The Impacts of Social Media and Electronic Mediating: Improving Educational Outcomes for Saudi Women within an Electronic Social Networking Environment

This dissertation reports on a study about the effects of social media, such as social networks used by female university students in the context of a gender segregated system in Saudi Arabia. The result clearly reflects that social media has a positive effect on the collaborations of students, as they are able to keep their cultural and religious values without physically intermingling with the opposite sex, which is a requirement of religion and culture. This research was carried out through two stages. The first stage was an exploratory study carried out for post graduate Saudi students at The University of Waikato. Students from both genders were granted scholarships from the King of Saudi Arabia, “King Abdullah”. They have had the experience of studying within two different cultures, in Saudi Arabia and New Zealand. They have had good experiences within the mixed gender environment at The University of Waikato. The second stage was action research, to diagnose the importance of social networks in the education system for Saudi females at Saudi universities. The segregation between genders in Saudi Arabia is a big issue at universities but with the appearance of social networks such as Facebook genders can interact easily without being physically in the same place. The action research took place through three cycles at three different universities; King Saud University and Imam University, which are public universities and the last cycle in private Universities, in Riyadh. The results collecting data revealed that electronic social networks could help promote collaboration between both genders in Saudi Arabia. Both genders felt more comfortable dealing with the opposite gender under the umbrella of education without harming their culture or religion