1. The document discusses a study on Saudi students' perceptions of using Twitter for learning. 2. A survey of 223 Saudi students found relatively positive perceptions of Twitter for communication, sharing information, and informal learning. 3. Female students had a slightly more positive perception of Twitter for learning than male students.

1. The Perception of
Saudi Students towards
Using Microblogging (Twitter)
By
Mohammed Al Abdulatef
EDCT 6052
Dr. Teresa Franklin
Spring 2012

2. Introduction
What is the difference between Microblogging and
Blog
 blogging is “associated with longer, more reflective pieces often
developed away from the spatial/temporal location where the initial
thoughts occurred” (Ramsden,2009)
 Microblogging is “restricted to short pieces which are captured and
immediately posted” (Ramsden,2009)
 Example of Microblogging;
 Twitter
 Pownce
 Tumblr
 MySay
 Frazr

3. How might micro-blogging be
used in an educational context?
Microblogging has been adopted in different
educational settings for a variety of educational
purposes, for example;
1. Just-in-time interaction ( Luo&Franklin,2012; Luo&Gao,2012;
Ramsden, 2009)
2. Communication (Castro, 2009; Hadian, Froese & Sanseverino, 2011)
3. Distance Education Tool (Luo&Gao,2012; Perifanou ,2009;
Ramsden, 2009).
4. Informal learning activities (Borau, Ullrich, Feng & Shen, 2009;
Luo&Gao,2012; Luo&Franklin,2012)
5. Collaboration (Borau, Ullrich, Feng & Shen, 2009; Luo&Gao,2012;
Luo&Franklin,2012)

4. Purpose of Study
The main purpose of this study is to investigate The
perception of Saudi students towards using
Microblogging (Twitter) for learning. The variable that
will be considered in this study include the gender.
Until now, few research has been conducted to
understand and measure Saudi students' perceptions
towards using Microblogging (Twitter) for learning.

5. Research questions
This study attempts to answer the following
questions:
1. What are the perception of Saudi students toward
Microblogging (Twitter)?
2. From students’ perspective, How do Saudi students use
Microblogging (Twitter) in their classrooms?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantage of integrating
Microblogging (Twitter) for learning?
4. Are there significant mean differences in Saudi students
(male, female) and their perceptions toward using Microblogging
(Twitter) for teaching and learning?

6. Study Method
 Participants
The participants of the study were group of Saudi
students from different universities in Saudi Arabia
during the academic year 2012-2013 . For the
sample, 223 participants were selected randomly. 29
participants were female (13%) and 194 (86%) were
male. Most of the participants were undergraduate
students.
 Instrument
The study survey instrument was a questionnaire
consisted of 33 items with 5 scales (Strongly disagree,
Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree). See
the instrument (Arabic version)
 Analysis
The researcher used the One-Way Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) to test the hypothesis.

7. Finding and Result
Descriptives
P_question
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Minimum Maximum
Mean
Lower Bound Upper Bound
male 194 3.1885 .37569 .02697 3.1353 3.2417 1.81 4.06
female 29 3.3650 .26211 .04867 3.2653 3.4647 2.77 3.81
Total 223 3.2115 .36730 .02460 3.1630 3.2599 1.81 4.06
ANOVA
P_question
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups .785 1 .785 5.952 .015
Within Groups 29.164 221 .132
Total 29.950 222

8. Finding and Result

9. Conclusion
1. The results of this study indicate that Saudi students have relatively positive
perception towards using Microblogging (Twitter) for learning.
2. The findings also indicate that the majority of Saudi students use
Microblogging (Twitter) in the classroom for communication, sharing
information, deliver assignment content, and Informal learning activities.
3. The majority of Saudi students believe that Microblogging (Twitter) is
efficient, convenient, and includes information with high quality.
4. There was a statistically significant difference between the perception of
Saudi students and their gender.

10. Future Implication and
Recommendation
1. More rigorous methods to measure participation and
engagement are needed in future research.
2. Research need more investigation about Microblogging
(Twitter).
3. Before implementing the Twitter in classroom
, universities should develop educational policy about
using it in education.
4. Universities should train their students to use
Microblogging.

11. Reference
Borau, K., Ullrich, C., Feng, J., & Shen, R. (2009). Microblogging for Language Learning :
Using Twitter to Train Communicative and Cultural Competence. (M. Spaniol, Q. Li, R.
Klamma, & R. Lau, Eds.)Applied Linguistics, 5686(500), 78-87. Springer. Retrieved
from http://www.springerlink.com/index/X71216H278646187.pdf
Hadian, S., Froese, M.E. & Sanseverino, M. (2011). The Use of Micro-Blogging in the
Teaching and Learning Process. In T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of
World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications
2011 (pp. 2451-2456). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from
http://www.editlib.org/p/38203.
Luo, T. & Franklin, T. (2012). “You got to be follow-worthy or I will unfollow you!”
Students’ Voices on Twitter integration into classroom settings. In P. Resta
(Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education
International Conference 2012 (pp. 3685-3688). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Ramsden, A. (2009). Using micro-blogging (Twitter) in your teaching and learning: An
introductory guide. Read. University of Bath. Retrieved from
http://opus.bath.ac.uk/15319/