COVID-19 has changed the field of education. This paper aimed to re-envision the post-pandemic higher education landscape in Saudi Arabia. This study employed descriptive-qualitative research design. Twenty postgraduates completed a journal task at a public university in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The responses revealed their first-hand experience of multi-sectorial communities caused by the COVID-19 lockdown, including students, parents and teachers. Results showed that there are seven positive and eight negative impacts of emergency distance education caused by the pandemic lockdown and various themes have emerged, including Social and Educational. To succeed in the post-pandemic era, teachers need to acquire online pedagogical content knowledge and teaching strategies, conduct effective student evaluation and engage students in both virtual and in-person labs and classrooms. This study contributes to quality access of students toward online learning in countries, where distance education is still in its infant stage, such as Saudi Arabia.   Keywords: Distance education, post-secondary education, teacher training, teaching strategies, networked learning

This inaugural qualitative study solicited English as Second Language (ESL) teachers’ thoughts about using ESL to teach Saudi Arabian (SA) university foundation year students about and raise their awareness of energy and sustainability issues. Fourteen participants from three higher education institutions in the Eastern Province of SA prepared typed responses in a word office document to 15 questions pertaining to ESL teachers’ perceptions, opinions, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and values of using ESL to teach sustainability. Data returned by email were iteratively read and insights culled to provide an inaugural profile of ESL teachers’ thoughts about this pedagogical innovation in SA higher education preparatory-year programs. The findings indicated a positive picture towards incorporating sustainability topics into Saudi Arabian ESL curriculum. Participants were enthusiastic about such tasks and about seeking knowledge related to sustainability by various means to augment lack of knowledge. They were of the opinion that this is a legitimate role for ESL teachers and believed that they would be effective and bring value to students’ learning. They readily suggested rich ideas about what a sustainability-infused ESL curriculum would look like. This study was an original one in that it solicited and shared the voices of ESL teachers in SA about the idea of concurrently teaching language and sustainability. Nominal research addresses this pedagogical approach meaning the findings are valuable to ESL training schools, SA university foundation program planners, SA higher education curriculum developers and higher education human resource managers who recruit and hire ESL instructors.

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This paper recounts an inaugural study of male Saudi university students’ understandings of financial literacy, financial stability, and financial security and how they plan to achieve these. Using convenience sampling, 79 male respondents (53% response rate) from an Eastern Province university completed a six-question open-ended email instrument. Data collected in November 2020 were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that while their understanding of what constitutes financial literacy was solid enough (with some gaps), their notion of how to ensure financial stability and security was in question. They made no mention of retirement, taxation, or estate planning and limited insurance to medical. Despite self-rating themselves as having good (47%) or average (32%) financial literacy, results suggest an imbalanced personal financial system, which bodes ill for future financial resilience, stability, and security. Respondents placed an inordinate weight on the risky ventures of investing (79%) and entrepreneurship (49%) to make a living and to use for retirement while concurrently not valuing goal setting, budgeting, or funding emergencies. Virtually all (99%) respondents said they planned to learn more about financial literacy, and they tendered an array of ideas for how the university could make this happen.

Saudi Arabian citizens, including university students, are in an interesting and precarious situation – they care for sustainability, but their economy thrives because of oil production. This study used an author-developed instrument to briefly explore 135 Saudi university students’ (nine disciplines) knowledge, awareness, evaluation and convictions of how to facilitate the nation to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) per Vision 2030 despite living in an oil-based economy. Within this context, the paper then reports 31 female Saudi pre-service teachers’ (also university students) experience with and reaction to using inquiry-based learning (IBL) to teach sustainability. Their feedback as emergent educators is invaluable for Saudi initiatives concerned with Education for Sustainability (EfS). Study participants were from Saudi’s Eastern Province (convenience and snowball sampling) with data collected in fall 2019. Recommendations include integrating IBL into teacher education, supporting IBL with Saudi cultural and religious practices, and communicating anthropogenic impact to Saudi citizens.