Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Examining Academics and Students Attitudes to Mobile-learning in a Transformative University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a study of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University(Saudi Digital Library, 0023-10-27) Alshehri, Eman; Preston, Greg; Buchanan, RachelAlthough there is a growing interest in mobile-learning and its potential benefits in higher education, limited research has investigated cross-contextual mobile-learning issues such as university technology policies, usage levels, and practices in relation to students' gender, contextual, educational, and gender-based mobile-learning attitudes. This study was undertaken as a case study at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), to investigate the attitudes of both academic staff and students towards the adoption of mobile-learning with Smartphones. The first purpose of this study was to explore the current Smartphone policies, level of usage, preferred learning activities by students and academics at IAU. The second purpose of the study was to investigate the student’s and academics’ attitudes and perceptions toward using their Smartphones as learning and teaching tools, with particular regard to the challenges and/or enablers that they may encounter. This study used an adapted version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and a sequential mixed methods design to collect the data using online surveys with students (N=325), and semi-structured interviews with academics (N=21). Regression analysis was used to analyse the online surveys (quantitative data), and a thematic analysis was used to analyse the semi-structured interviews (qualitative data). The study findings revealed that both students and academics generally have a positive attitude toward the use of Smartphones in the learning environment at IAU. Around 98% of students at IAU use Smartphones every day for learning, while the use by the academics was substantially less. From the nine measured variables, only four predictors had a significant influence on students’ attitudes to mobile-learning: self-efficacy, enjoyment, perceived ease of use, and mobile-learning preferences. For academics, the most frequently reported challenge they faced when adopting mobile-learning was the lack of policies and regulations governing their use. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on mobile-learning in higher education and offers useful insights into how Smartphones are currently used by students and academics at IAU and the best practices for implementing Smartphones as learning and teaching tools.61 0Item Restricted Unhealed Wounds: From Complex Trauma Exposure to Wellbeing and the Role of Coping(0023-07-23) Alsubaie, Mohammed; Bentley, JacobComplex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (cPTSD) emerged as a theoretical construct reflecting symptoms beyond our current conceptualization of posttraumatic stress. Research examining its validity is still ongoing and cross-cultural research on the matter is emerging. An important risk factor to developing cPTSD is the experience of complex trauma, which constitutes experiences that reflect interpersonal violations of bodily boundary and integrity or betrayal (e.g., sexual assault and emotional abuse). There is still a gap in the literature linking complex trauma exposure to wellbeing or positive functioning in general. Survivors’ style of coping with trauma might influence later adjustment. With a sample of trauma survivors from Saudi Arabia, the present study evaluated the construct validity of cPTSD as well as examined the relationship between complex trauma and wellbeing as moderated by styles of coping. Results showed that all conceptualizations of complex trauma significantly predicted decreased wellbeing, but that such associations were not moderated by active nor passive style of coping. Factor and network analyses provided evidence for the construct validity of cPTSD, with the 6 first-order correlated factors model representing the best fit for the data, χ2 (155) = 431.373, p < .001, CFI = .941, TLI = .928, RMSEA = .064, 90% CI [.057, .071], SRMR = .041. Exploratory network analyses yielded 4-factor solutions distinguishing boundaries between PTSD, disturbance in self-organization (DSO), depression, and anxiety. Collectively, these findings call for systemic efforts to help increase access to well-researched and effective interventions as well as provide suggestions for central symptoms in these networks, and offer practitioners evidence for cPTSD validity and an assessment tool to utilize in Arabic.27 0