An empirical study comparing social media tools on e-learning

This paper explains how social media has influenced teaching and learning activities at present on Saudi university teachers and students. In spite of the use of various social media platforms for learning has quickly become a norm in the online world هn most universities in African countries, there is urgent need to investigate the impact of social media usage and user experiences on the adoption of mobile learning and technologies in Saudi higher educational institution. Therefore, this study also aims to compare its results to the other similar studies that have already been published in African countries. Through a quantitative research design, questionnaire comprising items adapted from past studies was used to gather data from respondents on their perspectives and attitude towards social media usage to encourage collaboration and communication. The results indicated apparently that smart phones are the best possible device to enhance the use of social media in education, where all teachers and almost 97% of students own it, and almost 85% of the students have Internet access at home vs. 95% of the teachers. In regards the social media applications, teachers and students use WhatsApp as a main tool, with 67% for the teachers, and almost 73% for the students. Additionally, official guidelines should be developed to control social media usage among lecturers and students. Finally, an effective plan should be in place to enhance social media use, to improve the performance of both students and lecturers.