The recent pandemic has raised significant challenges worldwide. In higher education, the necessity to adopt efficient strategies to sustain education during the crisis is mobilizing diverse, complementary, and integrative action in response. In this research article, we rise to the challenge of designing and implementing a transparent strategy for social media awareness at King Abdulaziz University (KAU). We introduce a framework for social media impact, termed the KAU Pandemic Framework. This includes the factors with the most important role in enhancing the deployment of social media in crisis in order to minimize the negative impact on education’s sustainability. We used a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative statistical analyses of social media data and online surveys and qualitative interviews in such a way as to construct a comprehensive framework. The results show that a methodological framework can be justified and that Twitter contributes significantly to six areas: administrative resilience; education sustainability; community responsibility; positive sentiment; community bonds; and delivery of promised value. The components of our proposed methodological framework integrate five pillars of the strategic adoption of social media: social media governance; social media resilience; social media utilization; decision-making capability; and institutional strategy. Finally, we show that the KAU Pandemic Framework can be used as strategic decision-making tool for the analysis of the gaps and inefficiencies in any social media plan that is deployed and the management challenges arising from the pandemic.

We measure cost and profit efficiencies of banks operating in six GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) using heteroskedastic stochastic frontier (HSF) models. Our results show that measures of cost and profit efficiencies of banks vary widely across the six gulf countries over the same period.We examine whether cost and profit efficiencies of Islamic banks are significantly different from that of conventional banks. After allowing for bank risk, asset quality, environmental influences such as the level of interest rate, and country effect, we find that cost and profit efficiencies of Islamic banks are similar to that of conventional banks. Our results suggest that the country-specific variables have significant impact on cost and profit efficiencies of banks operating in GCC countries. Our findings indicate that cost and profit efficiencies of Islamic banks are more volatile than that of conventional banks.JEL Classification: G21, G28, G34, F23, F33

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has been going on for over sixteen months. During this period, we have witnessed a colossal loss of life, property, business, and a degradation of social life. Several different variants or strains of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, have been found in different parts of the world. This pandemic has so far infected more than one hundred and thirty five million people, which has caused significant damage to the education sector. The majority of students around the world have lost access to face-to-face classes. While dealing with the crisis, some higher education institutions are still finding it difficult to adapt to alternative ways of imparting education. Many of them are using learning management systems and other online technologies and tools to facilitate online learning. The aim of this manuscript is to propose a cost-effective hybrid teaching model (CeHTM) for the King Abdulaziz University. The proposed model is designed after analyzing two anonymous online feedback surveys in which nearly four thousand students and more than four hundred instructors have participated. The CeHTM is novel as it is the first framework of its kind for imparting education during pandemic. Given the uniformity of educational system in Saudi Arabian universities, the proposed model can be used by other Saudi Arabian institutions, and adapted elsewhere, especially in the Middle East and North Africa.

Present study examines pedagogically the effect of blended learning activities to augment listening and speaking at tertiary level. Teachers provided content online that allowed measuring the students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, and content and examination. Using the tools online on Blackboard®, discussion on forums and listening activities, the teacher provided the blended learning activities. The three-step strategy (3SS) framework was adopted for language learning.It provided students strategies that generated, supported and manipulated the blended learning activities for learning in the face to face sessions. The study investigates how blended learning activities motivate the engagement of students, their satisfaction, the role of the teacher, content and assessment from the students' point of view. The study uses a population of 38 students from two sections of a listening and speaking class (control G1 n = 20 and blended G2 n = 18), a placement test, examination results and responses from a questionnaire as instruments for examining the effect of blended learning activities on the students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, content and examination. The results using descriptive statistics demonstrate positive effects of using blended learning activities in supporting the improvement of students' learning on listening and speaking at elementary level.e. In brief, using the evidence from the study reveals that exposing foundation year students to blended learning activities have positive effects on students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, content and examination when learning English. The paper situated itself in the discussion of providing enriched language learning content online for supporting and measuring learning through the objective measurement of the content from the opinion of the students.

Present study examines pedagogically the effect of blended learning activities to augment listening and speaking at tertiary level. Teachers provided content online that allowed measuring the students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, and content and examination. Using the tools online on Blackboard®, discussion on forums and listening activities, the teacher provided the blended learning activities. The three-step strategy (3SS) framework was adopted for language learning.It provided students strategies that generated, supported and manipulated the blended learning activities for learning in the face to face sessions. The study investigates how blended learning activities motivate the engagement of students, their satisfaction, the role of the teacher, content and assessment from the students' point of view. The study uses a population of 38 students from two sections of a listening and speaking class (control G1 n = 20 and blended G2 n = 18), a placement test, examination results and responses from a questionnaire as instruments for examining the effect of blended learning activities on the students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, content and examination. The results using descriptive statistics demonstrate positive effects of using blended learning activities in supporting the improvement of students' learning on listening and speaking at elementary level.e. In brief, using the evidence from the study reveals that exposing foundation year students to blended learning activities have positive effects on students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, content and examination when learning English. The paper situated itself in the discussion of providing enriched language learning content online for supporting and measuring learning through the objective measurement of the content from the opinion of the students.