EDUCATIONAL MEDIA AND EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY WITHIN SPECIFIC EDUCATION IN EGYPT AND KSA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Introduction. The technological development of media has a growing impact on various spheres of life, including education. New technologies enhance access to information and could affect the quality of training. The term “media education” was developed. Media education implies the study of impact and the use of media (press, television, radio broadcasting, advertising, the Internet with all its applications) not only by specialists in this field, but also by ordinary consumers of information for critical perception and good application. These media tools make the static and passive learning process more dynamic and interactive inside and outside the school. In specific education (musical, theatrical, sports, etc.), educational media combined with traditional techniques also begin to be involved as the tools, which motivate students for studies. Above all, educational media provide greater opportunities to identify students’ talents, to develop their abilities and skills (e.g., language, vocal, designer, household, etc.). The aim of the present analytical study is to diagnose the problems of carrying out professional activities and to study the needs of teachers, specialising in educational media and working in specific pre-university education systems in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Educational media and educational technology within specific education in Egypt and KSA: Challenges and prospects for development Образование и наука. Том 22, No 1. 2020/The Education and Science Journal. Vol. 22, No 1. 2020 171 Methodology and research methods. Data collection was carried out by means of a survey questionnaire that was administered to a sample consisting of 100 teachers (50 from Egypt and 50 from KSA) working at various pre-university education levels in both countries. Results and scientific novelty. The results revealed that the major obstacles facing Egyptian teachers lied in budgetary and facilities shortage. Saudi teachers, however, were hindered by the administrative deficiency, lack of competencies in the use of the latest, constantly improving educational media and lack of in-service professional development. Moreover, all the participants reported the pivotal need to offer continuing professional in-service training opportunities for educational media and educational technology specialists. For experts in the field of educational media technologies, the advantages and benefits of this tool are obvious when conducting extra-curricular classes and activities, which allow providing more intensive intellectual development of students, as well as strengthening discipline and improving children behaviour. Practical significance. The authors formulated the recommendations on reforming the system of specific educational services, improving their quality due to the fastest, synchronous promotion of technological innovations, implementation of modern equipment and support of teachers’ competencies at the proper level. The importance of media education development actualises the creation of academic programmes at universities for the training of qualified teachers in the field of specific education, especially for countries, which do not have the same experience of training, since media education is becoming compulsory in the contemporary world, increasingly affecting the formation of individuals, culture and society. A number of proposals have been made to continue research in this direction.


Introduction
Technology and educational media can be used by teachers in transformative ways of enhancing teaching and learning. Technology provides teaching resources and brings the learning experience to the learners' world. Through using technology, many authentic materials can be provided to learners and they can be motivated in learning [1]. Educational media help improve communication and thinking skills [2]. Teaching based on using educational drama in the classroom is typically learner-centered that helps students develop and improve thinking skills, creativity and communication skills [3].
Specific education is an umbrella definition that includes tailor-made academic programmes to prepare specialised teachers in educational activities in the fields of educational arts, educational music, educational media, educational technology, and home economics, as well as other extracurricular activities aimed at building the integrated personality of learners. These programmes are typically introduced at higher education institutions established with the purpose of graduating specialised staff in educational activities to support the instructional process.
Consistent with the intent of this study, educational media and educational technology are highlighted. The former refers to using the means of communication in order to achieve the objectives of education in light of the educational and media policies of the State, including educational drama, theatre, school journalism, and school morning announcements. The latter strives to integrate technology into instruction to promote teaching and learning.

Literature Review
Educational media programmes prepare prospective teachers to gain knowledge and build a career to become teachers in instructional institutions and media institutions [2]. These programmes teach students to acquire awareness in using various art-based forms like theatre and drama. Specific education programmes in educational drama involve situations that are similar to reality and make the teachers think critically. This allows teachers to motivate students to get involved in a holistic way so that they can develop skills required in the professional and personal arena [4, p. 183].
Educational media is a wide discipline that covers educational drama and theatre, also referred to as school theatre [5], school journalism, and school morning announcements. These activities involve innovative positions that the teacher of the course to participate with the learner in the classroom teaching and rely on innovative attitudes and the realisation of the mind and open the door to debate and dialogue and raise questions that enrich the practical aspect of the courses, which the study codified to serve the practical objectives of communication and thinking skills [2,6]. This would take place through various activities such as role-playing [7]; educational theatre [8,9]; and creative drama [10,11].
In parallel, educational technology programmes prepare teachers to use different forms of technologies in transferring knowledge. According to O. D. Omodara [12], there are various forms of modes that allow the teachers to learn the use of advanced technologies while they teach students various subject matters. These activate are based on teaching and learning with technology [13], including the use of multimedia [14], interactive media, the use of video in teacher education [15], digital imaging and digital media [16], virtual technologies [17] and e-learning [12,18].
Multimedia has paved the way for teachers to engage students in the classroom through multiple ways like audios, videos, models, etc. Multimedia can be used in training teachers to use audio and video tools as part of the curriculum to provide knowledge and education to students at various educational levels. This helps teachers to access various forms of online resources like the use of YouTube and other media tools for educational purposes [12]. Similarly, interactive media are mainly used to improve the level of communication between the teachers and the students. The use of interactive media allows teachers to establish an interactive student-centered environment [19]. The interactive media is allotted and adopted by the university or the higher educational institution as a part of their educational infrastructure and teachers receive specific education to provide students with educational information that would enhance their learning [20].
Furthermore, e-learning is introduced in educational technology programmes [21][22][23]. E-learning includes the methods or steps of using technologies to provide necessary materials, online research and similar activities. It also involves conducting e-examinations, e-drills and e-assignment submissions [24]. Teachers are also trained to use the tools of e-tutoring, e-counseling and e-education. The purposes behind this are to promote open and distance education, reduce student dropout [25], and improve students' enrolling in higher studies in light of the flexibility it offers [26], in addition to helping teachers in enhancing their designing, developing and deploying of e-learning sessions for other teachers.

The Reality of Specific Education in Egypt and KSA
Although there are several studies that indicate the importance of use of educational media and educational technology for imparting knowledge or developing educational quality [12,18], studies investigating the use of edu-cational media like drama; and theatre, or educational technology such as elearning methods, digital applications and use of online modes of education are relatively few especially in the context of KSA and Egypt 1 [27,28]. Generally speaking, there are no educational institutions specialised in educational media or educational technology in KSA. The agenda KSA has in this respect is to introduce general media and computer technology as specialised academic programmes with the exception of two educational media courses introduced within teacher preparation programmes at Faculty of Education, King Faisal University and Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, Taibah University. Thus, school activities in general and educational media activities in particular (e. g. educational drama, theatre, school journalism, and school morning announcements) as well as educational technology activities are authorised to unspecialised teachers through volunteerism, and may not be practiced at all in light of the absence of specialised colleges or preparation programmes at higher education institutions that graduate qualified teachers for teaching these school activities.
In Egypt, however, there are various university colleges and higher institutes to teach arts, literature, and information technology that are mainly tailored for teachers to work in educational institutions. Most Egyptian universities have faculties for specific education which introduce programmes designed to prepare prospective teachers to specialise in educational media or educational technology. In more detail, there are 15 faculties of specific education at Egyptian universities introduce specialised programmes in educational arts, educational music, educational media, educational technology and home economics.

The Problem of the Study
In light of the above, the attempt is made in the present study to investigate the reality of specific education preparation for teachers specialised in educational media and educational technology programmes, and to explore 1 Aug 15]. Available from: https://www.oecd.org/countries/egypt/Schools-forskills-a-new-learning-agenda-for-Egypt.pdf the experience of specific education in Egypt in order to develop a suggested scenario applies to the Saudi context. In order to investigate this problem, the study tried to answer the following questions: 1. What is the reality of specific education (i. e. Educational media and educational technology) at pre-university education in both Egypt and KSA?
2. How are educational media and educational technology used in supporting the curriculum at Egypt and KSA?
3. What are the challenges facing the implementation of educational media and educational technology practices and activities in Egypt and KSA? 4. What are the suggestions for developing educational media and educational technology practices in Egypt and KSA from participants' perspectives?

Methodology
The present study is an analytic study that employs the comparative approach for investigating Egyptian and Saudi teachers' perspectives regarding the reality of specific education with particular focus on the fields of educational media and educational technology in both countries. An electronic questionnaire was developed by the researchers and administered via Google drive 1 to participants of the study. The questionnaire consisted of 38 items included in 3 sections investigating participants' perspectives on the reality of practice; challenges encountered by teachers; and proposals for the development of educational media and educational technology activities. The questionnaire utilised a 3-point scale format to measure participants' agreement (were to agree = 3 and disagree = 1). Data obtained were analysed using the SPSS 22.0 package by means of Chi-Square and P-value (Sig) < 0.05 in order to compare the responses of Egyptian and Saudi participants, in addition to using frequencies and percentages.

Participants of the Study
The population of the present study includes all educational media and educational technology teachers and specialists working in primary, middle, and secondary schools in Egypt and KSA. A total number of 100 participants voluntarily participated in this study (50 Egyptian participants and 50 Saudi participants). These 100 participants from the two countries have responded by agreeing to participate in the study and answering the questionnaire tool. The participants were teachers working at various pre-university education levels. For Egyptian participants, they were 23 females and 27 males with varying years of experience. The majority of them held Bachelor's degrees in specific education and majored in educational media or educational technology. They are hired in their schools as teachers or activity specialist, specialising in educational media or educational technology. Moreover, the sample includes 50 Saudi participants (29 males and 21 females). All of them held a Bachelor's degree in other specialisations rather than specific education. Although they are not specialists at specific education, these teachers have been teaching, educational media or educational technology at Saudi schools because there is no certified personnel specialised in these areas. On contrary to Egyptian participants, they are hired as subject area teachers (e. g. Language, History, etc.) but additional burdens are imposed on them to carry out these activates (see Table 1 for more details on the demographic and background information for participants).

The Reality of Practice
This section presents the results related to the reality of specific education and educational technology at pre-university education in both Egypt and KSA. Participants were asked if they have ever learned about the concept of "specific education". Results presented in Table 2 reveal that the Chi-Square value was less than 0.05 which indicates a statistically significant relationship between nationality and the awareness of the concept of specific education in favour of the Egyptian participants (96% for Egyptian participants VS 20% for Saudi participants). When asked about the availability of the means and mechanisms necessary for educational media and educational technology inside schools, results presented in Table 3 showed that there is a correlation between the country of participants and the availability of the means and mechanisms necessary for educational media and educational technology. In more detail, the participants' responses regarding item 1 "My school has a specialist in educational media". It was revealed that 84% of Egyptian participants reported that their schools in Egypt have specialists in educational media compared to only 16% of Saudi participants. Similar results were obtained in item 2 "My school has a specialist in educational technology", with 100% of Egyptian participants reported that their schools in Egypt have specialists in educational technology compared to 12% of Saudi participants. As for the availability of "a stage of training and educational theatre in schools", half of the Egyptian participants said their schools included a stage, while none of the Saudi participants did. In terms of the introduction of "art and music education as well as other educational activities in schools", the responses of the vast majority of Egyptian participants (90%) pointed out the occurrence of such activities in their schools versus 6% of Saudi participants. These results reveal that on the contrary, to the Saudi context, there is considerable attention to specific education in Egypt in terms of the availability of the human resources and staff qualified to do this work. In terms of the availability of multimedia equipped places dedicated to educational technology, it was found that there is no statistical significance according to the state of residence. Responses revealed that 88% of both Egyptian and Saudi participants reported that they have such dedications. Moreover, when asked if their educational administrations provided them with teachers' guides, manuals, and operational plans for educational media and educational technology specialists, their answers were comparable (78 and 64%) for Egyptian and Saudi participants respectively. No significant differences were found as well concerning the existence of a school interactive website, with both were low (24 and 30%) for Egyptian and Saudi participants respectively. Finally, when asked if there were periodic systems established by the school administration for evaluating activity specialists, sixty-eight of Egyptian participants answered positively compared to 48% of Saudi participants. This gap can be explained in light of the availability of human resources and staff qualified in Egypt.
By showcasing the above results, it is argued that specific education facilities for both educational media and educational technology are available in Egyptian schools more than their counterparts in KSA. The next section discusses the efficiency of educational media and educational technology in the educational process in both countries. Results presented in Table 4 show that the Chi-Square value was less than 0.05 which indicates statistical significance according to the country of participants (either KSA or Egypt) in terms of the efficiency of educational media and educational technology in the educational process. In their responses to the item "I use e-learning in teaching the curriculum", a percentage of 36% of Egyptian participants reported that they always use e-learning in teaching the curriculum, and 58% of them reported they sometimes did. On the other hand, for Saudi participants, 32 and 26% of them reported that they always or sometimes use e-learning in teaching the curriculum.
As for using creative drama and its applications in enriching the curriculum, results revealed that only 14% of Egyptian participants responded positively and 58% of them reported doing that occasionally. Almost all Saudi participants (94%), however, mentioned that they do not use creative drama and its applications in enriching the curriculum. When asked about their students attend to participate in educational theatre, the gap between the two groups continued; with 68% of Egyptian participants answered with yes, compared to only 6% of Saudi participants.
On the other hand, the picture was sharply changed regarding the availability of physical and financial facilities and resources in both countries. When asked if there were enough computers in their schools for all students, results presented in Figure 1 show that Chi-Square value was less than 0.05 which indicates a statistically significant relationship between the two groups in favor of Saudi participants. Specifically, a percentage of 14% of Egyptian participants reported that there were enough computers in their schools for all students compared to 62% of Saudi participants. These results clearly indicate the difference between Saudi and Egyptian schools in terms of the availability of facilities and equipment in favor of Saudi schools.

Teacher Preparation
Participants were asked about the academic preparation they have received in their countries to qualify them in their specialisations. Results presented in Table 6 point out that the Chi-Square value was less than 0.05 which indicates a statistically significant relationship between the two groups in terms of academic preparation. As for Educational media, all Egyptian participants reported that there are special academic departments at the university introducing Educational media, while none of the Saudi participants said they knew about such departments in their Saudi universities and 68% of them reported that they did not know about it. Similarly, when asked about special academic departments at the university introducing Educational technology, the same results were obtained from Egyptian participants and comparable results from Saudi participants (see Table 6). In brief, the results above reveal that while there is an abundance of qualified human resources in the Egyptian context, the Saudi context suffers from the availability of these personnel. On the other hand, in terms of the necessary infrastructure, equipment, resources, and facilities, the Egyptian schools are confronted by the shortage, while Saudi schools do not encounter any challenges in this respect.

Challenges Encountered by Teachers
The previous section presented the reality of specific education in both Egypt and KSA from the participants' perspective. This section emphasises the challenges encountered by educational media and educational technology teachers and specialists in light of this reality in both countries.
Results presented in Table 7 reveal the main challenges and difficulties facing the practices of educational technology teachers and specialists. It is observed that the Chi-Square value was less than 0.05 for many items, which indicates a statistically significant relationship between the two groups in favor of Saudi participants. For example, when asked if they lacked Internet access in their schools, a percentage of 74% of Egyptian participants, compared to zero % of Saudi participants, reported that they had difficulties with Internet access in their schools.
When asked if multimedia and electronic devices in their schools were rather dated, the majority of Egyptian participants (78%) indicated their agreement with the item compared only to 6% of Saudi participants. This confirms what has been concluded in the previous section that financial resources and necessary equipment are not problems in the Saudi context to the contrary to the Egyptian one. This difference became more evident when participants were asked about the budget allocated to educational media and educational technology in schools, with 88% of Egyptian participants complaining about insufficient resources while none of the Saudi participants reported any budgetary problems.
With regard to offering regular in-service training programmes for teachers in educational media and educational technology, results showed that there were statistically significant differences between the two groups in favor of Egyptian participants. Specifically, a percentage of 38% of Egyptian participants reported the lack of regular in-service training programmes compared to 68% of Saudi participants. This result reveals that Saudi teacher suffers from insufficient training on in-service training programmes in educational media and educational technology, which can be explained in light of the lack of special academic departments at the Saudi universities that introduce these specialisations. On the other hand, the two groups reported similar responses in some items, which point out that these problems are common regardless of the specific context. For instance, when asked if they were concerned about the negative perception of extra-curricular activities as being unnecessary, most Egyptian and Saudi participants expressed agreement with the item (68%, 76%) for Egyptian and Saudi participants respectively. Moreover, inadequate time given to the use of educational media and educational technology activities was another area of agreement (84%, 90%) for Egyptian and Saudi participants respectively. The two groups also had similar responses when asked if there was a huge gap between educational media and educational technology and the prescribed curriculum (70% for both).

Proposals for the Development of Educational Media and Educational Technology Activities
This section discusses the suggestions and possible changes that could be introduced within the attempt to develop educational media and educational technology activities in schools from the perspectives of Saudi and Egyptian participants. Results presented in Table 8 reveal the overall consensus between Saudi and Egyptian participants on the majority of proposals set in this section.
In more details, almost all participants agreed on many items as useful proposals for the development of educational media and educational technology activities in their schools such as: "the need to use modern innovations in educational technology"; and "the school environment should be equipped and places should be allocated for extra-curricular activities" (100% for each); "there is a need to provide continuing professional in-service training opportunities for educational media and educational technology specialists"; and "there is a need to direct school activities to improve students' mental levels and school behaviours" (100 and 94% for Egyptian and Saudi participants respectively for each item). There was a general agreement as well on the other proposals such as the need to practice extra-curricular activities to equip students with useful and necessary life skills and knowledge and prepares them for the future job market, and the need to include other artistic and musical disciplines in school activities.
Finally, respondents were asked about their opinions on the crucial factors necessary for the success of school activities. Results depicted in Figure 2 show that there are significant differences between Saudi and Egyptian participants in their views on the priority of these factors. These differences reflected the specific needs of each school environment for the successful implementation of school activities. For example, Egyptian participants reported that priority should be given to the provision of adequate budgets (87%); preparing school environment and equipment (76%); and supporting teachers (74%). These results are consistent with those reached in the previous section, which pointed out that the financial resources stand as a huge obstacle in the face of improving specific education activities in the Egyptian schools. On the other hand, Saudi participants had different priorities regarding the significant factors needed for specific educational activities in their schools. According to Saudi participants, administrative thought and procedures served as the major obstacle hindering the promotion of specific educational activities in Saudi schools (89%), which, in turn, calls for reconsidering the managerial practices to fit the contemporary theories and approaches. The second priority for Saudi participants was supporting teachers by means of pre-and in-service development and training (74%). These results are in line with what has been made clear in the study that is due to the absence of specialised academic preparation at Saudi universities.

Conclusion
Educational media and educational technology have been increasingly employed by teachers in transformative ways as powerful tools for enhancing teaching and learning. This study investigated the reality of specific education teachers specialised in educational media and educational technology in Egypt and KSA. It was found that the major obstacles facing Egyptian teachers lie in budgetary and facilities shortage. Saudi teachers, however, are hindered by administrative deficiency, poor preparation, and in-service professional development. In light of this, participants reported the need for many reforms and upgrades to be initiated in order to enhance their capacity to perform their work duties. There was a general consensus between Saudi and Egyptian participants on the need to use modern innovations in educational technology and to equip the school environment with necessary facilities and to provide extra-curricular activities. Participants also reported the pivotal need to offer continuing professional in-service training opportunities for educational media and educational technology specialists and to direct school activities to improve students' mental levels and school behaviours. In order to launch these proposals, the study puts forth the following recommendations.

Recommendations for the Saudi Context
-The need to set up specialist departments at Saudi universities with the purpose of certifying specialised and qualified human cadres in the fields of educational media and educational technology.
-It is necessary to draw from the expertise of other countries and area experts in the field of specific education in founding a base for specific education in schools.
-Striving to disseminate the culture of extra-curricular activities in schools, and integrating artistic, musical, sports and other activities in the instructional process.
-Working on the diffusion and dissemination of specific education concepts and culture at all educational levels.

Recommendations for the Egyptian Context
-Stimulating action to ensure an appropriate environment modern equipment to achieve the maximum benefit from using educational media and technology in the educational process.
-Efforts should be made to provide adequate budgets for supporting student activities and specific education in order to achieve the desired goals.
-Striving to establish continuous in-service training to specialists in educational media and technology.

Suggestions for Future Research
In light of the results reached by this study, it can recommended for future research to focus on the following areas: investigating the best ways to take advantage of educational media and technology in teaching the curriculum; examining how to employ extracurricular activities in exploring students' skills; studying the major obstacles facing specific education in the instructional process; and conducting a study on priming educational activities in light of Saudi Vision 2030.