Saudi Electronic University a Role Model in Implementing Blended Learning; Exploring the Experience of Female Students in the Department of English Language and Translation

Abstract

This study explores students’ perceptions of blended learning in a Saudi higher education institution; namely, the Saudi Electronic University. SEU is the only university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that offers undergraduate degree programs in complete mandatory Blended Learning mode of education in all courses. The study aims to describe the actual utilization of online learning represented by Blackboard as the official Learning Management System in SEU and to dictate students’ satisfaction with the learning experience. The methodology used to achieve this goal was surveying students’ opinions through sending out online questionnaires. The main purpose of this study is to consider the students’ feedback, improve what needs improvements, and keep up the good work if it is considered ‘good work’.

‘I Couldn’t Join the Session’: Benefits and Challenges of Blended Learning amid COVID-19 from EFL Students

“…The evidence suggests instructors' need to improve their coordination with other instructors, their digital skills and their teaching methodologies to fit the online environment. This result contradicts results presented by Alowedi (2020), who claimed EFL students were pleased with their teachers' performance.…”

“…These results reveal that blended learning offers the potential to tailor the process of language learning to meet students' needs and individual situations. These findings are in agreement with those of previous studies (Al Bataineh et al, 2019;Alowedi, 2020;Alsowayegh et al, 2019;Altunay, 2019;Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Hamad, 2017;Ja'ashan, 2020), which asserted that blended learning offers a flexible setting for learning English and is appropriate to the students' learning styles.…”

“…These findings could relate to other factors influencing the students at the time; e.g., insecurity arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the discomfort associated with the total lockdown imposed in Riyadh as part of the precautionary measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. The findings relating to the students' preference for traditional face-to-face classes are in agreement with results reported by Al Bataineh et al (2019), Altunay (2019), Harb and Krish (2020) and Hamad (2017) who claimed students prefered traditional classes, contradicting Alowedi's (2020) finding that students prefer virtual online classes. The evidence that suggests the students did not feel confident or comfortable with blended learning contradicts previous studies (Alowedi, 2020;Gulnaz et al, 2020) that reported EFL students were secure and confident when using blended learning tools.…”

“…Participants in the previous studies employed blended learning via a single platform. For example, Blackboard was used by Alsowayegh et al (2019), Alowedi (2020) and Hamad (2017), whereas Moodle was used by Al Bataineh et al (2019) and the Cambridge Learning Management System was used by Gulnaz et al (2020), and the two studies did not mention the name of the platform (Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Ja'ashan, 2020). However, the participants in the current study used two platforms Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom, and five reported the use of Microsoft Teams once.…”

The Role of the Blackboard LMS in EFL Course Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating Attitudes and Perceptions of Faculty and Students

“…Further research tapping into the opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and reflections on learners' experiences with VLEs showed that VLEs have all a positive effect on learning the foreign language of English (Alsulami, 2016;Al-Washahy & Amaar, 2015;Cavanaugh & Song, 2014;Gulbinskienė et al, 2017). Additionally, more research was done proving that VLEs such as Blackboard Learn were perceived to be effective for creating mutual interactions between students and EFL teachers especially in the time of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Alowedi, 2020;Althobaiti, 2020;Dahmash, 2020;Han & Ellis, 2019). The VLE of Blackboard Learn enables students to use supplementary videos and myriads of other assistive tools that makes learning both fun and easy; it also enables teachers to provide instant or delayed feedback, ask comprehension questions, provide (delayed) written feedback and use multiple effective pedagogical strategies in delivering their lectures and other learning projects that can be posted in discussion boards or e-portfolios (Alowedi, 2020;Dahmash, 2020;Vo et al, 2017).…”