Twitter as a Potential Lifelong Learning Environment in Higher Education from Saudi Students’ Practices and Perceptions: A Case Study

Abstract

One of higher education’s commitments is to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed for continued learning. Blending formal and informal learning approaches is the suggested approach to close the gap between learning in the real world and in classrooms. Social media is viewed as a bridge that can make learning seamless. This qualitative study aims to examine the use of Twitter as an educational environment in which to expand students’ informal lifelong learning. The case study itself discusses female Saudi master’s degree students engaged in learning activities on Twitter for a course at a university in Saudi Arabia. The study aimed to understand their perceptions of Twitter’s integration with course activities and investigated whether the integration of Twitter motivated students toward lifelong learning. Three students from the course participated in in-depth interviews and a content analysis of their tweets. The results indicate that students receive benefits from the integration, such as self-confidence, but also drawbacks, such as lack of information literacy skills. Key results from the content analysis indicated that participants engaged with the course’s Twitter account after the course formally finished. Formal learning hashtags in Twitter led some students to engage in a broader community. Suggestions for pedagogies were to be supported with necessary skills for lifelong learners and for the teacher to continue to engage with learners’ communities informally.