Abstract/Summary

With the steady advancement of technology development and the rapid rise in social media technologies in recent decades, researchers have continued to investigate the potential of digital tools like social media apps in various fields, including education. However, the overall research focus in educational settings still requires more investigation to better harness the potential and address challenges such as privacy and safeguarding, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, where most educational institutions invoked or appealed to the use of digital technologies to survive. As a result, this mixed method case study focused on a Kuwaiti higher education institution and explored pre-service teachers' and lecturers' perceptions of using social media technologies as digital personal learning environments (DPLEs). It aimed to explore how such digital tools, accessible on smartphones, are considered to be able to enhance and support student-centred and self-directed learning in a teacher training college in Kuwait, where there is no digital learning management system (LME), such as Blackboard. In total 402 pre-service teachers participated in an online survey while 18 of them and eight lecturers were interviewed face-to-face. The findings of the study showed that pre-service teachers use their mobile phones and social media technologies regularly for learning purposes, including self-directed learning. These pre-service teachers take charge of their learning responsibilities and encourage collaboration, cooperation, and communication among themselves and with lecturers. Lecturers also invest in these technologies to support student-centred and self-directed learning approaches and 5 enable their students to be self-directed learners. They facilitate interactive learning by utilising social media technologies and feel that such technologies align instructional strategies with the new generation of learners, most of whom are already familiar with and adept at using such digital technologies. The key recommendation of this study is that the Teacher Training College and other HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) should encourage the use of social media tools as digital personal learning environments as they can support effective communication and collaboration as part of the learning process. However, careful consideration should be given by policymakers in order to integrate technologies, such as social media, safely and responsibly in HE. The development of guidelines and policies for safe use would be important for students and lecturers but also in supporting HEIs to develop appropriate technological infrastructure that supports social media use for self-directed learning and address possible issues that students and lecturers may face such as breach of data protection and privacy. This is particularly important for pre-service-teachers as such an approach will model safe digital practices that they can follow in their professional lives as educators.