The Effectiveness of Online Classes on

Selected First-year College Students

A Research Paper presented to the

College Department of

San Sebastian College – Recoletos, Manila

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Subject Research in BACC108 Thesis with Defense.

Carandang, Liezel O.

Cristobal, June Mikhail Joseph

Medina, Jericho

2021

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 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

An alarming proportion of students in the Philippines are unable to attend

online classes and are consequently compelled to drop out. Parents, on the other hand,

are forced to struggle to find work and a steady source of income in order to feed

their families and pay for their children's tuition fees on their own (Child Hope

Philippines, 2021). Online class is the new mode of learning due to the pandemic. It is

conducted over the internet, smartphones, laptop or computer. We think that it is

easy, comfortable, better and flexible because we can easily learn in that new learning

mode. But somehow, many students complain that online classes are not that

accessible. It is generally self-educating and not fit to the others who are not used to

it.

According to Gaille, L. (2020), online class has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of online class is, it provides more flexibility to incorporate multiple

learning styles, it is typically cheaper than traditional enrollment and it teaches

students how to be disciplined and responsible. While, the disadvantages of online

class is some of your required course work might require in-person activities, online

classes don’t provide the same face-to-face connections and basically, you must have

access to the Internet to complete your work. 

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 Face-to-face learning typically takes place in a group setting, but with online

learning, the only distraction is yourself (Ryan, 2019). Furthermore, more students

want to get back on face-to-face learning mode. Face-to-face classes are a two way

interaction, while online classes don't include a live instructor. They say that it is the

best and better than online class. You will be able to concentrate harder, with less

distractions than if you were at home. The most familiar way is the traditional

classroom setting, you may feel more comfortable and learn easily. Online classes

might deliver video content. However, it is a one way interaction.

According to Nguyen, T. (2015), The internet has enabled online learning,

many researchers and educators are involved in using online learning to enhance and

improve student learning outcomes while trying to overcome resource constraints.

There is strong evidence that online learning is at least as effective as traditional

learning. Based on the study of Sona, V. & Ashish, M. (2021), The findings of the

study shows pedagogy, teaching style and teaching effectiveness have a significant

impact on academic behavior of online classes with the first online teachers.

Moreover, one of the challenges that students may face is keeping motivated. Given

that, unlike face-to-face learning, students have the option of attending or not

attending lectures, experts believe finding motivation to start coursework can be

tough (Friedman, 2020).

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 As students faced obstacles in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, the study

determined how they affected their online learning experience and the solutions they

took to overcome these challenges. According to this study, the students' largest

obstacle was related to their academic setting at home, whereas technology literacy

and proficiency were their least challenging. The findings demonstrated that the

pandemic has a significant impact on the quality of the learning experience and the

mental health of the students (Barot, et. al 2021). Given that students have less direct

interaction with others, reduced school expenditures, and can manage their time well,

we can claim that this style of learning is somehow useful in surviving this pandemic.

Nonetheless, not all Filipino students believe that this learning mode is as useful as it

is for a few.

This study is conducted to assess the effectiveness of online classes on first

year students in the midst of a pandemic, because online classes are not fit for others,

some students are passing requirements but they no longer learned about it. The

researchers aim to know if that new learning mode is better than face-to-face class. 

Background of the Study

The researchers conducted this study to assess the effectiveness of online

classes in the midst of pandemic, because online classes are not fit to others, some

students are passing requirements, but they no longer learned about it. Furthermore,

the researchers are curious and interested if this study can help them and the other

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students to know if online classes are effective or if this can help them to find ways to

increase interest in their studies.

Theoretical Framework

For an efficient and effective measure of this study, the researchers employ the

models of assessment of effectiveness of online learning.

Figure 1. Anderson’s Online Learning Model. Reprinted with permission by

Anderson, T. (2011).

The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd Edition). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.

Figure 1 illustrates:

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 The two major human actors, learners and teachers, and their interactions with

each other and with content. Learners can of course interact directly with content that

they find in multiple formats, and especially on the Web; however, many choose to

have their learning sequenced, directed, and evaluated with the assistance of a

teacher. This interaction can take place within a community of inquiry, using a

variety of Net-based synchronous and asynchronous activities…These environments

are particularly rich, and allow for the learning of social skills, the collaborative

learning of content, and the development of personal relationships among

participants. However, the community binds learners in time, forcing regular sessions

or at least group-paced learning. The second model of learning (on the right)

illustrates the structured learning tools associated with independent learning.

Common tools used in this mode include computer-assisted tutorials, drills, and

simulations (Anderson, 2011, p. 61-62).

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Figure 2. Community of Inquiry (Garrison, Anderson, Garrison and Archer, 2000)

The “community of inquiry” model for online learning environments developed by

Garrison, Anderson & Archer (2000) is based on the concept of three distinct

“presences”: cognitive, social, and teaching. While recognizing the overlap and

relationship among the three components, Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, and Archer

(2001) advise further research on each component. Their model supports the design

of online and blended courses as active learning environments or communities

dependent on instructors and students sharing ideas, information, and opinions. Of

particular note is that “presence” is a social phenomenon and manifests itself through

interactions among students and instructors. The community of inquiry has become

one of the more popular models for online and blended courses that are designed to

be highly interactive among students and faculty using discussion boards, blogs,

wikis, and videoconferencing.

Conceptual Framework

The basis of the study about the conceptual framework is presented below.

The IPO model represents the summary of various related articles that explains the

processes involved. This directs the researcher in coming-up with a series of action

required in the entire duration of the given educational research. It considers the

insights of the other researchers, their observations, and their findings on the subject

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of their educational research. The researcher will be using it to administer the

research and help in understanding the purpose of this study. Figure 2 shows the

information that the researcher needs. The respondents will have an online survey

using a google form and the outcome will be the different strategies of each

respondent that can help a lot in the effectiveness of online classes during this

pandemic.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Demographic Profile of Survey Questionnaires

Recommendation
the respondents
Effects of Online Classes Five-point Likert scale
to the first-year college was used to collect the Guidelines and
students opinion of students in the policy of online
Perception of students online class. Five-point Classes for both
towards online classes Likert scale indicates with students and
one being strongly professors
disagreed and five being
strongly agreed. After
constructing a
questionnaire, to know
the feasibility of the
questionnaire, a pilot
study conducted and
reviewed the
questionnaire.

Figure 2 Conceptual Framework

This conceptual framework is divided into three parts, the input, process, and

output. Input contains the demographic profile of the respondents, effects of online

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classes to the first-year college students and the perception of the students towards the

online classes. In the process, it indicates the method that researcher will used to

collect the data needed, which is the survey questionnaire and the five-point Likert

scale. For the output, it pertains for the expected result of the study or for the

contribution, and in this study, recommendation for effective guidelines and policy of

online classes for both students and professor is the final output.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1 Age
1.2 Gender
1.3 Course

2. What are the effects of online classes to the first-year students in terms

of:

2.1 Behavior

2.2 Knowledge

2.3 Academic Performance

3. What are the perceptions of the students on online classes as an

alternative mode of learning in terms of:

3.1. Comfortability

3.2. Satisfaction

3.3. Conveniency

4. What are the challenges faced by the first students in online classes?

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 4.1. Class schedule

4.2. Unstable internet connection

4.3. Professor Interaction

4.4. Available Device

5. What are the recommendations for effective eLearning policy and

guidelines that can be given for both students and professors?

Objectives

The general objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of online classes on

selected first year college, this adheres to meet the following:

 To determine the effects of online classes on academic performance of first

year students.

 To determine the perception of the students on online classes as an alternative

mode of learning.

 To identify the challenges faced by the students in online classes.

 To recommend an effective eLearning guidelines and policy for both students

and professors.

Significance of the Study

The study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of online classes on

Selected First - Year College Students of San Sebastian College - Recoletos Manila

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(SSC-R). Moreover, the findings of this study can be significant and will be of great

benefit to the following:

San Sebastian College - Recoletos Manila (SSCR). The study will help them in

what actions they will do for the students. This will be spread in a broader span so

that more people will be informed about the effectiveness of online classes. 

Students. This study is beneficial to the students and the result will provide

knowledge on how effective online class is. 

Professors. They will benefit from this study from the findings and

recommendations. 

The Researchers. In this study, the researcher might also gain a lot of value from it.

They would know the effectiveness of online classes.

Future Researchers. They can use the study to finalize the topic related to this topic

or problem. This may serve as one of their related studies in the Philippines. That

could be added to the college library, for them to have access to what studies they are

fulfilling.

Scope and Delimitation

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 The general intent of the study is to assess the effectiveness of online classes

to first-year college students as an alternative mode of learning offered during this

pandemic. The data collection will be conducted in 50 selected first-year students in

San Sebastian College-Recoletos S/Y 2021-2022 who will represent the population.

This focuses on the effects of online classes and the perception of students towards

eLearning mode and the challenges faced by them. This research yearns to clarify and

assist the institution to develop effective guidelines and policies for the current

implementation of online classes, as well as giving students a chance to be heard of

where they are exactly needed to be assisted on. This study uses google forms since

not only does it not cause any financial restraints to the researchers, but also safe,

convenient, and easy to disseminate.

The researchers however believe that there will be several problems and/or

limitations will encounter in conducting the study for this subject.

The first delimitation of the research predicted, is the recruitment of sufficient

number of participants, or rather, participants that would take the research seriously,

in regard to this, unwilling or lazy participants will greatly influence the credibility of

the study. Second to this is the limitation of the research locale and respondents, since

it is strictly on the perspective of first year students at the San Sebastian College-

Recoletos Manila Community, the research results may or may not have the same

situation needed for future researchers on the assessment of effectiveness of online

classes on different academic communities or other year levels. Also mentioning the

numbers of the students enrolled now are less compared to the probable future. And

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lastly, the constraints of using a survey questionnaire to the credibility and validity of

the data, since surveys are not as free response as compared to interviews that could

give newer variables or perspective.

Despite these delimitations, the study will be worthwhile. Understanding the

scope of knowledge of effectiveness of distance education courses for first year can

assist higher education administrators in several areas including curriculum

assessment and development.

Null Hypothesis

Online classes have no significant effects on the selected first year college students of

SSC-R Manila.

Definition of Terms

Effectiveness- the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired

result; success. In this study, the researchers are more focused to see if online-based

learning is a successful learning alternative in the times of pandemic.

Impact- the ability to influence, persuade, or convince others to adopt a specific

course of action.

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 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and study that underwent thorough

searching of related local and international studies and literature, reading and

summarizing by the researchers. This chapter also presents the various studies and

literature that have been made and published by other knowledgeable researchers

inside the Philippines and overseas.

To begin with, a foreign study by Nguyen (2015) examines the evidence of

the effectiveness of online learning by organizing and summarizing the findings and

challenges of online learning into positive, negative, mixed, and null findings. The

Internet has made online learning possible, and many researchers and educators are

interested in online learning to enhance and improve student learning outcomes while

combating the reduction in resources, particularly in higher education. It is imperative

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that researchers and educators consider the effectiveness of online learning compared

to traditional face-to-face format and the factors that influence the effectiveness of

online courses. The findings of this study stated that there is robust evidence to

suggest online learning is generally at least as effective as the traditional format.

Moreover, this body of literature suggests that researchers should move beyond the

"no significant difference" phenomenon and consider the next stage of online

learning.

Adopting the study of Sona Vikas & Ashish Mathur (2021) which covers an

empirical study of student perception towards pedagogy, teaching style, and

effectiveness of online classes. The primary objective of this study is to find out the

student perception of online classes from teachers who had no past experience of

online teaching, with respect to their teaching effectiveness, teaching style, and

pedagogy in an online classroom. The analysis of the study indicates that pedagogy,

teaching style, and teaching effectiveness significantly affect student perception

towards online classes by first-time online teachers. In line with this, the study of

Sangste (2020) states the insights into accounting education in a COVID-19 world.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections during the pandemic and it

reveals a commonality of issues, and variability in responses, many positive

outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching

strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are

negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-

being, and the accompanying stress.

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 As stated by Almendingen et al (2021), the sudden shift to digital teaching

was challenging for students, but it appears that they adapted quickly to the new

situation. Although the concerns described by students in this study may only be

representative of the period right after a campus lockdown, the study provides the

student perspective on a unique period of time in higher education.

Based on an article published on the IndiaEducation website, the given

definition of online education is a form of education where students use their home

computers through the internet. For many nontraditional students, among them all

those who want to continue working full time or raising families, online graduations

and courses have become popular in the past decade. Often online graduation and

course programs, some of which are conducted using digital technologies, are

provided via the online learning portal of the host university. Another article

contained information regarding the most common challenges faced by college

students due to the pandemic. As stated by Friedman (2020), staying motivated is one

of the difficulties students might be dealing with. Given that students have a choice as

to whether or not to attend classes, unlike face-to-face learning, finding the

motivation to get started on coursework can be difficult as experts say. Moreover,

uncertainty about the future is considered a challenge for students since the sudden

switch to online classes has caused anxiety and confusion, as well as raised questions

among students about their academic futures.

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 In accordance with this, the researchers also collected studies and literature

published in the Philippines. According to Barrot et al (2021), online learning

challenges of college students varied in terms of type and extent. The study identified

the extent of challenges that students faced during COVID-19 pandemic, how it

impacted their online learning experience and the strategies that they used to

overcome these challenges. As claimed in this study, the students’ greatest challenge

was connected to their academic setting at home, while their least challenge was

technological literacy and competency. The results revealed that the quality of the

learning experience and students’ mental health are the ones greatly affected by the

pandemic. Furthermore, resource management and utilization, help-seeking, technical

aptitude enhancement, time management, and learning environment control are the

strategies most frequently used by the students to cope up with the situation.

Implications for classroom practice, policy-making, and future research are discussed.

Numerous factors affected the students in different ways such as the financial

capacity and environment at home. As stated by Tus (2021), parental involvement is

one of the determinants of the academic success of students. The study investigates

the relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic performance.

Thus, the findings of the study revealed that the parents were still in the process of

developing their involvement in school. Moreover, the study of Cahapay (2021)

identifies the problems encountered by the students in online assessment amid the

coronavirus disease crisis. The findings uncovered six themes of problems

encountered by the students:

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 ● incompatibility of browsers;

● anxiety over tracking tools;

● unstable internet connection;

● electric power interruptions;

● distractions in the environment; and

● unknown accessibility issues.

It is then recommended in selecting the application to use for the online

proctored test, educators should consider the complexity feature of the application but

without compromising its capacity to guard assessment integrity. Furthermore,

professors should prepare alternative measures as inevitable problems might occur. In

line with this, a test orientation and test manual are a must-have to keep the students

guided throughout their assessment activity.

As the Philippines continues to conquer COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face

learning is still prohibited by the government in most parts of the country which led

to students having the ‘new normal’ online schooling as an alternative for almost two

years. A blog contained by researchers is about the impact of online learning on

students in the Philippines. We can say that this type of learning is somehow helpful

in surviving this pandemic given that students have less direct contact with others,

lower school costs, and can manage their time well. However, not all Filipino

students consider this learning situation to be as beneficial as it is for some students

since not all learners have the capacity to buy the required technologies.

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 According to Amadora (2020), there are five common problems that arise

during online learning. Internet connection is considered as the number one problem

students face while taking up classes given the fact that the Philippines is an internet-

challenged country. With poor internet connectivity, sub-problems might occur such

as the audio clarity of the platforms used by the professors. Other problems are the

system glitch, outdated devices and software, and short attention span. Due to the lack

of interaction during online class, students tend to get distracted easily by the

environment around them such as house chores, smartphones, pets, and deliveries.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, students somehow already know and have

gained knowledge on working out this online learning situation as of today. As stated

by Manuel (2020), there are five advantages and disadvantages of online learning.

The advantages of the ‘new normal in our country include home safety, the exercise

of freedom and control, no-hassle going to school, learning the values of

responsibility and priority, and the power of technology being utilized. On the other

hand, disadvantages include technical problems being inevitable, students tend to not

go online during class hours, lots of distractions may arise, not conforming to

deadlines, and the feeling of the situation not being natural. Whether students choose

to participate in an online class, are required to do it, or made a decision not to, take

note that this online learning situation should be utilized well to permit an effective

teaching strategy between the professors and learners.

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