Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Exploring Female Faculty Members' Perspectives on Flexible Working Arrangements (FWAs) in Saudi Arabian Higher Education Institutions: Implications for Job Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance.(University of Leeds, 2024) Alharbi, Hind Faleh; Burgess, JoThis qualitative study explores female faculty members' perspectives on flexible work arrangements (FWAs) in Saudi Arabian higher education institutions, with a focus on implications for job satisfaction and work-life balance. Through ten semi-structured interviews, the research examines the current state of FWAs implementation, the extent to which FWAs affect job satisfaction and work-life balance, and the main challenges in implementing FWAs. The findings reveal that while FWAs are present in some institutions, their implementation is largely informal and inconsistent, often relying on the decisions of department heads rather than formalised policies. Where available, FWAs positively impact job satisfaction by enhancing autonomy and productivity. They also contribute to work-life balance, particularly for women managing caregiving responsibilities. However, the study identified barriers to effective FWAs implementation, including institutional emphasis on physical presence, lack of performance metrics for flexible work, and resistance to technological change among older administrators. This study contributes to the limited literature on FWAs in Saudi Arabian higher education and provides recommendations for enhancing workplace flexibility.18 0Item Restricted People's Judgements About Autistic Students' Academic Performance Based on Brief Samples of Their Behaviours(University of Nottingham, 2024-03) Alhusayni, Afaf; Marsh, Lauren; Sheppard, ElizabethThe number of autistic students attending higher learning institutions is growing, but unfortunately, the majority of them do not complete their studies or are less likely to do so compared to non-autistic individuals (Ashbaugh et al., 2017). They demonstrate an increased incidence of repeating courses or dropping out (Dijkhuis et al., 2020). Studies have revealed that the intellectual demands of college do not pose substantial challenges to autistic students, but they struggle with social relationship and interpersonal competence issues, anxiety, stress, poor emotional regulation and difficulties in executive functioning (Brede et al., 2017; Dijkhuis et al., 2020). Therefore, it is critical to examine how communication and socialisation difficulties affect their academic life. In this series of studies, we investigated neurotypical perceptions about autistic university students' academic performance. In Study 1, we developed an experimental paradigm by recording brief samples of the participants' autistic and non-autistic target behaviours while they were writing about different life experiences. These videos were then shown to a group of non-autistic perceivers, who made judgements about the autistic students' academic life (success, motivation, happiness and grade). The findings suggest that autistic targets are judged more negatively in all academic aspects compared to non-autistic targets. In Study 2, we replicated these findings in a new target group and assessed the veracity of these negative judgements by comparing perceiver judgements to target self-reports. Autistic students faced more negative judgements in all aspects of academic life compared to non-autistic targets. Their motivation and happiness were underestimated, while non-autistic students were accurately perceived. However, both groups were unaware of how they were perceived, believing that they would receive more positive judgements. In Study 3, we examined how different social contexts under high-demand (social interaction and self-presentation) and low-demand conditions (writing) could affect autistic individuals' judgements of academic success. We recorded three types of video recordings featuring both autistic and non-autistic individuals. The targets were filmed while either filling out a questionnaire and interacting with the experimenter or introducing themselves to the camera after being informed about the study's objectives to determine whether such disclosures would influence the perceptions formed about them. The findings show that negative peer judgements persist in different social contexts and do not change based on the situations. In Study 4, we examined whether these judgements were extended to educators. The results demonstrate that academic staff hold less negative views of autistic students compared to the perceptions of non-autistic students and the general population. Overall, the findings indicate that negative peer judgements persist in higher education, although their consequences for academic attainment are still unknown.44 0Item Restricted HIGHER EDUCATION PRIVATIZATION IN SAUDI VISION 2030: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROSPECT AND IMPACT ON NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT(The Pennsylvania State University, 2024-05-04) Alrashidi, Essa; Kim, YounheeSaudi Arabia, as delineated in its Vision 2030, has made increasing the participation of the private sector the utmost priority in the development. One of the key policies that Saudi is pursuing for greater private sector involvement is the privatization of government sectors. Parallel to this, higher education is no exception to this trend. A more important question is, how can privatization be a viable policy? And what are the developmental prospects of this privatization? To put this issue in perspective, this dissertation explored the prospects of higher education privatization within the context of Saudi Arabia. The research study also sought to explore rooted issues related to the phenomena of privatization and its different contextual settings. The study employed an inductive qualitative research approach, and data were collected and coded through multiple interviews with educational leaders in Saudi universities. The study concluded with several findings in relation to the key determinants that have shaped the attitude of government toward privatization, the challenges accompanying privatizing higher education institutions, and the role privatization of higher could play in the development. The study also shed some light on the quality issues in higher education and how they might be influenced by the implementation of privatization. The dissertation contributes to the literature on educational policies, privatization, and development studies in public administration and offers more insight within the context of developing and non-Western countries. The study suggested ten major recommendations to guide planners and policymakers toward proper policy implementation of privatization.55 0Item Restricted Guidelines for Informed Instructional Strategy Selection in Online Higher Education: A Design and Development Research(Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2024-04-25) Alghamdi, Bushra; Lockee, BarbaraOnline education has become increasingly popular in recent years. Preparing for online teaching can be a complex process, and some instructors find it challenging to teach effectively due to a lack of preparation and guidance. As part of online teaching planning, selecting the appropriate instructional strategy is crucial to providing a quality online learning experience. Thus, instructional strategies aid in ensuring that students comprehend academic material, facilitate effective teaching and learning, and encourage student engagement. To address this issue, this study has been conducted to provide evidence-based guidelines for instructors in selecting effective instructional strategies for online courses in higher education. These guidelines are designed to assist faculty in choosing the right strategies for online learning, taking into account various factors that can influence this decision-making process. This study employs the design and development research (DDR) methodology to create an instructional strategy selection guide for online courses in higher education. The DDR methodology involves a systematic and empirical approach to developing and evaluating instructional and non-instructional products, tools, and models (Richey & Klein, 2007). The guidelines were created in four phases: analysis, design, development, and evaluation and validation. Each phase had a specific purpose in creating and refining the guidelines. These guidelines have been developed based on a foundation of theoretical concepts, a thorough analysis of relevant literature, and extensive evaluation and validation by experts in the field. By providing well-planned strategies for quality online education, this study contributes to research and content development in the field of online learning.20 0Item Restricted The Role of Information Practices in Research Capacity Building: Perspectives from Saudi Female Academics Who Studied at Home and Abroad(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-05-03) Alsuhaibani, Reham; Vo-Tran, Huan; Tait, ElizabethIn 2016 the Saudi Government created the Saudi Vision 2030 which includes an aim to empower women to engage and participate fully in Saudi society (Saudi Vision 2019). In doing so, the Saudi Vision 2030 specifically mentions support for female academics by mechanisms such as encouraging them to undertake further education in order to enable them to develop their research capabilities. Further proposals include providing them with the opportunity to work in a wide range of academic positions such as university heads and other leadership positions. While these developments are positive, female academics remain disadvantaged compared with their male counterparts because of the legacy of gender inequality, and cultural and social barriers which have led to fewer opportunities to participate in research activities. In order to realise the aims of greater equality, female academics require additional support to build their research capabilities and to enable them to reach their full potential. These supports include collaborative support, and cultural, social, and institutional support. Information practices include “information literacies, activities, skills and competencies required to inform participation, collaboration and performance in the work environment” (Lloyd 2016, p. 30). Information practice will be the key focus of this research because there is little understanding of the role of information practices in building the research capacity of female academics in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, information practices play an important role in every day and academic contexts. This research aims to investigate the role of information practices in building research capacity within the female academic community of Saudi Arabia. The main research question is: what is the role of information practices in building research capacity within the female academic community of Saudi Arabia? In order to answer the research this question, the following sub questions have been created: firstly, what are the factors that influence the research capacity building of female academics? secondly: what are the barriers that impact research capacity building amongst female academics? Also, what are the opportunities that impact research capacity building amongst female academics? and how can universities support research practices and capacity building amongst female academics? This research adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 57 Saudi female academics. This research involves female participants who have an academic career and experience in research, and from different geographical regions of Saudi Arabia that represent a range of cultural and academic backgrounds. The target respondents for this research were categorised into four groups: overseas students, academics who have studied overseas, academics who have studied in Saudi Arabia, and research centre staff. The researcher aimed to collect information from female academics with a wide range of academic and research backgrounds in order to meet the research objectives. The results demonstrate the cultural and social factors which the participants said affected their working environments and research capacity. The cultural factors centred on gender discrimination, the gender relationships at work, as major concerns for many of the participants. The social factors were concentrated around the Saudi female academics’ family commitments which were explored largely in terms of the effect of their domestic and childcare responsibilities. The data also revealed many institutional and personal barriers that challenged research capacity and ultimately hindered achievements. The data from interviews also revealed many opportunities that enhanced research capacity and furthered achievements. These opportunities were categorised as individual, professional, and institutional. In addition, participants identified several supports provided by universities for research and capacity building amongst female academics. They felt that the importance of networking, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing needed to be recognised by Saudi universities and encouraged. Better research facilities were needed, especially in the commonly under-resourced women’s sections of Saudi universities. There was general agreement that to support research, institutions needed to reduce workloads and develop academics’ research skills. This research contributes to the understanding of information practices by adapting a contextualised academic information practices framework, which has been developed and further defined from that of (Widén, Steinerová and Voisey 2014). This framework has been developed in the context of Saudi Arabia and its culture and shows the factors affecting Saudi female academics’ research capacity, and how that capacity could be developed through improving information practices. The findings of this research underlined several implications that could help HE institutions in Saudi Arabia take into consideration the identified factors and barriers to implement strategies to overcome these barriers. This could be achieved through several strategies, e.g., networking, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing, recruiting high-quality academics, involving female academics in decision-making, developing research skills and research facilities.20 0Item Restricted Enabling Translanguaging in the Saudi EFL Classroom: Affordances and Reflections of Collaborative Translanguaging Tasks During Reading Lessons(Saudi Digital Library, 2023) Ghali, Nada; Smith, Heather; Lopez, ElaineTranslanguaging advocates a new approach to the teaching and learning of multilinguals based on the idea that multilingual learners have one linguistic repertoire, rather than moving between two or more language codes (García and Li, 2014). In the EFL classroom, however, the tendency to use the target language only is still advocated as a pedagogy in education policy. In observations before this study and as a teacher in the context of Saudi Arabia, learners still used Arabic during group discussions in the EFL classroom. This study attempts to allow learners to draw on their full linguistic repertoire in a safe space to reconstitute their languaging processes for learning English during collaborative reading lessons. This study positions translanguaging as collaborative and agentive, viewing learning through a sociocultural framework (Vygotsky, 1978; Mercer, 1995; 2002) In this qualitative study, group observations were conducted to observe translanguaging affordances of learning in two cases of different proficiency level groups of students. Students collectively reflected on their weekly learning and were interviewed and provided a structured written reflection at the end of the seven weeks of translanguaging as allowed in the classroom. The study found that students reflected particularly on awareness of their metalinguistic development as they showed creative ways to mediate their learning in the bilingual ZPD (Moll, 2014). Ultimately, students made their translanguaging purposeful through the active processes of interthinking, thus suggesting new mechanisms for how interthinking functions through translanguaging in the collaborative learning classroom. This research has extended the scope of applying sociocultural and translanguaging theory together to provide empirical evidence for translanguaging pedagogy in the EFL Saudi context. Finally, this study provides recommendations for policy and practice in enabling a collaborative translanguaging pedagogy approach in the EFL classroom.63 0