Impact Of Digital Media In Breaking Barriers For Higher Education System In The Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Education has often known as a vital resource for a country's national growth, with numerous educational programs targeted such as eradicating hunger, growing a population's wellbeing or improving domestic economies (Lopukhova & Makeeva, 2017). Higher education holds a significant role in a country's life, as it offers trained and experienced professionals for sustainable growth and advancement. In its essence, higher education is evolving rapidly due to the advent of new technology and globalization. it is clearly observable that this paradigm shift will proceed significantly in the future. Higher education institutions are competing to participate in the accessibility, financing and world ranking of students and only those that eventually develop technologically advanced skills can survive in the market (Khalid et al., 2018). Bridgstock (2016) stated that university leaders need to be mindful of an increasing requirement to transform their processes and procedures, pedagogy and programs activities to address the needs of the knowledge community, the academic preferences of students as well as the technical advancement of faculty members. In addition, higher education is therefore the target of the widespread effect of information and communication technologies. 

Furthermore, digital and social media have entered human everyday life during the last decades. They helped to revolutionize the way of life of young people by one of the key mode of communication and entertainment. Social networking platforms have been too involved in every facet of society and are so commonly used. Social media is a well-established tool that tends to grow at a fast pace with new innovations, technologies and inventions regularly hitting the market. Social Media Technologies include several set of platforms i.e. crowdsourcing, online identity, social networks and virtual worlds. People all around the world, particularly young people, access social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram etc. in every day of their life. Based on the study of Dahlstrom, Grunwald, de Boor and Vockley (2011), in a sample comprising of around 3000 students studying in USA, 90% of them use Facebook, whereas 37% use Twitter as a means of communication. Facebook is probably the most common for personal and educational purposes within social networking sites (Tess, 2013; Gray, Vitak, Easton & Ellison, 2013; Sánchez, Cortijo & Javed, 2014). Furthermore, students spends an average time of around 10 to 60 minutes daily on these online social sites (Hew, 2011), even when studying (Rosen, Carrier & Cheever, 2013). Hence, this practice also allows educational institutions to use the digital media and social networks to address educational concerns effectively (Forkosh-Baruch & Hershkovitz, 2012).

In fact, technological innovation and boom in digital media has strengthened the Arab world's mainstream education programs, which have tended to remain behind those of other developed nations. Though, in the recent past, most countries, particularly those in the Gulf region, have embraced e-learning application and as a consequence; their online student numbers are growing at a fairly high pace. The need to implement this modern paradigm in Saudi Arabia has therefore seemed extremely unavoidable, as the current model has appeared somewhat inadequate in deploying students with the difficulties they are likely to experience in a constantly changing world (Al-Wehaibi, Al-Wabil, Alshawi & Alshankity, 2008). Saudi Arabia's government has recognized that information and communication technology in higher education will prove beneficial to the existing structure of higher education. But still there are lots of facts that need to consider in the improvement higher education system of the Saudi Arabia. This is the reason why I have chosen to carry out this research which will involve detailed overview of the literature review and then will conduct qualitative research. This information will expect to support the effective role of digital media in the domain of higher education system of the Saudi Arabia.

Research Gap

Recent years have seen a worldwide wave of transformation in all aspects of life, leading to more significant incentives for higher education development than ever, resulting in increased recognition of the education field. By considering this global change in the digital world, there remains a massive gap in the higher education sector. Digital world, where digital and social media is its main component has caused various advancement in all sphere of human life so there so there is a need to incorporate this change in the education system of world and then check its effect on it. In this study the focus of research is in the education system of the Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia has faced various challenges in its education sector and now it is in growing phase. Through these can be drawn the critical study gap in this area where there is a high possible growth in the higher education sector of the Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the current research will seeks to examine various aspects and impacts of digital media in breaking barriers for higher education system of the Saudi Arabia.