Educational Social Networking Sites and Students’ Academic Performance at Kuwait Higher Education

This research in progress aims to investigate the factors that influence students' academic performance by using educational Social Networking Sites (SNSs) in Kuwait. The updated DeLone and McLean IS model (2003) is utilized with an additional factor ‘Student Emotional Engagement' found to be a significant variable in the relevant literature. This research has applied quantitative methods by distributing a survey to a sample of students who use educational SNSs in the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) colleges. Using Structural Equation Modelling, valuable results may be obtained to identify the most important factors that could influence students' academic performance using educational SNSs. The findings may provide useful insights for stakeholders including students and teachers on how to invest in the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the education sector, which may ultimately help in increasing the effectiveness of the use of educational SNSs for all targeted stakeholders.