Abstract:

Web sites and web technologies have impacted many aspects of everyday life. Most higher education systems have now been changed due to the influence of the internet and web applications. This paper aims to investigate the impact of using web resources as a source of knowledge on the student-lecturer relationship in Saudi Arabia. The investigation covers five aspects of the relationship. First: Expert power which measures how students’ knowledge gained from using websites has impacted on the relationship with their lecturer as a knowledgeable person; second: Referent power which measures how students’ knowledge gained from using websites has impacted on the relationship with their lecturer he or she considers as a role model; Third: Self-confidence which measure how students’ knowledge gained from using websites has impacted on their self-confidence; Fourth: Reliance which measure how students’ knowledge gained from using websites has impacted on their reliance on their lecturers who they generally consider the main source of knowledge in classroom; Fifth: Connectedness which measures how student communication with their lecturers using normal methods of communication such as e-mails and black board messing systems (web 1.0), first generation of websites has impacted on the relationship they have with them. Also this section investigates students view about using web 2.0, social network to communicate with their lecturers. Data collected from 30 universities/educational institutions with samples involving both male and female students in higher education.

Keywords:

Expert power, Referent power, Self-confidence, Reliance and connectedness.