ABIDA SULTANA, MUHAMMAD NAEEM BUTT
DOI: https://doi.org/Undoubtedly, over the last two decades digital media has shifted human life to an extraordinary degree. To this end, the current study sought to understand the perspectives of female educators and their undergraduate students through their lived experiences on the advances and challenges of digital media at the university level. Under constructivist paradigm, the study adopted qualitative transcendental phenomenological research design, followed by the Vygotskian Social Constructivism theoretical framework. The population of the study comprised female educators and their undergraduate students at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, the first women's university of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Purposive sampling technique was employed for selecting 22 female educators and 48 undergraduate students, whose participation was entirely voluntary. The research instruments used for data collection were self-reflected open ended checklist questionnaires, FGDs, semi-structured in-depth interviews, observations of participants shared digital media activities images, and observation of digital media profiles of educators for confirmation of their interviews. For data analysis, an inductive and thematic analysis approaches were employed, that resulted in 7 major themes. Major findings of the study showed that participants attained several advances in the form of digital media skills and opportunities that amplified their personal growth and academic development. The academic advances shared by the participants were the learning of skills of utilizing digital media software and apps for engaging in different digital media academic activities and opportunities. Collectively, the participants shared academic advances attained through digital included: content browsing, searching, creating, sharing, presenting; online courses, awareness sessions, workshops, training, research projects, businesses, entrepreneurship, freelancing, remote jobs, mentorship, scholarships, internships, attending, participating in, and organizing academic activities; organizing online research project collaboration; participating in volunteer activities; joining community services programs; joining social and academic platforms; and job opportunities, among others. Contrarily, the participants also highlighted several challenges in the application of digital media at this university, such as: unreliable internet connections, electricity outage, lack of advanced computers, insufficient time, lack of space, failure in access to university internet, ack of digital literacy skills, privacy issues, AI challenges etc. Finally, it is recommended that all concerned stake holders need to work together for successful application of digital media in the academic life processes of educators and undergraduate students at university level.
