as a tool for learning. The study recommends that future research on the usage of social media tools for learning and teaching be extended to include a wider demographic base at the same or at a different university to further explore the extent to which the findings are generalisable. The study provides insights that may help professors, administrators, and decision-makers to recognise the extent to which instructors use and integrate social media tools to facilitate the educational process.

Keywords: Social media, benefits of social media use, barriers to social media use, higher education.