THE PERCEPTIONS OF FEMALES STUDENTS AT A NEW UNIVERSITY IN SAUDI ARABIA TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA AS ELEARNING TOOLS TO SUPPORT LEARNING

This paper examines the perspectives of female's students at a new university in Saudi Arabia to use social media as e-learning tools to support their learning. It also aims to investigate their current usage of these tools and the benefits behind using these tools for learning. Another aim of this study is to examine the difficulties that females' students face when they use social media tools in their learning process. The study participants comprised 23 Saudi females' students at a new university and surveyed was used to collect data for this study. The results indicate that female students are using social media tools and their opinions largely coincide regarding the benefits of and barriers to social media usage. 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 a different university to further explore the extent to which these tools used for learning. The study provides insights that may help decision-makers at the university to recognise the extent to which females use and integrate social media tools to facilitate the educational process.