research about online classes tagalog

Exploring the Online Learning Experience of Filipino College Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

• Louie Giray College of Education, Polytechnic University of the Philipines, Taguig City, Philippines
• Daxjhed Gumalin College of Education, Polytechnic University of the Philipines, Taguig City, Philippines
• Jomarie Jacob College of Education, Polytechnic University of the Philipines, Taguig City, Philippines
• Karl Villacorta College of Education, Polytechnic University of the Philipines, Taguig City, Philippines

This study was endeavored to understand the online learning experience of Filipino college students enrolled in the academic year 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were obtained through an open-ended qualitative survey. The responses were analyzed and interpreted using thematic analysis. A total of 71 Filipino college students from state and local universities in the Philippines participated in this study. Four themes were classified from the collected data: (1) negative views toward online schooling, (2) positive views toward online schooling, (3) difficulties encountered in online schooling, and (4) motivation to continue studying. The results showed that although many Filipino college students find online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic to be a positive experience such as it provides various conveniences, eliminates the necessity of public transportation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, among others, a more significant number of respondents believe otherwise. The majority of the respondents shared a general difficulty adjusting toward the new online learning setup because of problems related to technology and Internet connectivity, mental health, finances, and time and space management. A large portion of students also got their motivation to continue studying despite the pandemic from fear of being left behind, parental persuasion, and aspiration to help the family.

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Online Class, ang bagong normal na pag-aaral ng mga kabataan

by Pia Gonzalez-Abucay 26 August 2020, 10:00 1.4M Views

Ang ONLINE CLASS ay isang plataporma ng pag-aaral kung saan ay idinadaos sa pamamagitan ng paggamit sa internet, at ang estudyante ay di na kinakailangang lumabas pa ng bahay upang magtungo nang personal sa klase at makaharap ang guro at mga kamag-aral.

Nang magkaroon ng lockdown sa mga bansang apektado ng COVID19 Crisis, nakapagpatuloy pa rin ang mga estudyante mula elementarya hanggang kolehiyo  sa kanilang pag-aaral gamit ang computer.

Sa Italya, sa kabila ng lockdown noon, ay nakapagdaos ng klase ang mga guro sa itinakda nilang araw at oras, at nakatulong ang mga magulang dahil sila man ay nasa bahay lang noon at di nakapagtrabaho o kaya naman  ay work-at-home din kaya may panahong sapat para gabayan ang kanilang mga anak.

Bagama’t iba pa rin ang atmospera ng isang silid-aralan kung saan ay may personal na interaksiyon sa pagitan ng guro at mga estudyante , kailangan na lamang gawing mas masigla, epektibo at imperatibo ang paraan ng pagbabahagi ng aralin upang ang mga bata ay magkaroon ng pokus at ibuhos ang kooperasyon.  Kaya masasabing trending ang online class ngayon at isa ring matinding hamon para sa lahat upang maging matagumpay ito kahit sa panahon ng stay-at-home.

May kakambal din itong hirap para sa iba dahil hindi naman lahat ay may kayang  magkaroon ng internet sa kani-kanilang tahanan kaya ang ginagamit ay ang mga telepono ng mga magulang na may subskripsiyon ng internet o kaya ay pakikipagkomunikasyon gamit ang WhatsApp o Messenger.

 Isipin din natin ang kalagayan ng mga mag-aaral kung saan ang kanilang mga magulang ay full-time health worker gaya ng doktor, narses, sanitary workers at iba pang patuloy ang hanapbuhay dahil kailangan kahit panahon ng lockdown. Maaaring mahirapan sila dahil sa walang sapat na panahon ang  mga magulang upang matulungan at matutukan sila sa kanilang online class.

Sa panayam sa ilang magulang na nakasubaybay noon sa pag-aaral ng kanilang mga anak, gaya nila  EDS IGNACIO at GRACE RAMOS , narito ang buod ng kanilang sagot sa mga naging katanungan ng AKO AY PILIPINO:

Ayon kay Eds Ignacio , nagkaroon ng disiplina ang mga bata dahil nagkaroon ng regola sa kanilang bahay na dapat maglaan ng oras sa paggawa ng aralin, paglalaro o ang paggamit ng gadget. At sa kaniya bilang isang ina, naging hamon din ang isaayos ang kanyang oras para magampanan ang mga gawaing-bahay at pagsubaybay sa pag-aaral ng anak.  Sa kanilang kuwarto ay sadyang naglaan ng study area upang higit ang konsentrasyon kaya napakinabangan nang husto ang study table.  Sa kanya namang palagay, di gaanong epektibo ang online class lalo sa maliliit na bata dahil sa hirap na mapanatili sila sa kanilang upuan , kadalasan ay naiinip ang mga ito.

 Sa mga batang katulad nila Kevin, Epi at Lia, sabik sila sa paggawa ng crafts gaya ng pagkukulay. pagguhit at paggupit sa mga papel ng iba’t ibang hugis ayon sa kanilang disenyo. At natugunan din ng mga nanay ang pagtuturo na makapagsulat at makapagbasa ang mga bata.

Ayon naman kay Grace Ramos, ang dalawa nilang anak na si Charles and JD na nasa Superiore at Liceo noong panahon ng lockdown,  ay sanay na sa paglalaan ng sapat na oras sa kanilang pag-aaral. Gumigising sila nang maaga upang ihanda ang sarili sa pagre-review para sa verifica at interrogazione.  Di rin naman sila stressed na mag-asawa dahil parehong may inisyatiba ang kanilang mga anak. Kaya naman di nila iniistorbo ang mga ito kapag nasa study area ng kanilang kuwarto. Para kay Grace na dating guro sa Pilipinas, di gaanong epektibo ang online class lalo at may mga pagkakataon na humihina ang internet connection. At iba pa rin ang personal na interaksiyon sa pagitan ng guro at mga mag-aaral at ang pagkakaroon ng aktibidad na magkakasama ang magkakaklase.

Ayon naman kay Alyzza Guevarra, estudyante ng Linguistico ng Liceo , sa Roma, naglaan siya ng apat na oras sa pag-aaral sa online  mula Lunes hanggang Biyernes  at dalawang oras naman sa araw ng Sabado. Bagama’t nakatulong ang online class, nahirapan din naman siya sa dami ng ibinigay na homework ng kanilang guro. Kailangan lang talaga ng pokus upang hindi siya mainip at maitutok ang konsentrasyon sa mga aralin.

Bagama’t ang paaralan ay isang plataporma kung saan ang mga bata ay napapaunlad ang mga kasanayan hindi lamang sa akademiko kundi pati sa pakikisalamuha at pagsasagawa ng mga extra-curricular activities, ang pag-aaral sa pamamagitan ng online class ay dapat mapalalim pa sa pamamagitan ng mga research at pagbabasa ng iba pang reference books or e-books. Dapat ding isaalang-alang ang isang tahimik na puwesto sa tahanan upang magkaroon ng motibasyon at konsentrasyon habang may online class. Kailangan din laging paalalahanan ang mga kabataan na magkaroon ng  maayos na daily habits, pagkain ng masustansiyang pagkain, tamang oras ng paglilibang o paglalaro at pakikipag-bonding sa magulang at kapatid.

Sa nalalapit na pasukan, maging sa Pilipinas o ibang bahagi ng mundo, isang hamon ito sa gobyerno, sa departamento ng edukasyon, sa mga guro at mga magulang , kung paano ba matutugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng mga mag-aaral. Dahil sa gitna ng krisis na dulot ng pandemya, mahalaga ang pagkakaroon ng suporta sa mga materyal na gamit, sa koneksiyon sa internet, sa pagdisiplina sa mga estudyante para sa bagong daily routine nila at mas tutok na pagsubaybay sa kanilang pag-aaral sa pamamagitan ng ONLINE class. (ni: Dittz Centeno-De Jesus )

coronavirus Ikalawang Henerasyon Pilipino sa italya

Babalik sa Italya mula sa Pilipinas o sa ibang bansa, ano ang dapat gawin?

School Year 2020-2021 sa Italya, handa na ba?

Ako Ay PIlipino | MY OWN MEDIA LIMITED - 2024. Tutti i diritti riservati.

10 Best And Worst Online Tagalog (Filipino) Courses For 2024

• Read time 10 mins

Looking for the best online Tagalog course to learn the language?

Tagalog (Filipino) is rising in popularity, as more and more course options are being released.

In addition to tourism and foreign language careers , the benefits of speaking Tagalog cannot be overstated.

Today I’ll give you my rundown of the best (and worst) online Tagalog courses.

Below you’ll find pros and cons for each Tagalog course, pricing and a summary. Where applicable, I’ll link to a review of the course.

Table Of Contents

• FilipinoPod101
• Transparent Language
• Mango Languages
• Rosetta Stone

IMPORTANT : Some of the items listed below are probably only loosely defined as “courses” for Tagalog. The reason I’ve included them is that they’re popular enough Tagalog tools and therefore should be included.

DISCLAIMER : The comments below are personal opinions and some affiliate links are used.

The best Tagalog courses online (most popular Tagalog resources)

1. filipinopod101.

Cost: Starts as low as $4 a month.

Summary: FilipinoPod101 is a brilliant online resource for learning Tagalog (especially listening comprehension). If you’re into podcast learning especially, this might be the course for you.

FilipinoPod101 uses audio lessons similar to podcasts. Lessons are suitable for beginners through more advanced levels. The instruction not only includes listening skills but also incorporates essential vocabulary and grammar with loads of other useful features.

What I like:

• Large and always expanding variety of Tagalog lesson material
• Clean lesson interface and downloadable content

What I don’t like:

• Content choices are sparse beyond the beginner level
• Too much English banter
• While the lesson interface is nice, the rest of the site is overwhelming and confusing to navigate

UNIQUE OFFER : Use the code MEZZOGUILD to save 25% on any of their Tagalog course options.

2. Pimsleur Tagalog

Cost: $14.95 a month subscription (or $119.95 per level)

Summary: Pimsleur’s a household name for learning Tagalog using spaced repetition recall. The lessons focus on practical vocabulary and expressions one might need in various scenarios. This includes greetings, common phrases, and vocabulary you might need when talking to native speakers.

In terms of just how much you get out of it, I’d say Pimsleur is a good entry point for Tagalog but it will only familiarize you with the basics. Treat its Tagalog course as a foundational course and then move on to something more comprehensive.

Pimsleur does not offer any video or written content. It’s audio only.

Read this Pimsleur review .

• Pimsleur was based on solid research in second language acquisition.
• Extremely effective method despite its age.
• Heavy repetition of Tagalog language samples.
• Outdated scenario examples.
• Too much English.

Summary: Memrise moved its free “community” courses to a site called Memrise a while back, while it continues to run a premium subscription on the original Memrise site.

From what I see, Memrise is identical to what Memrise use to offer.

Memrise are 100% free community-added courses (Tagalog and others) in the form of a gamified flashcard deck. You select a language or dialect, then go through a flashcard game of “watering plants”. It’s highly addictive and actually quite effective.

Some courses are excellent but not all courses are good. Look for ones that include audio and ones that teach phrases rather than single words.

See my video on downloading Memrise to Anki.

• It’s an effective memorization tool for phrases and words.
• The addictive nature of the game gets you coming back often to continue learning.
• It’s all free.
• There are loads of community-driven courses to choose from.
• As it’s community-driven, you can’t always guarantee quality.

4. Mondly Tagalog

Cost: Starts at $9.99/month.

Summary: Mondly offers courses for loads of different languages including Tagalog and is similar in style to Duolingo and Babbel. There are even hints of Rosetta Stone in its delivery.

It’s a beautifully-designed web app and a pleasure to navigate the Tagalog course content.

Some of the language courses aren’t that great (e.g. Arabic) but Tagalog and others are done fairly well.

• Beautifully designed app and web interface makes it a pleasure to use
• Clear and easy progression through the Tagalog lessons
• Inexpensive
• Linear learning path
• Fairly repetitive and monotonous

See this Mondly review to learn more.

5. Transparent Language

Cost: Pricing varies

Summary: Transparent is one of the most surprising online Tagalog courses I’ve tried.

The system and interface are antiquated and slow which is a real drawback, but if you can look past it, Transparent Language provides a real depth of Tagalog course content.

The voice recognition comparison is non-existent in Transparent Language. It relies on recording on your voice and showing you your sound wave to compare with the native speaker’s sound wave.

No inbuilt system to automatically compare sounds.

The Transparent Language course has a “Produce it. Say it.” section that literally asks you “Were you right?”.

In other words, no way to automatically detect whether you were correct or not – it relies on your own determination. This is incredibly outdated.

Overall, if you can look past the outdated design and deficient voice recording aspect, Transparent Language Tagalog is an outstanding course option.

• Tagalog dialogue is 100% natural speed
• Extensive coverage and depth of content
• Outdated and slow interface that’s a pain to navigate
• Pronunciation section has no inbuilt voice recognition to compare to native dialogue

Cost: $4.99 monthly per language, $9.99 for all 140 languages, $99.99 for a lifetime subscription

Summary: uTalk is essentially a fancy flashcard app, an alternative to Memrise and a great way to learn words and phrases in hundreds of different languages.

There are thousands of potential language pair combinations and tons of native speaker audio recordings with picture associations.

• Authentic native speaker audio
• Hundreds of available languages
• Thousands of potential language combinations
• Easily affordable
• Games are mediocre
• Broad approach that isn’t tailored for specific languages

7. Glossika Tagalog

Cost: $30 a month.

Summary: I’m a huge fan of the Glossika series.

Glossika is one of the most unique language products available and, in my opinion, one of the very few that uses a natural, research-grounded method. In fact, the Glossika method aligns very closely with how I personally learned Tagalog and I’ve seen tremendous success doing it.

Glossika focuses on high repetition of lexical chunks – in other words, listening over and over to a sequence of sentences at natural speed and repeating them.

It is hands down the most effective trainer for Tagalog listening comprehension and requires little else but frequent, daily listening/repeating to audio.

See this massive Glossika review and interview I put together.

• One of the most truly unique and effective methods available, in my opinion.
• I personally had tremendous success using Glossika for Tagalog (and Russian).
• Focuses on heavy repetition of natural language chunks.
• Difficult concept to grasp for new learners of Tagalog.
• Natural approach requiring heavy repetition may feel tedious to some people.
• Slightly higher priced monthly subscription.

8. Mango Languages

Cost: $7.99 a month

Summary: Mango Languages has implemented what I believe to be one of the best ‘chunking’ approaches in its course style I’ve ever seen (very close to my own successful method). It does this by avoiding grammar Tagalog explanations and instead highlighting lexical chunks in colors to help you learn language patterns.

One of the best features I’ve seen in a language product. Period.

The only problem with Mango is that it’s quite lightweight on its course depth. If they developed an advanced course for Tagalog, I’d be a raging fan.

• Beautifully designed Tagalog course
• Focuses on lexical chunks (color coded) rather than rules which is how I prefer to learn
• Minimal grammar focus
• Lack of content depth for higher-level learners

Cost: Prices vary widely

Summary: italki connects learners with tutors, teachers and conversation partners. As with similar services, it doesn’t a curriculum or content to instructors - just facilitates.

The good thing about italki is their vetted onboarding process for teachers which ensures quality. italki has earned its amazing reputation.

Teachers succeed on italki through client feedback, meaning subpar teachers simply will not cut it on the platform.

• Facilitates great connections with expert teachers.
• No set curriculum means you could be paired with an inexperienced new teacher not yet weeded out by italki’s review system.

10. Rosetta Stone

Cost: Starts at $6.49 a month.

Summary: My biggest complaint about Rosetta Stone used to be for its astronomical price tag but it recently switched over to a subscription model (to compete) and now is comparatively cheap.

RS was actually one of the first paid products I used to learn Tagalog (and I used it A LOT).

Rosetta Stone is a household name that everyone’s heard about. It tends to get sharp criticism for its method but as I’ve pointed out in the past, people criticize Rosetta Stone because they’re either: a) impatient or b) not willing to allow the method to work for them. Rosetta Stone is all about intuition – it doesn’t give you quick answers or translations.

You infer meaning gradually.

No Tagalog grammar rules are given. Just intuitive inference.

See my massively popular review of Rosetta Stone .

• Rosetta Stone is, to this day, one of the few major Tagalog course products that is genuinely innovative and different
• The RS immersion approach (using pictures and intuitiveness to learn) is a powerful approach that works (if the student’s patient)
• Very comprehensive overall
• Inexpensive (used to be outrageously expensive until they changed to a subscription model)
• Inappropriate cultural images
• Very formal dialogues used in scenarios that are unnatural (see my review where I explain this in detail)
• Voice recognition is often inaccurate for Tagalog

Summary: Best online Tagalog courses

This pretty much sums up every online Tagalog course option currently available (if I missed a decent Filipino course, let me know!).

In addition to a Tagalog course, make sure you’re getting regular Tagalog practice with native Filipino speakers .

For that, italki is the easiest way to find really inexpensive practice partners and tutors.

Just remember that even if you have all the courses on this list, you’ll still fail at Tagalog without the right motivation, and even a poor Tagalog course can be effective in the hands of someone with the right amount of determination to succeed.

For tips on how to learn Tagalog and overcoming various language learning struggles, subscribe below by ‘Joining the Guild’ (select Tagalog as your target language).

Know of a Filipino course that I didn’t mention?

Share it below in the comment section.

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With Schools Closed, Covid-19 Deepens a Philippine Education Crisis

The country remains among the few that have not at least partially reopened, sparking worry in a place where many lack a computer or internet access.

By Jason Gutierrez and Dan Bilefsky

MANILA — As jubilant students across the globe trade in online learning for classrooms, millions of children in the Philippines are staying home for the second year in a row because of the pandemic, fanning concerns about a worsening education crisis in a country where access to the internet is uneven.

President Rodrigo Duterte has justified keeping elementary schools and high schools closed by arguing that students and their families need to be protected from the coronavirus. The Philippines has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Asia, with just 16 percent of its population fully inoculated, and Delta variant infections have surged in recent months.

That makes the Philippines, with its roughly 27 million students, one of only a handful of countries that has kept schools fully closed throughout the pandemic, joining Venezuela, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Agency for Children. Other countries that kept schools closed, like Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have moved to reopen them.

“I cannot gamble on the health of the children,” Mr. Duterte said in June, rejecting recommendations by the health department to reopen schools.

The move — which has kept nearly 2,000 schools closed — has spawned a backlash among parents and students in a sprawling nation with endemic poverty. Many people, particularly in remote and rural areas, do not have access to a computer or the internet at home for online learning.

Iljon Roxas, a high school student stuck at home in Bacoor City, south of Manila, said the monotony of staring at a computer screen over the past year made it difficult to concentrate, and he yearned to return to a real classroom. The fun and joy of learning, he added, had evaporated.

“I miss a lot of things, like bonding with classmates during free time,” said Iljon, 16. “I also miss my teachers, believe it or not. Since last year we have been stuck in front of our screens — you listen, you tune out.”

The crisis in the Philippines comes as countries across the world, including the United States, have been grappling with one of the worst disruptions of public schooling in modern history. Governments have struggled to balance the imperative of health and safety with the public duty to educate children.

Some countries, like Britain, have taken an aggressive approach to keeping schools open, including from late spring into early summer, when the Delta variant surged. While many elementary school students and their teachers did not wear masks, the British government focused instead on other safety measures, such as rapid testing and widespread quarantining.

Where schools have been closed for a long time, such as the Philippines, education experts have expressed concerns that the pandemic has created a “lost generation” of students, buffeted by the limits of remote learning and by overstretched parents struggling to serve as surrogate physics and literature teachers.

Maritess Talic, 46, a mother of two, said she feared her children had barely learned anything during the past year. Ms. Talic, who works part time as a maid, said she and her husband, a construction worker, had scraped together about 5,000 pesos, or about $100, to buy a secondhand computer tablet to share with their children, ages 7 and 9.

But the family — which lives in Imus, a suburb south of Manila — does not have consistent internet access at home. They rely on prepaid internet cards that are constantly running out, sometimes in the middle of her children’s online classes, Ms. Talic said. She has also struggled to teach her children science and math with her limited schooling.

“It is very hard,” she said, adding that the children struggled to share one device. “We can’t even find enough money to pay our electricity bill sometimes, and now we have to also look for extra money to pay for internet cards.”

She said she understood the need to prioritize health ahead of keeping schools opened, but she feared for her children’s future. “The thing is, I don’t think they are learning at all,” she added. “The internet connection is just too slow sometimes.”

Even before the pandemic, the Philippines was facing an education crisis, with overcrowded classrooms, shoddy public school infrastructure and desperately low wages for teachers creating a teacher shortage.

A 2020 World Bank report said the country also suffered from a digital divide. In 2018, it said, about 57 percent of the Philippines’s roughly 23 million households did not have internet access. However, the government has since been working to narrow that gap. Manila City Mayor Francisco Domagoso , said in an interview that last year, City Hall had handed out 130,000 tablets for school children and some 11,000 laptops for teachers.

UNICEF said in an August study that the school closures were especially damaging for vulnerable children, already facing the challenges of poverty and inequality. It called for the phased reopening of schools in the country, starting in low-risk areas and with stringent safety protocols in place.

The school closures have had negative consequences for students, said Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov , UNICEF’s representative in the Philippines. Students have fallen behind and reported mental distress. She also cited a heightened risk of drop outs, child labor and child marriage.

As remote classes resumed this week, Leonor Briones, the education secretary, sought to portray the electronic reopening as a success. She said that about 24 million children, from elementary school to high school, were enrolled in school. But she acknowledged that the enrollment figure included about two million fewer students than last year.

Regina Tolentino, deputy secretary general of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, which represents college newspaper editors, said the government’s attempt to put a positive spin on the second year of shuttered schools was “delusional.”

With remote learning the only option, she said, poor students were being forced to spend money on computers and internet cards rather than on basic necessities like food. “The government must hear students out and uphold their basic rights to education even during the pandemic,” she said.

But leading doctors and health experts said that, while opening schools was an important aim, health and safety needed to be prioritized.

They pointed out that just over 14 million people in the Philippines were fully vaccinated, well below the government’s initial target of 70 million by the end of the year. Some hospitals were filled to capacity, and scenes of patients receiving oxygen in parking lots had become commonplace.

Dr. Anthony Leachon, a prominent public health expert who was a member of the government’s Covid-19 advisory panel, called for the vaccination of 12 to 17 year-olds to be fast-tracked to help clear the way for schools to be reopened.

“It’s dangerous,” he said, “to reopen schools with the Delta variant strains at the moment.”

Dan Bilefsky is a Canada correspondent for The New York Times, based in Montreal. He was previously based in London, Paris, Prague and New York. He is author of the book "The Last Job," about a gang of aging English thieves called "The Bad Grandpas." More about Dan Bilefsky

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Perceptions and Lived Experiences of Selected Students in a Private University in Manila on Online Classes During this Time of Pandemic THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Knowing that education has been inaccessible and ineffective to some students in the Philippines, it is crucial to know the efficacy and success of the new learning setup during this time of the pandemic to assess if these new modalities are beneficial to the students or not. This paper reviewed and studied the various perceptions and lived experiences of selected students in a private university in Manila regarding online classes amidst the pandemic. Using a phenomenological approach, the researchers gathered data by interviewing 15 students who are attending online classes. Findings and results were drawn on the themes created by the researchers. It can be seen that majority of the students find online classes ineffective and only cater the privileged. Furthermore, lessons and discussions are difficult to digest using the current mode of learning. These findings signify a need to improve the mode of learning in order to provide a quality and effective education to students despite the current crisis faced by the country. Keywords: distance learning, online learning, online classes

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Understanding students' experiences towards online learning can help in devising innovative pedagogical approaches and creating effective online learning spaces. This study aimed to solicit the perception of 80 undergraduate students in one of the leading private institutions in the Philippines towards the compulsory shift from a blended to fully online learning modality amidst the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The study used a descriptive research design involving online surveys which contained Likert scale items and open-ended questions assessing one's capacity for and the challenges to online learning, as well as the proposed recommendations for enhancing the overall online class experience. Descriptive statistics was used to group data across different subsets. Likewise, a content analysis of qualitative variables of the actual experiences of online classes using the school's learning management system was prepared. Results indicate four self-perceived challenges in online learning: technological and infrastructural difficulties, individual readiness, instructional struggles, and domestic barriers. The study recommends re-evaluation and modification of current online learning guidelines to address the aforesaid challenges and build a genuinely resilient model for technology-driven and care-centered education based on student recommendations and challenges experienced.

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lordy conwi

Erwin Rotas

Most educational systems across the world have migrated to remote learning modality as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This phenomenon is causing a lot of difficulties especially as voiced out by students in the context of developing countries. This paper attempts to describe the difficulties in remote learning of university students in the Philippines in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Following a mainly qualitative research design, this study surveyed a pool of purposively and conveniently selected students currently enrolled in a tertiary institution. The result of the content analysis revealed the following categories of difficulties in remote learning: unstable internet connectivity; inadequate learning resources; electric power interruptions; vague learning contents; overloaded lesson activities; limited teacher scaffolds; poor peer communication; conflict with home responsibilities; poor learning environment; financial related problem...

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The implementation of online learning in Indonesia today becomes an alternative to the conventional learning because of the pandemic situation. However, it triggers some problems during the learning process. The problems exist because of various aspects. One of them is the way how the teachers implement the learning process. This research is aimed to investigate how students perceive the online learning implementation in higher education based on four categories (Planning Promotion, Education, Support Training, and Encouragement). It is descriptive-survey research using a questionnaire as the instrument to collect the data. The result shows various perceptions of students. The average students perceive: 1) implementation of online learning is well planned, 2) the lecturers are competent enough in implementing the online learning, 3) they got sufficient support during the online learning, and 4) the online learning situation encourages them in the learning process. This research resu...

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Original research article, videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement among filipino senior high school students: a mixed methods study.

• 1 Integrated School, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
• 2 Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Introduction: The ubiquity of online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic induced the widespread use of videoconferencing applications. However, the prolonged use of these applications can lead to videoconferencing fatigue. Drawing from an online survey sample of 215 senior high school students from a selected private university in Manila, Philippines, this mixed methods study examines videoconferencing fatigue and its relationship with online student engagement (OSE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and methods: This study utilized a convergent triangulation research design. The quantitative strand was cross-sectional in nature. The constructs were measured using the Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale and Online Student Engagement Scale. Bivariate and multivariate statistical tests were used to determine the significance of the relationships between variables. The qualitative strand utilized a descriptive design. Narrative data were collected through an open-ended survey question and analyzed using content analysis.

Results: Quantitative results indicate moderate to high levels of videoconferencing fatigue among student respondents. Moreover, higher levels of OSE were observed among those who endured higher visual fatigue and attended videoconferences more days a week. Qualitative findings demonstrate various manifestations of videoconferencing fatigue among students and relate it with decreased energy to perform academic tasks and learning absorption. However, the qualitative analysis also reveals students’ perceived need for videoconferencing to learn online.

Discussion: The nuanced insights from both strands highlight that despite their perceived negative impacts of videoconferencing, students had to tolerate visual videoconferencing fatigue in order to engage meaningfully in online classes.

Introduction

Education is one of the sectors greatly affected by the (COVID-19) pandemic since distance learning has become a need rather than an option. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2022 ) estimated that 91.3% of students worldwide have shifted to online learning since early 2020. The Philippines is one of the several countries worldwide with the longest period of distance learning since March 2020 ( Westerman, 2022 ). The government had initially planned to gradually return classes to on-campus mode in 2022; however, the supposed pilot implementation of in-person classes had been suspended due to the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases in January ( Cabalza, 2022 ). This delay in the resumption of face-to-face and extension of online learning means that students and educators will continue to rely on digital technologies to sustain their engagement in formal education.

Videoconferencing is a particular information and communications technology (ICT) that has become a ubiquitous tool for pure online education at all levels in the country. Videoconferencing can be broadly defined as synchronous or simultaneous visual and audio communication between two or more persons using an electronic device such as a smartphone, computer, and other computing gadgets ( Bauce et al., 2018 ). Even before the pandemic, systematic reviews have established the utility and effectiveness of videoconferencing for educational purposes ( Chipps et al., 2012 ). Videoconferencing applications, such as Zoom, Google Meets, and Microsoft Teams, provide a platform for teachers and students to have real-time, synchronous interactions. These applications offer ICT affordances to facilitate interactive discussions and other class activities. In addition, Videoconferencing helps create and maintain students’ social connections with teachers, students, and distant loved ones, especially since in-person interactions had been constrained because of the social distancing and lockdown measures implemented during the time of COVID-19. However, using videoconferencing to participate in pandemic-induced remote education has not been without challenges. Empirical evidence reveals that Filipino students from disadvantaged sectors experience a lack of gadgets and access to reliable Internet to have effective videoconferencing-facilitated classes ( Cho et al., 2021 ). Another problem related to this mode of learning that emerged during the pandemic is the exhaustion and tiredness that students develop because of the prolonged use of videoconferencing applications. This phenomenon is coined as ‘videoconferencing fatigue’ ( Nadler, 2020 ; Riedl, 2021 ).

Empirical reports have demonstrated how Filipino students’ negative experiences related to using digital educational tools can lead to poor educational outcomes and dissatisfaction with learning ( Cho et al., 2021 ). Furthermore, meta-analytic evidence suggests that academic-related stress is negatively linked to academic performance ( Ahmady et al., 2021 ). Hence, we suspect that videoconferencing fatigue can also be a deterrent to the overall educational experience of students. Specifically, our outcome variable of interest in this present study is online student engagement, which refers to students’ skills, emotions, participation, and performance regarding their involvement in online classes ( Dixson, 2015 ).

Literature review

Conceptualizing videoconferencing fatigue.

Videoconferencing fatigue is often called Zoom Fatigue , as Zoom has become the most ubiquitous platform for this function. The term “Zoom Fatigue” started receiving prominence among journalistic circles to signify the collective sense of exhaustion induced by engaging in videoconferences that had become more widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Wiederhold, 2020 ). This article uses the term videoconferencing fatigue to signify that we are interested in all types of videoconferencing platforms used by students for learning. Videoconferencing fatigue appeared in scholarly literature towards the latter part of 2020, and researchers have since attempted to describe this phenomenon. Nadler (2020) theorizes videoconferencing fatigue as a form of computer-mediated communication exhaustion caused by cognitive over-exertion to interact using these new platforms meaningfully. This substantial increase in cognitive effort can lead to stress during and after videoconferencing. Aside from cognitive load, Bailenson (2021) adds that extended periods of close-up eye gaze and staring at one’s face at the screen contribute to videoconferencing fatigue, which is further enabled by the lack of physical mobility during meetings. Epstein (2020) suggests that the lack of synchrony in communication and the lack of sensory dynamism also contributes to the sense of fatigue developed during videoconferencing.

The construct “videoconferencing fatigue” was further developed by Fauville et al. (2021a) , who pursued the creation of a psychometrically sound tool to measure the said phenomenon, called the “Zoom Exhaustion & Fatigue Scale” (ZEF). Fauville et al. (2021a) posit that videoconferencing fatigue has five dimensions. The first is general fatigue , which refers to the sense of being tired, exhausted, and mentally drained after videoconferencing. Second is visual fatigue , manifested by unpleasant eye and vision symptoms induced by videoconferencing. Third is social fatigue , which refers to the avoidance of social interactions after videoconferencing. Fourth is motivational fatigue , which is depicted by the lack of drive to engage in other activities after videoconferencing. Last is emotional fatigue , which refers to moodiness and irritability related to videoconferencing.

The development of ZEF ( Fauville et al., 2021a ) stimulated empirical investigations to explore the prevalence and determinants of videoconferencing fatigue. Majority of the respondents in recent research using this tool demonstrate moderate to high levels of videoconferencing fatigue ( Fauville et al., 2021a ; Oducado et al., 2021 ). Evidence reveals that videoconferencing fatigue is influenced by gender ( Fauville et al., 2021b ; Oducado et al., 2021 ), non-verbal mechanisms, including face dissatisfaction ( Fauville et al., 2021b ; Ratan et al., 2021 ), psychological attributes of users ( Ebardo et al., 2021 ; Fauville et al., 2021a ), and nature, duration, and frequency of meetings ( Bennett et al., 2021 ; Nesher Shoshan and Wehrt, 2021 ; Oducado et al., 2021 ).

Videoconferencing fatigue in online class settings

Many of the earlier investigations on videoconferencing fatigue prior to the release of ZEF by Fauville et al. (2021a) were conducted in educational settings during the pandemic. A cross-sectional study conducted among engineering students in 2020 suggests that 70% of the students experience zoom fatigue ( Asgari et al., 2021 ). Samara and Monzon (2021) explained that the disruption of the human communication component of learning and the demands to multitask while using Zoom increased the mental and physical aches students feel because of prolonged videoconferencing. Moreover, a qualitative case study has noted that in the context of e-learning, individual, situational, communication, and environmental factors influence the extent university students develop videoconferencing fatigue ( Massner, 2021 ).

On the other hand, there is still a limited amount of literature that utilized ZEF to observe videoconferencing fatigue in the student population. First is the study of Oducado et al. (2021) , which suggests that females, from lower year levels, with low academic performance, more gadgets, better videoconferencing attitudes, and those attending longer and more frequent virtual meetings exhibited higher levels of videoconferencing fatigue. Second is the work of Ebardo et al. (2021) , which determined boredom, escapism, and information overload as predictors of videoconferencing fatigue. Third is the field experiment of Hezemans (2021) , which noted zoom fatigue as a factor that influences certain aspects of group creativity among students. However, there is a dearth in the literature that examines the effect of videoconferencing fatigue on learning outcomes. An incidental qualitative finding by Cleofas (2021) shows that the energy-draining nature of synchronous videoconference-facilitated classes is a barrier to practicing self-care and engaging in online classes; however, this particular study did not make use of ZEF.

Research gaps and study objectives

Majority of studies that tackled videoconferencing fatigue examined it as an outcome variable. This present investigation contributes to the literature by exploring it as a phenomenon that can affect functional outcomes, specifically student engagement. Moreover, this study adds to the knowledge regarding videoconferencing fatigue in the school population by focusing on its prevalence and effects among senior high school students, in contrast to previous research that involved university students and general adults. Specifically, this present mixed methods study aims to address these gaps by addressing the following research objectives. This study aims to: (1) describe videoconferencing fatigue among senior high school students; (2) examine the relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement.

Materials and methods

Study design and participants.

This study made use of a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design. We adhered to GRAMMS (Good Reporting of a Mixed Methods Study; O’Cathain et al., 2008 ). In a triangulation mixed methods design, quantitative and qualitative data are collected and analyzed concurrently, with the intent to interrelate and identify possible discrepancies from both strands ( Plano Clark et al., 2008 ). For the quantitative strand (QUAN), a cross-sectional approach was used, while for the qualitative strand (QUAL), a descriptive qualitative approach was utilized. In this study, QUAN and QUAL receive relatively equal weighting; both strands were emphasized in addressing the research objectives ( Plano Clark et al., 2008 ). The mixed methods approach is visualized in Figure 1 .

Figure 1. Convergent triangulation mixed methods design.

The present study’s target population was the 2021–2022 batch of senior high school students (grades 11 and 12) from a selected private university in Manila, Philippines. Data were collected during the period when all classes in said university were conducted purely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all teachers and students made use of videoconferencing for academic purposes. Based on G*power analysis, a minimum of 74 respondents was needed for the total number of potential predictors (13 predictors, power = 0.95, p = 0.05). A total convenient sample of 215 students participated in our survey. One hundred percent completed the quantitative segments of the survey, while 153 (71.16%) answered the qualitative question in the form.

Instrumentation

The five-part online survey was created using Google Forms and collected quantitative and qualitative data. The first part determined the demographic profile of the respondents, which included the age, sex assigned at birth (coded 0 for females and 1 for males), grade level (11 or 12), and average monthly household income based on the brackets recommended by the Philippine Statistics Authority. The second section measured the respondents’ digital use profile, which included the number of gadgets used, average internet speed at home [rated as generally slow (less than 4 Mbps), average (4 to 40 Mbps), and generally fast (greater than 40 Mbps)], the estimated number of videoconferencing days per week, and the number of videoconferencing hours in a day. Demographic and digital use profiles are included in the model to control for possible confounding effects.

The third part of the instrument is the Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale (ZEF) developed by Fauville et al. (2021a) , which was used to quantify the level of videoconferencing fatigue of the students. ZEF is a 15-item questionnaire that covers the five dimensions of fatigue, which are general fatigue, visual fatigue, social fatigue, motivational fatigue, and emotional fatigue. Every domain was comprised of three items. Each item was answered via a five-point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = extremely). A sample question is, “How mentally drained do you feel after video conferencing?” Cronbach’s alpha for each domain was above 0.8, indicating acceptable scale reliability ( Fauville et al., 2021a ). For this study, no modifications were made to the ZEF scale when it was administered. In our sample, the overall Cronbach alpha score of the ZEF scale was 0.895 and ranged from 0.716 to 0.891 per domain.

The fourth part of the survey is the Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE) created by Dixson (2015) , which was used to quantitatively measure students’ engagement during online classes. OSE is a 19-item scale that measures skills (5 items), emotion (5 items), participation (6 items), and performance (3 items) related to online student engagement. Each item was also answered via a five-point Likert scale (1 = not at all characteristic of me, 5 = very characteristic of me). An example item statement is, “I take notes during presentations and video lectures.” The overall scale demonstrated adequate reliability (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.80; Dixson, 2015 ). In our sample, the Cronbach alpha score of the OSE scale was 0.909 and ranged from 0.767 to 0.812 per domain. For our study, OSE is treated as a composite, unidimensional construct.

The final section of the online survey is an open-ended question: “ How does videoconferencing affect your engagement in school? ” The students were afforded an unlimited textbox where they could type their answers as liberally as they could. The narratives collected from this question were used in the qualitative strand of the study. This process of using self-administered and survey-facilitated open-ended questioning has been used by recent empirical studies using qualitative approaches in both mono-method ( Knudsen et al., 2021 ) and multi-method designs ( Cleofas, 2022 ). Open-ended surveys are also appropriate for qualitative designs that lean toward basic perspective-focused and descriptive approaches (as opposed to experiential, interpretive, or reflective approaches) and for non-vocalized texts treated with qualitative content analysis ( Hsieh and Shannon, 2005 ; Elo and Kyngäs, 2008 ).

Data collection procedure and ethical considerations

Our research procedure adhered to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. After the protocol of the study was granted ethical clearance by the De La Salle University Integrated School, we secured the parental consent of the SHS students with the assistance of point persons from different SHS sections via online correspondence. For students whose parents had signified consent, the online survey link was sent via email and/or social media private messaging. The survey was active during the whole month of November 2021. Informed assent was digitally secured using the first page of the survey. All collected data were stored in an encrypted cloud accessible only to the research team. Minimal risk is identified for this study, specifically a low probability of mild psychological distress. To address this, we provided our contacts in the survey form and encouraged respondents to contact us for any unpleasant psychological reactions while answering the test. These students would be referred to qualified psychological health professionals provided by the school. Throughout the duration of this study, no untoward incidents were noted, and no respondents required psychological services.

Data analysis procedure

For the quantitative data, frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to describe the key variables. To determine the level of videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement, the means were interpreted as low (1.00–2.33), moderate (2.34–3.67), and high (3.68–5.00). The domains of videoconferencing fatigue and the demographic and digital use profiles were then tested for correlation with OSE using bivariate statistics (Pearson R for continuous variables, independent t -test for dichotomous, and one-way ANOVA for multichotomous). The significant correlates were then included in the multiple regression model for the significant predictors of OSE. Kolmogorov–Smirnov results were non-significant, denoting normality of the distribution. Significance was set at p < 0.05. JASP version 0.16 was used for the analyses.

Qualitative content analysis was used for the narratives ( n = 153). For the first objective, the process was deductive since the themes were already pre-identified based on the literature and scale used (the five domains of videoconferencing). Deductive analysis aims to organize the emerging concepts and assign them to the domains ( Hsieh and Shannon, 2005 ). For the second objective, the process was inductive, such as the themes were formed based on the emergent lower-level concepts gleaned from the narratives ( Elo and Kyngäs, 2008 ). We arrived at three themes for objective number two.

Data from QUAN and QUAL were integrated using a simultaneous bidirectional strategy, wherein we went back and forth the data of both strands as they were being developed to see convergences and divergences to make the analysis more robust ( Moseholm and Fetters, 2017 ). To ensure trustworthiness ( Lincoln et al., 2018 ), we familiarized ourselves with the data by reading and rereading the transcripts. Regular meetings were held to arrive at a consensus on the data analysis. Findings were also peer-reviewed by an expert on online education. Another aspect of the methodology that affords more credibility is that qualitative data collection was via a self-administered online survey. The absence of the researcher may provide a sense of anonymity which can improve the honesty and authenticity of the shared narratives. Moreover, the survey method allowed more participants to engage, making the current sample size multiple times larger than what is usually expected from a mono-method qualitative study. This assured vetting and data thickness despite the lack of opportunities to probe. Finally, all analysis-related meetings were recorded and logged to serve as our audit trails.

Quantitative strand: Descriptive statistics for videoconferencing fatigue, online student engagement, and other key variables

Table 1 presents the descriptive statistical results for the study’s key variables that address the first objective. For the demographic profile, the majority of the respondents are 17 years old (mean age = 17 ± 0.809), females (73%), and grade 12 (53.5%). In terms of digital use profile, the majority of the students own three gadgets or more (50.2%; mean number of gadgets = 2.60 ± 0.692), have average Internet speeds of 4 to less than 4 Mbps (60.9%), spend 5.47 ± 1.09 days per week, and 7.20 ± 3.03 h per day in videoconferencing. As for videoconferencing fatigue, moderate levels were reported in terms of visual fatigue (3.34 ± 1.07), social fatigue (3.56 ± 1.08), and emotional fatigue (3.39 ± 1.05), and high levels of general fatigue (4.04 ± 0.712) and motivational fatigue (4.16 ± 0.772). Lastly, the students demonstrated moderate online student engagement (3.42 ± 0.642).

Table 1. Descriptive statistical results of key variables ( N = 215).

Qualitative strand: Concepts depicting the dimensions of videoconferencing fatigue

Table 2 presents the overview of the qualitative findings of the study. This section presents the themes and concepts from the qualitative analysis that address the study’s first objective.

Table 2. Overview of qualitative findings in the study.

Theme 1.1. General fatigue: Energy drain causing a general sense of exhaustion

Student respondents report being drained of energy because of long hours of videoconferencing for classes. R165 shares, “ I find it extremely draining, and that energy expenditure makes it challenging to actively participate in class and to do other school works after said videoconferencing .” Due to the depletion of physical energy because of videoconferencing, students feel a general sense of exhaustion regarding school and other aspects of their lives, causing them to need more periods of rest across the day. R012 mentions, “ I find that I tend to take naps more often because of my exhaustion … I end up having the energy to do schoolwork late in the evening, too early in the morning. ”

Theme 1.2. Visual fatigue: Decreased eye health causing dizziness and loss of focus

The students have also noted a videoconferencing-induced decline in eye function. They noticed symptoms of decreased eye health , such as pain. R169 writes, “… There was a time when my eyes began to hurt. And it really stresses me out ….” Another indicator of constrained vision they mentioned is dizziness and loss of focus . Long periods of facing the monitor have made them feel lightheaded. R166 mentions, “ …it makes me dizzy because of radiation from the laptop and long hours of staring at it. ”

Theme 1.3. Social fatigue: Lack of energy for social interactions and dissatisfaction with online communication

Students also note that videoconferencing had detrimental impacts on their social well-being. Videoconferencing-induced exhaustion has caused students to lose energy for social interactions . R064 mentions, “ videoconferencing has also made me want to be much more isolated compared to a face-to-face setup, and I’d rather sleep after class than talk to other people .” Moreover, the students lament that they are dissatisfied with online communication , claiming that it is less personal than in-person communication. R049 writes, “ …it is harder to initiate a conversation in a silent breakout room more than it is to do so when you are physically gathered up together in a small space …. ”

Theme 1.4. Motivational fatigue: Decreased ability to focus and resilience to cope with challenges

Respondents lament that long periods of videoconferencing have caused students to feel less motivated in academics because they claim that it induces decreased ability to focus on tasks . For R036, the monotonous routine related to videoconferencing has reduced their motivation to engage in classes, declaring, “ It kind of lessens my motivation to study sometimes because it is the same thing every day and every week. You wake up, face the computer, try to study, leave the conference, then do other things. ” Moreover, this videoconferencing-induced demotivation has decreased students’ resilience to cope with challenges . R114 shares, “ I get really drained to the point that sometimes I don’t want to do my requirements in advance. ”

Theme 1.5. Emotional fatigue: Stress, anxiety, and moodiness

Students express that videoconferencing has triggered various negative emotions. They share that videoconferencing complicates the stress and anxiety they already feel due to the difficulties of new normal learning. R022 mentions, “ …The online setup stresses me out more and takes a greater toll on my mental and emotional well-being. ” Moreover, students claim that videoconferencing enhances their moodiness , especially when they are overwhelmed with other tasks. R102 aptly describes, “ videoconferencing generally makes me tired, irritable, and bored .”

This section presents the results from the inferential statistical analyses that address the study’s second objective.

Bivariate results on the correlation of profile variable and videoconferencing fatigue with online student engagement

Table 3 shows the bivariate statistical results indicating significant correlations between independent variables of interest and online student engagement. Findings suggest that grade level ( t = 2.25, p = 0.026), videoconferencing days per week ( r = 0.560, p < 0.001), and visual fatigue ( r = 0.187, p = 0.006) are significantly correlated with online student engagement. Higher online student engagement was observed among graduate students engaging in more videoconferencing days per week and having higher scores in visual fatigue.

Table 3. Bivariate statistics on the correlation of demographic profile, digital use profile, and videoconferencing fatigue with online student engagement.

Multiple regression results

Table 4 shows the results of the multiple regression test among the significant correlates and their predictive relationship with online student engagement. The overall model significantly predicts 9.74% of the variance of online student engagement ( F = 7.59, p < 0.001). This means that the current model can explain approximately one-tenth of the variability of the online student engagement of the respondents. Findings suggest that students who spend more days a week in videoconferencing ( B = 0.1304, p = 0.001) and have higher levels of visual fatigue ( B = 0.0801, p = 0.043) have higher levels of online student engagement. Grade level no longer yielded significant results.

Table 4. Multiple regression test of demographic, digital use, and videoconferencing fatigue determinants of online student engagement.

Qualitative strand: Themes on the relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement

This section presents the qualitative themes that address the study’s second objective, as seen in Table 2 .

Theme 2.1. Lesser energy for academic tasks due to videoconferencing-induced exhaustion

A major emerging pattern in the students’ narrative responses demonstrates how videoconferencing takes away the energy that could be spent on performing academic tasks outside synchronous classes, hence decreasing their overall student engagement. R187 explains their shared experiences, “ After long hours doing videoconferencing, it is definitely physically and mentally draining for students to continue working after classes…. Moreover, they have to continue studying, doing classwork, and making group projects…. ” The sense of exhaustion after videoconferencing causes the need to increase rest periods, which consequently affects daily study habits. R028 writes, “ I become less enticed to do schoolwork in the afternoon, after my classes. I end up doing school mostly at night because videoconferencing drains me ….” The students experience and understand the toll that long periods of videoconferencing while remaining sitting and sedentary can take on their health, which have negative consequences on their studies. R119 verbalizes, “ videoconferencing decreases my engagement in school as it is very tiring, and not being able to move around a lot irritates me. ”

Theme 2.2. Poor absorption of learning through videoconferencing compared to in-person classes

Many students claim that they learn less in classes delivered via videoconferencing. Their exhaustion can lead to a lack of focus when a synchronous online lecture is ongoing. R175 mentions, “ …it affects my focus as videoconferencing tends to make me feel tired and distracted sometimes. Thus, I would need to take a break from time to time to avoid spacing out .” Contributing to the videoconferencing fatigue and hindrances in learning are the electronic issues that students encounter during classes, such as poor connectivity and loss of electricity. R016 narrates, “ Sometimes I feel like I’m behind my classmates … but there are times that there will be a brownout in our community that will make our WIFI unstable, so I’m having a hard time coping up with the lessons…. ” Resounding from the comments of the participants is the dissatisfaction they generally have with online-based learning and preference for in-person classes, which they claim would improve their learning and overall engagement. They lament the monotony of learning experiences because of the limited affordances provided by videoconferencing applications. They claim that they desire face-to-face interactions with teachers and classmates for a fuller learning experience. R158 writes, “ I feel like I am losing interest in actually studying and absorbing education. Human interaction and physical socialization are vital in ensuring that the school becomes a conducive place for learning, which videoconferencing cannot fully provide….”

Theme 2.3. Accepting videoconferencing as a necessary tool for education during the pandemic

Despite the reported disadvantages of videoconferencing, its resultant fatigue and its negative impact on student engagement in general, some of the students understand that in the context of the current pandemic, videoconferencing is an indispensable part of the educational experience that makes any form of student engagement in the new normal possible in the first place. R062 declares, “ It has helped in the continuance of my education. It is the closest experience we can have to a live interaction, even if it’s just virtually. ” Despite being a less preferred medium for communication compared to in-person conversations, videoconferencing is the only way for them to have actual interactions with teachers and other students. R198 explains, “It’s currently our only choice for communicating and attending class, so we have no choice but to attend these meetings. It’s not the best form of communicating, but at the very least, it gets the job done of conveying messages to each other, especially during classes. ” Some students also claim that there are unique advantages of videoconferencing, especially when used effectively by teachers. For instance, R184 writes, “It’s really helpful somehow; whenever a student is absent, they can just easily play the recorded meeting on zoom. ”

Integration of quantitative and qualitative findings

Students suffer from videoconferencing fatigue.

In terms of the first objective of the present study, the pronounced extent of videoconferencing fatigue among the SHS students in the study is evinced by quantitative and qualitative findings. Quantitative results suggest that students have moderate (visual, social, and emotional) to high levels (general and motivational) of videoconferencing fatigue. Furthermore, qualitative findings demonstrate the various manifestations of how students experience each dimension of videoconferencing fatigue and how these affect not only their studies but also their health and social lives.

The relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement is nuanced

For the study’s second objective regarding the relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement, the answer is not as straightforward as the first. From themes 2.1 and 2.2 that emerged from qualitative analysis, it can be gleaned that videoconferencing-induced exhaustion can deter student engagement. Specifically, long videoconferencing periods can deplete energy for academic-related tasks and decrease the absorption of learning. However, statistical findings from the regression model suggest that not all domains of videoconferencing are significant predictors of OSE, except for visual fatigue. Surprisingly, visual fatigue positively predicts OSE. This means that students endure visual fatigue from videoconferencing to engage in their online classes. This finding is corroborated by another significant quantitative positive predictor (videoconferencing days per week) and theme 2.3 from qualitative analysis. Student narratives reveal that they accept and understand that videoconferencing is a primary requirement to conduct online classes in the first place. Hence, to be meaningfully involved in online classes, they must attend videoconferencing many days a week despite experiencing increased visual fatigue. A fitting illustration for this ambivalent link between videoconferencing visual fatigue and online student engagement is a quote from R068: “Videoconferencing is going well with me, and I prefer it this way. However, it does put a toll on my health, mostly my eyes after hours on the screen.”

This convergent mixed methods study sought to describe videoconferencing fatigue and examine its relationship with online student engagement among senior high school students during the second year of COVID-19 pandemic-induced online education in the Philippines. Theoretically, this study extends the literature on the effects of computer-mediated fatigue on functional outcomes, such as learning. Based on our knowledge, this is the first study that pursued a mixed methods approach to understanding the phenomenon of videoconferencing fatigue in education.

Consistent with previous research ( Fauville et al., 2021a ; Oducado et al., 2021 ), the quantitative findings of the present study indicate that students have moderate to high levels of videoconferencing fatigue. Among the five domains, general and motivational fatigue emerged as the highest scoring. Qualitative findings demonstrate specific manifestations of videoconferencing fatigue per domain contextualized to the participants’ experiences as students. Our qualitative findings corroborate with the study of Nesher Shoshan and Wehrt (2021) among employees who also experienced various losses from videoconferencing. Many of the manifestations narratively reported by the students, such as a general sense of lack of energy, eye strain, dissatisfaction with interactional patterns, anxiety and moodiness, and decreasing motivation for tasks, had been demonstrated in a case study among college students and teachers ( Massner, 2021 ).

Moreover, the quantitative and qualitative findings for the second research objective reveal the nuanced relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement. On the one hand, qualitative analysis demonstrates how videoconferencing fatigue can constrain student engagement. Students report that videoconferencing takes away the energy they would have had for performing other academic tasks. This is confirmed by previous research that demonstrated videoconferencing-induced exhaustion due to online classes makes students demotivated in learning, unable to practice health-restoration activities, and dissatisfied with their academic performance ( Cleofas, 2021 ). Moreover, qualitative results of the present study suggest that students engage poorly in videoconference-enabled classes because they have better learning absorption during face-to-face classes. Previous studies have likewise demonstrated that engagement in prolonged virtual meetings increases the longing to have in-person interactions with peers and colleagues ( Nesher Shoshan and Wehrt, 2021 ). Moreover, evidence has already indicated that students reported declining overall online learning experience as the pandemic-induced remote education is prolonged ( Maqableh and Alia, 2021 ).

On the other hand, our quantitative inferential results indicate that students with higher scores for online student engagement also exhibit higher levels of visual videoconferencing fatigue. This is surprising since previous evidence has linked poor grades to higher videoconferencing fatigue ( Oducado et al., 2021 ). Another significant positive predictor of OSE is the number of days with videoconferencing per week, which runs parallel to findings of previous studies demonstrating that students and other school entities are involved in more online classes and tasks to perform well in school ( Cleofas, 2021 ; Maqableh and Alia, 2021 ; Oducado et al., 2022 ). This means that students have to overuse their eyes to be able to attend more videoconferences to properly engage in online learning. Ophthalmology literature has noted the rise of cases of eye strain, dry eyes, and other vision problems during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the increased screen time individuals spend while on lockdown ( Mohan et al., 2021 ; Prescott, 2021 ). This finding is supported by the last qualitative theme depicting the perceived necessity and salience of videoconferencing as an indispensable aspect of online classes. This seemingly implies that in pandemic-induced education, students have “no choice” but to participate in videoconference sessions, and experience the inconveniences of videoconferencing, just to continue learning, as demonstrated in previous research ( Cleofas, 2021 ). However, evidence also suggests that despite the hardships students experience, some students can still have positive sentiments toward videoconference-facilitated classes, especially regarding their convenience and safety related to the threat of COVID-19 ( Hussein et al., 2020 ; Maqableh and Alia, 2021 ) and with it a more satisfying online educational experience.

The present study signifies the presence of videoconferencing fatigue among SHS students who are involved in pure online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The insights from student narratives also highlight how videoconferencing fatigue is experienced in the specific context of online education. Moreover, findings suggest that students spend more days a week videoconferencing and endure visual fatigue to achieve optimum online student engagement. However, despite the perceived importance of videoconferencing for an online class, students also claim that the fatigue it causes can potentially decrease energy for the performance of academic tasks and absorption of learning, signifying the nuanced nature of the relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement. Our study provides empirical evidence that despite their perceived negative impacts of videoconferencing, students had to tolerate visual videoconferencing fatigue to engage meaningfully in online classes.

Strengths and limitations of the study

The main strength of this study is its mixed methods design which provides deeper insights into the phenomenon of videoconferencing fatigue in the context of online learning. However, we disclose some limitations of the study that can help temper the interpretation of our findings. First, the generalizability of the findings may be constrained since they were derived from a convenient sample from a single site. In addition, males were underrepresented in the sample. Moreover, our final model yielded a modest explanatory power; hence future studies may use more salient variables further to understand the relationship between videoconferencing fatigue and OSE. Also, since the qualitative data collection was done via survey instead of interviews, the chance to ask further questions to probe the responses could not be done. This inhibited a fuller realization of the credibility aspect of trustworthiness. Future researchers can consider more interpretive and reflective qualitative paradigms (e.g., phenomenology, narrative analysis) in exploring students’ experiences in videoconferencing.

Implications and future studies

The results of the present study offer several implications for the stakeholders involved during pandemic-induced online learning among students. First, teachers and educational administrators should not make students sacrifice their overall eye health to participate meaningfully in online classes. Despite the indispensability of videoconferencing in delivering online education, faculty members can use non-videoconferencing based synchronous (e.g., real time chat-based discussions) and asynchronous strategies (e.g., pre-recorded lectures) to unburden the students with the cognitive and nonverbal overload they had to endure during videoconferencing. Administrators can continuously provide training and updates on emerging teaching strategies outside the realm of videoconferencing. Teachers should provide longer breaks between videoconferences to allow students to rest and regain their energy to engage meaningfully in other academic tasks. Faculty and school health personnel must provide eye health promotion information and programs. When in-person classes become feasible, school administrators must conduct eye assessments for all students to identify if they have experienced decline in vision.

Despite the lack of statistical significance between other domains of videoconferencing fatigue on student engagement, it must be noted the fatigue levels reported by the students are moderate to high, and student narratives demonstrate their negative effect on performance and knowledge acquisition. Hence, the promotion of the physical and mental health of the students must be sustained, especially during pandemic-induced online learning. Teachers and parents can be empowered to address the students’ mental, physical, and visual health needs, during the period when online learning modality is needed to respond to public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. As societies and economies open as we enter a post-COVID world, educational policymakers must consider the gradual reopening of schools and in-classroom learning so that the use of videoconferencing tools will become more of an option than a daily necessity.

Future studies can consider the following foci to extend the insights found in this study. First is exploring potential mediators or moderators between videoconferencing fatigue, such as resilience, self-efficacy, and overall health, to address the uncanny relationship demonstrated by this present study. Second, videoconferencing fatigue can also be correlated with eye health and vision-related variables. Third is considering expanding the methods, like conducting longitudinal studies or sampling younger learners (elementary students), to ascertain whether videoconferencing fatigue and its relationship with OSE changes over time and with other age groups.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Integrated School, De La Salle University. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author contributions

MD, JD, EO, and AP: conceptualizing, methodology, data gathering, and initial writeup. JC: conceptualizing, data analysis, and final writeup. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Wilfred Luis Clamor and Myla Arcinas for the initial technical review of the study protocol.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords : COVID-19, high school, online learning, student engagement, videoconferencing fatigue, zoom fatigue

Citation: Dacillo MJF, Dizon JKM, Ong EJT, Pingol AML and Cleofas JV (2022) Videoconferencing fatigue and online student engagement among Filipino senior high school students: A mixed methods study. Front. Educ. 7:973049. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.973049

Received: 19 June 2022; Accepted: 31 October 2022; Published: 17 November 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Dacillo, Dizon, Ong, Pingol and Cleofas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Jerome V. Cleofas, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Educational Digital Transformation: New Technological Challenges for Competence Development

Online classes and learning in the Philippines during the Covid-19 Pandemic

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Distance learning in the Philippines: A year of hits and misses

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

REMOTE EDUCATION. Parents and students return the modules to teachers at the Araullo High School in Manila on Tuesday, July 13, as the school year came to a close.

Every morning, Adelaide Dolar would ask a favor: could she charge her mobile phone at her neighbor’s house? She didn’t have electricity at home, and her children needed her gadget for online class work. She did this for the whole duration of the school year 2020-2021. 

The pandemic made it difficult for financially struggling families like hers to fulfill their children’s needs for distance learning, the 43-year-old vendor from Batangas province told Rappler in an interview on Sunday, July 18.

Despite this, she made sure that her children would not miss school the past year, when the government enforced a remote setup due to pandemic lockdowns.

Her three children – all basic education students – were enrolled under the modular learning system. The eldest, who was in Grade 10, needed to occasionally attend online classes. The younger ones, however, couldn’t just answer the modules distributed by the school; they also needed to watch video lessons uploaded on YouTube or do research for their classes.

With a meager income of P300 ($5.91) a day from selling afternoon snacks to her neighbors, Dolar had to budget this amount between their meals and an allotment of mobile data   for her children’s online classes.

“If they have online classes, I need to have P200 for internet ‘load.’ If my eldest son needs to attend a Google meet, I need to buy internet load worth P50 per hour. Of course, there’s also research that needs to be done, so the P50 load won’t be enough – that’s why we’re spending P200 for it. It will be registered for three days,” she said.

To make a living, Dolar and her husband sell snacks every afternoon in their neighborhood. Her husband has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so he cannot help that much with household finances. Dolar also does laundry services just to get by.

Not good for mental health

Aside from the financial burden brought by remote education, Dolar said that her children’s mental health had been affected. Without teachers explaining the lessons to students, she had to change her morning routine so she could guide and motivate her children to answer their learning modules. That delayed her preparation of food she would sell in the afternoon.

“They’re looking for the [in-person] school. They said in-person classes are better. They miss their interaction with their classmates. They are unmotivated to study. What will happen next school year? Will we be in this kind of situation again?” Dolar asked.

“They were culture-shocked. They are not used to this kind of situation. They’re hoping to interact with their teachers and their classmates,” she added.

In a recent video interview released by the Ateneo School of Government, Professor Carmel Abao said that aside from the issue of accessibility, remote learning also had an impact on students’ mental health.

“There’s an issue on the impact of this kind of learning on mental health. I still think that this is not advisable. Our kids are not made for this kind of isolation. Even if you do perform well in online learning, it’s different if you’re able to see, feel, and talk with your classmates,” she said.

Students didn’t learn as much

In a Rappler Talk interview on Friday, July 16, senior high school graduate Cheska Avenido said she found the remote learning setup really difficult.

“Besides the adjustment under the new modes of learning, sometimes we ask ourselves if studying during a pandemic is still worth it, because there are a lot of uncertainties,” she said.

Dolar shared that sentiment, saying her children didn’t learn that much in the remote setup, as she could not teach them properly. Though Dolar graduated with a degree in computer science, she wasn’t able to practice any related profession.

“I think they’re learning, but learning with teachers is far way better. Sometimes, I find it really hard to understand their lessons. Face-to-face classes is still the best way to go,” Dolar said.

Aside from the school system being unprepared for the shift, remote education also posed a major challenge for students who did not have anyone to facilitate learning at home, or whose parents were not capable of guiding them due to lack of knowledge. (READ:  Parents bear the brunt of distance learning as classes shift online )

Dolar said that, most times, she was the one attending her children’s online classes, especially in mathematics, so she could explain the concepts to them when answering their modules.

An online survey conducted by the multisectoral group Movement for Safe, Equitable, Quality and Relevant Education (SEQuRE) found that 86.7% of students under modular learning, 66% under online learning, and 74% under blended learning said they “learned less” under the alternative modes of learning compared with the traditional face-to-face setup.

The survey also found that only 5.4% under the blended learning, 5.7% under modular learning, and 9.1% under online learning “learned more.”

The survey was conducted from June 25 to July 12 among 1,278 teachers, 1,299 Grades 4 to 12 students, and 3,172 parents.

Teachers’ Dignity Coalition chairperson Benjo Basas said in a Rappler interview that, while the teachers would always do their best to teach students under any circumstance, they didn’t have any control on how students would respond.

“Either of those modalities, whether online or modular, it was difficult to learn. It’s difficult for the students. It’s also difficult for the teachers because we’re not trained for this system,” he said.

In March, senators questioned a report from the Department of Education (DepEd) that said 99% of public school students obtained a passing grade in the first quarter of the school year (October-December 2020).

The lawmakers were baffled by the high passing rate because many students struggled with distance learning. They cited instances when it was the parents or household members who ended up answering the exercises in the learning modules.

In remote learning, some students pay someone else to do their classwork

Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said it was likely that teachers were being considerate and therefore gave students high passing rates.

When pandemic is over, Basas said, teachers would have a tougher job because the students will need to catch up on the level of learning that corresponds to their grade or class.

“We have a lot of catching up to do because we’re promoting students to the next level even though we’re unsure if they do actually learn. But then we cannot do something about it because we’re asked to be considerate since we’re in a pandemic,” he said.

Erroneous modules, not enough gadgets

Education advocates have said that the pandemic highlighted the gaps in the Philippine education system. This was evident in the erroneous learning modules distributed to public school students during the pandemic.

“Painful” grammatical errors ,  wrong math equations , and depictions of  gender stereotypes  alarmed a public already worried over the quality of education that over 24 million students were receiving during the pandemic.

Aside from learning module blunders, Ateneo’s Abao said the pandemic exposed the “cracks” in the country’s education system.

“If the problem before the pandemic was the lack of classrooms, the problem now is the lack of computers. We have a problem with the quantity and quality which were magnified by the pandemic,” she said.

Better than academic freeze

Still, there were those who appreciated that the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education were able to go ahead with the school year amid the pandemic.

Dolar said that, even though the implementation was flawed, distance learning was still better than having an academic break. (READ: School time out during a pandemic? Pros and cons of an academic break )

“They have nothing to do at home, that’s why it’s okay to have distance learning. But we hope that they can improve the implementation and provide support to parents, teachers, and students,” she said.

Professor Jayeel Cornelio, director of Ateneo de Manila University’s development studies program, said that while remote education provided an opportunity for those in the academe to be creative, it would not be as effective if not all had equal access to the tools needed for the digital shift.

“As a professor, [remote education for me] is a good. We take advantage of every platform available, but the question is – who is winning and losing here? The reality is that if you come from an elite private school, you can easily cope with it. But we cannot say that flexible learning is the way to go for small private schools and state universities,” he said.

Students and teachers remain safe from the virus while they continue learning from their homes. Despite the challenges brought by remote learning, senior high school graduate Avenido said she still felt unsafe to return to face-to-face classes.

“I’d be comfortable to return to face-to-face classes if the government finds better solutions to our pandemic problems. If they can find ways to contain virus spread and ramp up vaccination, it’s the only way I will feel safe to join face-to-face classes,” she said.

Over a year into the pandemic, the Philippines is still struggling to contain the deadly virus that has so far infected more than 1.5 million and has killed over 26,000 of its population. The country is bracing for a possible surge in infections, as the threat of a more virulent Delta variant looms.

Finding local solutions

Regina Sibal, lead convenor of education advocacy group Aral Pilipinas, said that, aside from the slow response, the government’s top-down approach in its policy making was another barrier in the reopening of schools. She said that the government should not be implementing a “blanket rule” across the country.

“Our remote learning now is for all schools and no provision is given to other areas that are able to do face-to-face classes. Disparity in education access has been more pronounced now, especially in marginalized areas that lack resources,” she said.

Sibal said that what government should be doing now is to provide local communities with guidelines on finding solutions specific to their areas and situations. (READ: Empower LGUs to make decisions on school opening – advocacy group )

President Rodrigo Duterte turned down several times calls for face-to-face classes due to the threat of the pandemic.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones, however, was hopeful the DepEd would get the go signal to start limited face-to-face classes in some 100 schools it had identified. She was banking on the vaccination of teachers and the planned inoculation of students.

Are PH schools ready for face-to-face classes during pandemic?

The DepEd had said that it was preparing for “the delivery of quality education no matter what the circumstances will be in the coming months.”

Public schools in the country will start classes for school year 2021-2022 on September 13 , while private schools can start as early as June since they closed the past school year earlier.

“Enhanced”  blended distance learning will continue to be implemented. But will the government make it right for millions of students this time around? – Rappler.com

Editors’ Note: All Filipino quotes were translated into English .

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Top 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Classes in the Philippines

• Course Finder
• June 24, 2022

Online learning has been the primary mode of acquiring education for most Filipino students over the last two years. But since DepEd recently announced that all schools in the country can do face-to-face classes as early as next school year, many people are now thinking of shifting back to the traditional form of learning. Isa ka ba sa kanila? Are you trying to decide whether it’s worth continuing your classes in an online setting or not? If so, then let CourseFinder help you out. We listed some of the top advantages and disadvantages of online classes in the Philippines that you should be aware of. And on that note, let’s begin.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Classes in the Philippines

There are a couple of good and bad effects of online classes in the Philippines that we would like to share with you today. We’ll start with the pros of online learning:

Benefits of Online Classes in the Philippines

• One of the best advantages of online learning is that you don't have to leave the comfort and safety of your own home ( taong bahay yarn? ) just to study. This will also lessen your chances of exposure to COVID-19 and other illnesses that may affect your performance as a student.
• You will be able to save time and money too, because there's no need for you to commute or drive to school every day.
• This depends upon the university, but a lot of online classes in the Philippines work on a Flexi-schedule scheme. With this, you can learn whenever you're free to. Something that you can't do with the traditional way of learning.
• Another one of its best advantages is that you get to spend more time with your family. Yes, you're studying and all, but you're also doing it while in their company. The presence of your loved ones can encourage you to study harder and feel less stressed.
• You will also be introduced to different programs and communication platforms your professors use to conduct their online classes. The software you'll work with may vary depending on what you're studying, but some of the ones you may have to be familiar with include Microsoft Word, Google Sheets, Skype, Adobe, Google Meet, Telegram, Zoom, and more.

Struggles of Online Classes in the Philippines

• Although it’s nice that you can attend classes without leaving your home, all that time you spend away from your teacher and classmates may make you feel isolated. And when taken for granted, that feeling may worsen and cause distinct effects on your mental health.
• Whether it be the laugh of your loved ones, the sound of the television, your dogs barking, or even the sound of jeepneys on the street, there are so many distractions when it comes to doing online classes in the Philippines. It also doesn't help that most houses of ordinary Filipino families aren't built to have an extra room that can serve as a quiet study area.
• One of the most significant struggles of online classes in the Philippines is the unreliable internet connection. Unless you’re connected to the most expensive package from the most reliable carriers, you're probably used to dealing with connectivity disruptions at this point.
• Yes, you can attend your classes with just a smartphone. But to do well, you need to have a device that can keep up with the audio, video, and program requirements of your online class. If you can afford a computer or laptop then that's great, but what if you don’t?
• Another downside of doing online classes in the Philippines is that you might not be able to develop a proper sense of responsibility and self-discipline. Since you’re not in the usual classroom setting, you may find it easy to neglect your school work and not miss deadlines.

Final Words

These are the top 5 advantages and disadvantages of online classes in the Philippines that you should always be aware of. Online learning has plenty of benefits and may be the better choice if you have all the resources and like to stay safe from all virus threats. However, if you feel unable to take in all the lessons, and you're scared on missing out on all the quintessential estudyante moments, the traditional face-to-face classes will work for you.

That's it for this article. We hope that by sharing the pros and cons of online classes in the Philippines, you'll be able to decide which mode of learning works the best. If you want to read more blogs about similar topics, just head over to the articles section of our website. We have a collection of informative and easy-to-read articles about school, career, and life in general.

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Filipino Teachers’ Attitudes towards Distance Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, distance education has subsequently turned into the dominant mode of teaching, especially in the Philippines, where the majority of schools are still physically closed. Over a year since distance education was fully implemented in the country, it is essential to understand the general attitudes towards distance learning of Filipino teachers who have been teaching at various educational levels, including elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels, particularly in terms of student interaction, student performance, tool use, and availability, the support they have received from their schools, their willingness to handle distance and learning classes, as well as their experience in online teaching. The quantitative study was conducted with 151 respondents, using an online survey. Regarding their general attitude towards distance learning, the majority believe that distance education is not a viable alternative to face-to-face learning. In terms of student performance, a big majority believe that students learn less in distance-education classes; and academic dishonesty is more prevalent in such a setting. Teachers also had a more negative attitude towards the availability of an infrastructure for distance learning and the difficulty of managing the technology needed. Still, they have a more positive attitude regarding the support they receive from their schools. Overall, the study revealed that respondents have mixed attitudes towards distance learning, although there is a statistically significant difference between their gender and their attitudes towards distance learning. Moreover, the benefits of distance learning can be maximized, if appropriate training and support are provided to both teachers and students.

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Impact of online classes on the satisfaction and performance of students during the pandemic period of COVID 19

• Published: 21 April 2021
• Volume 26 , pages 6923–6947, ( 2021 )

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• Ram Gopal 1 ,
• Varsha Singh 1 &
• Arun Aggarwal   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3986-188X 2  

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The aim of the study is to identify the factors affecting students’ satisfaction and performance regarding online classes during the pandemic period of COVID–19 and to establish the relationship between these variables. The study is quantitative in nature, and the data were collected from 544 respondents through online survey who were studying the business management (B.B.A or M.B.A) or hotel management courses in Indian universities. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the proposed hypotheses. The results show that four independent factors used in the study viz. quality of instructor, course design, prompt feedback, and expectation of students positively impact students’ satisfaction and further student’s satisfaction positively impact students’ performance. For educational management, these four factors are essential to have a high level of satisfaction and performance for online courses. This study is being conducted during the epidemic period of COVID- 19 to check the effect of online teaching on students’ performance.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Coronavirus is a group of viruses that is the main root of diseases like cough, cold, sneezing, fever, and some respiratory symptoms (WHO, 2019 ). Coronavirus is a contagious disease, which is spreading very fast amongst the human beings. COVID-19 is a new sprain which was originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Coronavirus circulates in animals, but some of these viruses can transmit between animals and humans (Perlman & Mclntosh, 2020 ). As of March 282,020, according to the MoHFW, a total of 909 confirmed COVID-19 cases (862 Indians and 47 foreign nationals) had been reported in India (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020 ). Officially, no vaccine or medicine is evaluated to cure the spread of COVID-19 (Yu et al., 2020 ). The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system leads to schools and colleges’ widespread closures worldwide. On March 24, India declared a country-wide lockdown of schools and colleges (NDTV, 2020 ) for preventing the transmission of the coronavirus amongst the students (Bayham & Fenichel, 2020 ). School closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have shed light on several issues affecting access to education. COVID-19 is soaring due to which the huge number of children, adults, and youths cannot attend schools and colleges (UNESCO, 2020 ). Lah and Botelho ( 2012 ) contended that the effect of school closing on students’ performance is hazy.

Similarly, school closing may also affect students because of disruption of teacher and students’ networks, leading to poor performance. Bridge ( 2020 ) reported that schools and colleges are moving towards educational technologies for student learning to avoid a strain during the pandemic season. Hence, the present study’s objective is to develop and test a conceptual model of student’s satisfaction pertaining to online teaching during COVID-19, where both students and teachers have no other option than to use the online platform uninterrupted learning and teaching.

UNESCO recommends distance learning programs and open educational applications during school closure caused by COVID-19 so that schools and teachers use to teach their pupils and bound the interruption of education. Therefore, many institutes go for the online classes (Shehzadi et al., 2020 ).

As a versatile platform for learning and teaching processes, the E-learning framework has been increasingly used (Salloum & Shaalan, 2018 ). E-learning is defined as a new paradigm of online learning based on information technology (Moore et al., 2011 ). In contrast to traditional learning academics, educators, and other practitioners are eager to know how e-learning can produce better outcomes and academic achievements. Only by analyzing student satisfaction and their performance can the answer be sought.

Many comparative studies have been carried out to prove the point to explore whether face-to-face or traditional teaching methods are more productive or whether online or hybrid learning is better (Lockman & Schirmer, 2020 ; Pei & Wu, 2019 ; González-Gómez et al., 2016 ; González-Gómez et al., 2016 ). Results of the studies show that the students perform much better in online learning than in traditional learning. Henriksen et al. ( 2020 ) highlighted the problems faced by educators while shifting from offline to online mode of teaching. In the past, several research studies had been carried out on online learning to explore student satisfaction, acceptance of e-learning, distance learning success factors, and learning efficiency (Sher, 2009 ; Lee, 2014 ; Yen et al., 2018 ). However, scant amount of literature is available on the factors that affect the students’ satisfaction and performance in online classes during the pandemic of Covid-19 (Rajabalee & Santally, 2020 ). In the present study, the authors proposed that course design, quality of the instructor, prompt feedback, and students’ expectations are the four prominent determinants of learning outcome and satisfaction of the students during online classes (Lee, 2014 ).

The Course Design refers to curriculum knowledge, program organization, instructional goals, and course structure (Wright, 2003 ). If well planned, course design increasing the satisfaction of pupils with the system (Almaiah & Alyoussef, 2019 ). Mtebe and Raisamo ( 2014 ) proposed that effective course design will help in improving the performance through learners knowledge and skills (Khan & Yildiz, 2020 ; Mohammed et al., 2020 ). However, if the course is not designed effectively then it might lead to low usage of e-learning platforms by the teachers and students (Almaiah & Almulhem, 2018 ). On the other hand, if the course is designed effectively then it will lead to higher acceptance of e-learning system by the students and their performance also increases (Mtebe & Raisamo, 2014 ). Hence, to prepare these courses for online learning, many instructors who are teaching blended courses for the first time are likely to require a complete overhaul of their courses (Bersin, 2004 ; Ho et al., 2006 ).

The second-factor, Instructor Quality, plays an essential role in affecting the students’ satisfaction in online classes. Instructor quality refers to a professional who understands the students’ educational needs, has unique teaching skills, and understands how to meet the students’ learning needs (Luekens et al., 2004 ). Marsh ( 1987 ) developed five instruments for measuring the instructor’s quality, in which the main method was Students’ Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ), which delineated the instructor’s quality. SEEQ is considered one of the methods most commonly used and embraced unanimously (Grammatikopoulos et al., 2014 ). SEEQ was a very useful method of feedback by students to measure the instructor’s quality (Marsh, 1987 ).

The third factor that improves the student’s satisfaction level is prompt feedback (Kinicki et al., 2004 ). Feedback is defined as information given by lecturers and tutors about the performance of students. Within this context, feedback is a “consequence of performance” (Hattie & Timperley, 2007 , p. 81). In education, “prompt feedback can be described as knowing what you know and what you do not related to learning” (Simsek et al., 2017 , p.334). Christensen ( 2014 ) studied linking feedback to performance and introduced the positivity ratio concept, which is a mechanism that plays an important role in finding out the performance through feedback. It has been found that prompt feedback helps in developing a strong linkage between faculty and students which ultimately leads to better learning outcomes (Simsek et al., 2017 ; Chang, 2011 ).

The fourth factor is students’ expectation . Appleton-Knapp and Krentler ( 2006 ) measured the impact of student’s expectations on their performance. They pin pointed that the student expectation is important. When the expectations of the students are achieved then it lead to the higher satisfaction level of the student (Bates & Kaye, 2014 ). These findings were backed by previous research model “Student Satisfaction Index Model” (Zhang et al., 2008 ). However, when the expectations are students is not fulfilled then it might lead to lower leaning and satisfaction with the course. Student satisfaction is defined as students’ ability to compare the desired benefit with the observed effect of a particular product or service (Budur et al., 2019 ). Students’ whose grade expectation is high will show high satisfaction instead of those facing lower grade expectations.

The scrutiny of the literature show that although different researchers have examined the factors affecting student satisfaction but none of the study has examined the effect of course design, quality of the instructor, prompt feedback, and students’ expectations on students’ satisfaction with online classes during the pandemic period of Covid-19. Therefore, this study tries to explore the factors that affect students’ satisfaction and performance regarding online classes during the pandemic period of COVID–19. As the pandemic compelled educational institutions to move online with which they were not acquainted, including teachers and learners. The students were not mentally prepared for such a shift. Therefore, this research will be examined to understand what factors affect students and how students perceived these changes which are reflected through their satisfaction level.

This paper is structured as follows: The second section provides a description of theoretical framework and the linkage among different research variables and accordingly different research hypotheses were framed. The third section deals with the research methodology of the paper as per APA guideline. The outcomes and corresponding results of the empirical analysis are then discussed. Lastly, the paper concludes with a discussion and proposes implications for future studies.

2 Theoretical framework

Achievement goal theory (AGT) is commonly used to understand the student’s performance, and it is proposed by four scholars Carole Ames, Carol Dweck, Martin Maehr, and John Nicholls in the late 1970s (Elliot, 2005 ). Elliott & Dweck ( 1988 , p11) define that “an achievement goal involves a program of cognitive processes that have cognitive, affective and behavioral consequence”. This theory suggests that students’ motivation and achievement-related behaviors can be easily understood by the purpose and the reasons they adopted while they are engaged in the learning activities (Dweck & Leggett, 1988 ; Ames, 1992 ; Urdan, 1997 ). Some of the studies believe that there are four approaches to achieve a goal, i.e., mastery-approach, mastery avoidance, performance approach, and performance-avoidance (Pintrich, 1999 ; Elliot & McGregor, 2001 ; Schwinger & Stiensmeier-Pelster, 2011 , Hansen & Ringdal, 2018 ; Mouratidis et al., 2018 ). The environment also affects the performance of students (Ames & Archer, 1988 ). Traditionally, classroom teaching is an effective method to achieve the goal (Ames & Archer, 1988 ; Ames, 1992 ; Clayton et al., 2010 ) however in the modern era, the internet-based teaching is also one of the effective tools to deliver lectures, and web-based applications are becoming modern classrooms (Azlan et al., 2020 ). Hence, following section discuss about the relationship between different independent variables and dependent variables (Fig. 1 ).

Proposed Model

3 Hypotheses development

3.1 quality of the instructor and satisfaction of the students.

Quality of instructor with high fanaticism on student’s learning has a positive impact on their satisfaction. Quality of instructor is one of the most critical measures for student satisfaction, leading to the education process’s outcome (Munteanu et al., 2010 ; Arambewela & Hall, 2009 ; Ramsden, 1991 ). Suppose the teacher delivers the course effectively and influence the students to do better in their studies. In that case, this process leads to student satisfaction and enhances the learning process (Ladyshewsky, 2013 ). Furthermore, understanding the need of learner by the instructor also ensures student satisfaction (Kauffman, 2015 ). Hence the hypothesis that the quality of instructor significantly affects the satisfaction of the students was included in this study.

H1: The quality of the instructor positively affects the satisfaction of the students.

3.2 Course design and satisfaction of students

The course’s technological design is highly persuading the students’ learning and satisfaction through their course expectations (Liaw, 2008 ; Lin et al., 2008 ). Active course design indicates the students’ effective outcomes compared to the traditional design (Black & Kassaye, 2014 ). Learning style is essential for effective course design (Wooldridge, 1995 ). While creating an online course design, it is essential to keep in mind that we generate an experience for students with different learning styles. Similarly, (Jenkins, 2015 ) highlighted that the course design attributes could be developed and employed to enhance student success. Hence the hypothesis that the course design significantly affects students’ satisfaction was included in this study.

H2: Course design positively affects the satisfaction of students.

3.3 Prompt feedback and satisfaction of students

The emphasis in this study is to understand the influence of prompt feedback on satisfaction. Feedback gives the information about the students’ effective performance (Chang, 2011 ; Grebennikov & Shah, 2013 ; Simsek et al., 2017 ). Prompt feedback enhances student learning experience (Brownlee et al., 2009 ) and boosts satisfaction (O'donovan, 2017 ). Prompt feedback is the self-evaluation tool for the students (Rogers, 1992 ) by which they can improve their performance. Eraut ( 2006 ) highlighted the impact of feedback on future practice and student learning development. Good feedback practice is beneficial for student learning and teachers to improve students’ learning experience (Yorke, 2003 ). Hence the hypothesis that prompt feedback significantly affects satisfaction was included in this study.

H3: Prompt feedback of the students positively affects the satisfaction.

3.4 Expectations and satisfaction of students

Expectation is a crucial factor that directly influences the satisfaction of the student. Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT) (Oliver, 1980 ) was utilized to determine the level of satisfaction based on their expectations (Schwarz & Zhu, 2015 ). Student’s expectation is the best way to improve their satisfaction (Brown et al., 2014 ). It is possible to recognize student expectations to progress satisfaction level (ICSB, 2015 ). Finally, the positive approach used in many online learning classes has been shown to place a high expectation on learners (Gold, 2011 ) and has led to successful outcomes. Hence the hypothesis that expectations of the student significantly affect the satisfaction was included in this study.

H4: Expectations of the students positively affects the satisfaction.

3.5 Satisfaction and performance of the students

Zeithaml ( 1988 ) describes that satisfaction is the outcome result of the performance of any educational institute. According to Kotler and Clarke ( 1986 ), satisfaction is the desired outcome of any aim that amuses any individual’s admiration. Quality interactions between instructor and students lead to student satisfaction (Malik et al., 2010 ; Martínez-Argüelles et al., 2016 ). Teaching quality and course material enhances the student satisfaction by successful outcomes (Sanderson, 1995 ). Satisfaction relates to the student performance in terms of motivation, learning, assurance, and retention (Biner et al., 1996 ). Mensink and King ( 2020 ) described that performance is the conclusion of student-teacher efforts, and it shows the interest of students in the studies. The critical element in education is students’ academic performance (Rono, 2013 ). Therefore, it is considered as center pole, and the entire education system rotates around the student’s performance. Narad and Abdullah ( 2016 ) concluded that the students’ academic performance determines academic institutions’ success and failure.

Singh et al. ( 2016 ) asserted that the student academic performance directly influences the country’s socio-economic development. Farooq et al. ( 2011 ) highlights the students’ academic performance is the primary concern of all faculties. Additionally, the main foundation of knowledge gaining and improvement of skills is student’s academic performance. According to Narad and Abdullah ( 2016 ), regular evaluation or examinations is essential over a specific period of time in assessing students’ academic performance for better outcomes. Hence the hypothesis that satisfaction significantly affects the performance of the students was included in this study.

H5: Students’ satisfaction positively affects the performance of the students.

3.6 Satisfaction as mediator

Sibanda et al. ( 2015 ) applied the goal theory to examine the factors persuading students’ academic performance that enlightens students’ significance connected to their satisfaction and academic achievement. According to this theory, students perform well if they know about factors that impact on their performance. Regarding the above variables, institutional factors that influence student satisfaction through performance include course design and quality of the instructor (DeBourgh, 2003 ; Lado et al., 2003 ), prompt feedback, and expectation (Fredericksen et al., 2000 ). Hence the hypothesis that quality of the instructor, course design, prompts feedback, and student expectations significantly affect the students’ performance through satisfaction was included in this study.

H6: Quality of the instructor, course design, prompt feedback, and student’ expectations affect the students’ performance through satisfaction.

H6a: Students’ satisfaction mediates the relationship between quality of the instructor and student’s performance.

H6b: Students’ satisfaction mediates the relationship between course design and student’s performance.

H6c: Students’ satisfaction mediates the relationship between prompt feedback and student’s performance.

H6d: Students’ satisfaction mediates the relationship between student’ expectations and student’s performance.

4.1 Participants

In this cross-sectional study, the data were collected from 544 respondents who were studying the management (B.B.A or M.B.A) and hotel management courses. The purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics shows that 48.35% of the respondents were either MBA or BBA and rests of the respondents were hotel management students. The percentages of male students were (71%) and female students were (29%). The percentage of male students is almost double in comparison to females. The ages of the students varied from 18 to 35. The dominant group was those aged from 18 to 22, and which was the under graduation student group and their ratio was (94%), and another set of students were from the post-graduation course, which was (6%) only.

4.2 Materials

The research instrument consists of two sections. The first section is related to demographical variables such as discipline, gender, age group, and education level (under-graduate or post-graduate). The second section measures the six factors viz. instructor’s quality, course design, prompt feedback, student expectations, satisfaction, and performance. These attributes were taken from previous studies (Yin & Wang, 2015 ; Bangert, 2004 ; Chickering & Gamson, 1987 ; Wilson et al., 1997 ). The “instructor quality” was measured through the scale developed by Bangert ( 2004 ). The scale consists of seven items. The “course design” and “prompt feedback” items were adapted from the research work of Bangert ( 2004 ). The “course design” scale consists of six items. The “prompt feedback” scale consists of five items. The “students’ expectation” scale consists of five items. Four items were adapted from Bangert, 2004 and one item was taken from Wilson et al. ( 1997 ). Students’ satisfaction was measure with six items taken from Bangert ( 2004 ); Wilson et al. ( 1997 ); Yin and Wang ( 2015 ). The “students’ performance” was measured through the scale developed by Wilson et al. ( 1997 ). The scale consists of six items. These variables were accessed on a five-point likert scale, ranging from 1(strongly disagree) to 5(strongly agree). Only the students from India have taken part in the survey. A total of thirty-four questions were asked in the study to check the effect of the first four variables on students’ satisfaction and performance. For full details of the questionnaire, kindly refer Appendix Tables 6 .

The study used a descriptive research design. The factors “instructor quality, course design, prompt feedback and students’ expectation” were independent variables. The students’ satisfaction was mediator and students’ performance was the dependent variable in the current study.

4.4 Procedure

In this cross-sectional research the respondents were selected through judgment sampling. They were informed about the objective of the study and information gathering process. They were assured about the confidentiality of the data and no incentive was given to then for participating in this study. The information utilizes for this study was gathered through an online survey. The questionnaire was built through Google forms, and then it was circulated through the mails. Students’ were also asked to write the name of their college, and fifteen colleges across India have taken part to fill the data. The data were collected in the pandemic period of COVID-19 during the total lockdown in India. This was the best time to collect the data related to the current research topic because all the colleges across India were involved in online classes. Therefore, students have enough time to understand the instrument and respondent to the questionnaire in an effective manner. A total of 615 questionnaires were circulated, out of which the students returned 574. Thirty responses were not included due to the unengaged responses. Finally, 544 questionnaires were utilized in the present investigation. Male and female students both have taken part to fill the survey, different age groups, and various courses, i.e., under graduation and post-graduation students of management and hotel management students were the part of the sample.

5.1 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)

To analyze the data, SPSS and AMOS software were used. First, to extract the distinct factors, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed using VARIMAX rotation on a sample of 544. Results of the exploratory analysis rendered six distinct factors. Factor one was named as the quality of instructor, and some of the items were “The instructor communicated effectively”, “The instructor was enthusiastic about online teaching” and “The instructor was concerned about student learning” etc. Factor two was labeled as course design, and the items were “The course was well organized”, “The course was designed to allow assignments to be completed across different learning environments.” and “The instructor facilitated the course effectively” etc. Factor three was labeled as prompt feedback of students, and some of the items were “The instructor responded promptly to my questions about the use of Webinar”, “The instructor responded promptly to my questions about general course requirements” etc. The fourth factor was Student’s Expectations, and the items were “The instructor provided models that clearly communicated expectations for weekly group assignments”, “The instructor used good examples to explain statistical concepts” etc. The fifth factor was students’ satisfaction, and the items were “The online classes were valuable”, “Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of this course” etc. The sixth factor was performance of the student, and the items were “The online classes has sharpened my analytic skills”, “Online classes really tries to get the best out of all its students” etc. These six factors explained 67.784% of the total variance. To validate the factors extracted through EFA, the researcher performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) through AMOS. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

5.2 Measurement model

The results of Table 1 summarize the findings of EFA and CFA. Results of the table showed that EFA renders six distinct factors, and CFA validated these factors. Table 2 shows that the proposed measurement model achieved good convergent validity (Aggarwal et al., 2018a , b ). Results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the values of standardized factor loadings were statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Further, the results of the measurement model also showed acceptable model fit indices such that CMIN = 710.709; df = 480; CMIN/df = 1.481 p  < .000; Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = 0.979; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.976; Goodness of Fit index (GFI) = 0.928; Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) = 0.916; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.978; Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) = 0.042; Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.030 is satisfactory.

The Average Variance Explained (AVE) according to the acceptable index should be higher than the value of squared correlations between the latent variables and all other variables. The discriminant validity is confirmed (Table 2 ) as the value of AVE’s square root is greater than the inter-construct correlations coefficient (Hair et al., 2006 ). Additionally, the discriminant validity existed when there was a low correlation between each variable measurement indicator with all other variables except with the one with which it must be theoretically associated (Aggarwal et al., 2018a , b ; Aggarwal et al., 2020 ). The results of Table 2 show that the measurement model achieved good discriminate validity.

5.3 Structural model

To test the proposed hypothesis, the researcher used the structural equation modeling technique. This is a multivariate statistical analysis technique, and it includes the amalgamation of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. It is used to analyze the structural relationship between measured variables and latent constructs.

Table  3 represents the structural model’s model fitness indices where all variables put together when CMIN/DF is 2.479, and all the model fit values are within the particular range. That means the model has attained a good model fit. Furthermore, other fit indices as GFI = .982 and AGFI = 0.956 be all so supportive (Schumacker & Lomax, 1996 ; Marsh & Grayson, 1995 ; Kline, 2005 ).

Hence, the model fitted the data successfully. All co-variances among the variables and regression weights were statistically significant ( p  < 0.001).

Table 4 represents the relationship between exogenous, mediator and endogenous variables viz—quality of instructor, prompt feedback, course design, students’ expectation, students’ satisfaction and students’ performance. The first four factors have a positive relationship with satisfaction, which further leads to students’ performance positively. Results show that the instructor’s quality has a positive relationship with the satisfaction of students for online classes (SE = 0.706, t-value = 24.196; p  < 0.05). Hence, H1 was supported. The second factor is course design, which has a positive relationship with students’ satisfaction of students (SE = 0.064, t-value = 2.395; p < 0.05). Hence, H2 was supported. The third factor is Prompt feedback, and results show that feedback has a positive relationship with the satisfaction of the students (SE = 0.067, t-value = 2.520; p < 0.05). Hence, H3 was supported. The fourth factor is students’ expectations. The results show a positive relationship between students’ expectation and students’ satisfaction with online classes (SE = 0.149, t-value = 5.127; p < 0.05). Hence, H4 was supported. The results of SEM show that out of quality of instructor, prompt feedback, course design, and students’ expectation, the most influencing factor that affect the students’ satisfaction was instructor’s quality (SE = 0.706) followed by students’ expectation (SE =5.127), prompt feedback (SE = 2.520). The factor that least affects the students’ satisfaction was course design (2.395). The results of Table 4 finally depicts that students’ satisfaction has positive effect on students’ performance ((SE = 0.186, t-value = 2.800; p < 0.05). Hence H5 was supported.

Table 5 shows that students’ satisfaction partially mediates the positive relationship between the instructor’s quality and student performance. Hence, H6(a) was supported. Further, the mediation analysis results showed that satisfaction again partially mediates the positive relationship between course design and student’s performance. Hence, H6(b) was supported However, the mediation analysis results showed that satisfaction fully mediates the positive relationship between prompt feedback and student performance. Hence, H6(c) was supported. Finally, the results of the Table 5 showed that satisfaction partially mediates the positive relationship between expectations of the students and student’s performance. Hence, H6(d) was supported.

6 Discussion

In the present study, the authors evaluated the different factors directly linked with students’ satisfaction and performance with online classes during Covid-19. Due to the pandemic situation globally, all the colleges and universities were shifted to online mode by their respective governments. No one has the information that how long this pandemic will remain, and hence the teaching method was shifted to online mode. Even though some of the educators were not tech-savvy, they updated themselves to battle the unexpected circumstance (Pillai et al., 2021 ). The present study results will help the educators increase the student’s satisfaction and performance in online classes. The current research assists educators in understanding the different factors that are required for online teaching.

Comparing the current research with past studies, the past studies have examined the factors affecting the student’s satisfaction in the conventional schooling framework. However, the present study was conducted during India’s lockdown period to identify the prominent factors that derive the student’s satisfaction with online classes. The study also explored the direct linkage between student’s satisfaction and their performance. The present study’s findings indicated that instructor’s quality is the most prominent factor that affects the student’s satisfaction during online classes. This means that the instructor needs to be very efficient during the lectures. He needs to understand students’ psychology to deliver the course content prominently. If the teacher can deliver the course content properly, it affects the student’s satisfaction and performance. The teachers’ perspective is critical because their enthusiasm leads to a better online learning process quality.

The present study highlighted that the second most prominent factor affecting students’ satisfaction during online classes is the student’s expectations. Students might have some expectations during the classes. If the instructor understands that expectation and customizes his/her course design following the student’s expectations, then it is expected that the students will perform better in the examinations. The third factor that affects the student’s satisfaction is feedback. After delivering the course, appropriate feedback should be taken by the instructors to plan future courses. It also helps to make the future strategies (Tawafak et al., 2019 ). There must be a proper feedback system for improvement because feedback is the course content’s real image. The last factor that affects the student’s satisfaction is design. The course content needs to be designed in an effective manner so that students should easily understand it. If the instructor plans the course, so the students understand the content without any problems it effectively leads to satisfaction, and the student can perform better in the exams. In some situations, the course content is difficult to deliver in online teaching like the practical part i.e. recipes of dishes or practical demonstration in the lab. In such a situation, the instructor needs to be more creative in designing and delivering the course content so that it positively impacts the students’ overall satisfaction with online classes.

Overall, the students agreed that online teaching was valuable for them even though the online mode of classes was the first experience during the pandemic period of Covid-19 (Agarwal & Kaushik, 2020 ; Rajabalee & Santally, 2020 ). Some of the previous studies suggest that the technology-supported courses have a positive relationship with students’ performance (Cho & Schelzer, 2000 ; Harasim, 2000 ; Sigala, 2002 ). On the other hand, the demographic characteristic also plays a vital role in understanding the online course performance. According to APA Work Group of the Board of Educational Affairs ( 1997 ), the learner-centered principles suggest that students must be willing to invest the time required to complete individual course assignments. Online instructors must be enthusiastic about developing genuine instructional resources that actively connect learners and encourage them toward proficient performances. For better performance in studies, both teachers and students have equal responsibility. When the learner faces any problem to understand the concepts, he needs to make inquiries for the instructor’s solutions (Bangert, 2004 ). Thus, we can conclude that “instructor quality, student’s expectation, prompt feedback, and effective course design” significantly impact students’ online learning process.

7 Implications of the study

The results of this study have numerous significant practical implications for educators, students and researchers. It also contributes to the literature by demonstrating that multiple factors are responsible for student satisfaction and performance in the context of online classes during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was different from the previous studies (Baber, 2020 ; Ikhsan et al., 2019 ; Eom & Ashill, 2016 ). None of the studies had examined the effect of students’ satisfaction on their perceived academic performance. The previous empirical findings have highlighted the importance of examining the factors affecting student satisfaction (Maqableh & Jaradat, 2021 ; Yunusa & Umar, 2021 ). Still, none of the studies has examined the effect of course design, quality of instructor, prompt feedback, and students’ expectations on students’ satisfaction all together with online classes during the pandemic period. The present study tries to fill this research gap.

The first essential contribution of this study was the instructor’s facilitating role, and the competence he/she possesses affects the level of satisfaction of the students (Gray & DiLoreto, 2016 ). There was an extra obligation for instructors who taught online courses during the pandemic. They would have to adapt to a changing climate, polish their technical skills throughout the process, and foster new students’ technical knowledge in this environment. The present study’s findings indicate that instructor quality is a significant determinant of student satisfaction during online classes amid a pandemic. In higher education, the teacher’s standard referred to the instructor’s specific individual characteristics before entering the class (Darling-Hammond, 2010 ). These attributes include factors such as instructor content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, inclination, and experience. More significantly, at that level, the amount of understanding could be given by those who have a significant amount of technical expertise in the areas they are teaching (Martin, 2021 ). Secondly, the present study results contribute to the profession of education by illustrating a realistic approach that can be used to recognize students’ expectations in their class effectively. The primary expectation of most students before joining a university is employment. Instructors have agreed that they should do more to fulfill students’ employment expectations (Gorgodze et al., 2020 ). The instructor can then use that to balance expectations to improve student satisfaction. Study results can be used to continually improve and build courses, as well as to make policy decisions to improve education programs. Thirdly, from result outcomes, online course design and instructors will delve deeper into how to structure online courses more efficiently, including design features that minimize adversely and maximize optimistic emotion, contributing to greater student satisfaction (Martin et al., 2018 ). The findings suggest that the course design has a substantial positive influence on the online class’s student performance. The findings indicate that the course design of online classes need to provide essential details like course content, educational goals, course structure, and course output in a consistent manner so that students would find the e-learning system beneficial for them; this situation will enable students to use the system and that leads to student performance (Almaiah & Alyoussef, 2019 ). Lastly, the results indicate that instructors respond to questions promptly and provide timely feedback on assignments to facilitate techniques that help students in online courses improve instructor participation, instructor interaction, understanding, and participation (Martin et al., 2018 ). Feedback can be beneficial for students to focus on the performance that enhances their learning.

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Gopal, R., Singh, V. & Aggarwal, A. Impact of online classes on the satisfaction and performance of students during the pandemic period of COVID 19. Educ Inf Technol 26 , 6923–6947 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10523-1

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Received : 07 December 2020

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Issue Date : November 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10523-1

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Researchers warn of danger, call for pause in bringing AI to schools

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In K-12 schools across the country, a new gold rush of sorts is underway: Classrooms nationwide are racing to bring the latest artificial intelligence tools, such as platforms powered by the chat bot ChatGPT, into the classroom.

Alex Molnar, a director of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at CU Boulder, sees a danger in this hurry to introduce AI to schools. These platforms, he said, use opaque and usually proprietary algorithms—making their inner workings mysterious to educators, parents and students alike.

“What you have is a pocketful of promises that AI will deliver as promised,” said Molnar, a research professor in the School of Education . “The problem is there is currently no way to independently evaluate the claims being made.” 

In a new report, Molnar and his colleagues highlight the potential pitfalls of AI in education and call for an indefinite “pause” in integrating AI into K-12 learning. Co-authors included Ben Williamson of the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and Faith Boninger, assistant research professor of education at CU Boulder.  

Molnar gives his take on why AI is a risky gamble for education—and what concerned parents and others can do to get involved.

Alex Molnar

Does new technology pose risks to K-12 education?

There have been all kinds of issues associated with the use of digital platforms in schools, even before the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence. 

Student data are often not properly protected. For example, there have been all kinds of leaks from third-party vendors, and there's no law or effective policy that holds them accountable. You also have an awful lot of beta testing going on in schools. Marketing claims sound good, but digital platforms often don't produce the promised results and are riddled with technical issues.

Digital technologies have made it difficult or impossible to answer fundamental questions, such as: Who's deciding the curriculum content that gets built into these platforms? Who's reviewing their work?

Could AI make those issues worse?

All of the issues related to digital technologies tend to be amplified by artificial intelligence.

So-called AI uses algorithms and massive amounts of computing power to produce results based on countless calculations of probabilities. For example, what is the probability that the next word in a sequence will be ‘juice’? These calculations do not produce ‘truth’ or even, necessarily, accuracy. They produce probabilistic output. 

Currently, the construction and operation of AI algorithms is largely outside of public view and without any public accountability. Nevertheless, school people are being pushed, both by marketers and government entities, to be seen to be in the forefront of this alleged digital revolution—turning more and more school processes over to technologists with little or no knowledge of pedagogy or school curriculum.

A lot of people call AI tools a ‘black box.’ What does that mean?

To use an old-world explanation, imagine if you said, ‘I’d like to see my child’s geography textbook.’ You might say, ‘I have some issues here.’ You could talk to somebody about it, somebody who could possibly explain those issues. But with AI, you can’t do that.

You can’t go in and say, for example, ‘How did the scoring on this work?’ The answer would be, ‘Well, we don’t know.’ ‘How do we know that this content is accurate?’ ‘Well, we don’t know that, either.’ 

Is the concern, then, that AI might make decisions in place of educators or parents? 

You can use AI to assist you in determining if a child cheated. You use it to determine whether or not a child should be in this program or that program. You can use AI to decide all kinds of things about a child, and the child is locked in with little or no recourse. Parents can complain all they want. They still can’t get the information about the basis for a decision made by AI because the principal doesn’t have it. The teacher doesn’t have it. The superintendent doesn’t have it. It’s hidden behind a proprietary curtain by a private vendor.

You advocate for a ‘pause’ in the use of AI in schools. What would that look like?

The solution would be for state legislatures to, by statute, say, in essence: Public schools in this state may not adopt artificial intelligence programs unless and until those programs are certified by this governmental entity—they’d have to create the entity. It has reviewed these programs. It has said they are safe for use, and it defines what the appropriate uses of the program are and for whom.

In other words, nothing goes in the schools until we have the statutory and regulatory framework and institutional  capacity in place to independently assess AI platforms that are proposed for school use.

What can parents, or anyone else, who are concerned about this issue do?

Demand that your representatives take these issues seriously—first of all, to legislate a pause in the adoption of AI in schools. Period. Then they can ask their representatives to create a state entity that is designed to regulate the use of AI in schools.

This is a political problem. This is not a technical problem.

We have a long history of tech companies failing to follow their own rules, which are themselves laughably inadequate. For anybody who's seriously trying to figure out how to responsibly use AI in education, if they're not talking political action, they're not really talking. The technologists won’t save us.

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Research reveals language barriers limit effectiveness of cybersecurity resources

Online guidance that provides the most effective educational tools and reporting forms is only available in english.

The idea for Fawn Ngo's latest research came from a television interview.

Ngo, a University of South Florida criminologist, had spoken with a Vietnamese language network in California about her interest in better understanding how people become victims of cybercrime.

Afterward, she began receiving phone calls from viewers recounting their own experiences of victimization.

"Some of the stories were unfortunate and heartbreaking," said Ngo, an associate professor in the USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. "They made me wonder about the availability and accessibility of cybersecurity information and resources for non-English speakers. Upon investigating further, I discovered that such information and resources were either limited or nonexistent."

The result is what's believed to be the first study to explore the links among demographic characteristics, cyber hygiene practices and cyber victimization using a sample of limited English proficiency internet users.

Ngo is the lead author of an article, "Cyber Hygiene and Cyber Victimization Among Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Internet Users: A Mixed-Method Study," which just published in the journal Victims & Offenders . The article's co-authors are Katherine Holman, a USF graduate student and former Georgia state prosecutor, and Anurag Agarwal, professor of information systems, analytics and supply chain at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Their research, which focused on Spanish and Vietnamese speakers, led to two closely connected main takeaways:

• LEP Internet users share the same concern about cyber threats and the same desire for online safety as any other individual. However, they are constrained by a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate resources, which also hampers accurate collection of cyber victimization data among vulnerable populations.
• Online guidance that provides the most effective educational tools and reporting forms is only available in English. The most notable example is the website for the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which serves as the FBI's primary apparatus for combatting cybercrime.

As a result, the study showed that many well-intentioned LEP users still engage in risky online behaviors like using unsecured networks and sharing passwords. For example, only 29 percent of the study's focus group participants avoided using public Wi-Fi over the previous 12 months, and only 17 percent said they had antivirus software installed on their digital devices.

Previous research cited in Ngo's paper has shown that underserved populations exhibit poorer cybersecurity knowledge and outcomes, most commonly in the form of computer viruses and hacked accounts, including social media accounts. Often, it's because they lack awareness and understanding and isn't a result of disinterest, Ngo said.

"According to cybersecurity experts, humans are the weakest link in the chain of cybersecurity," Ngo said. "If we want to secure our digital borders, we must ensure that every member in society, regardless of their language skills, is well-informed about the risks inherent in the cyber world."

The study's findings point to a need for providing cyber hygiene information and resources in multiple formats, including visual aids and audio guides, to accommodate diverse literacy levels within LEP communities, Ngo said. She added that further research is needed to address the current security gap and ensure equitable access to cybersecurity resources for all Internet users.

In the meantime, Ngo is preparing to launch a website with cybersecurity information and resources in different languages and a link to report victimization.

"It's my hope that cybersecurity information and resources will become as readily accessible in other languages as other vital information, such as information related to health and safety," Ngo said. "I also want LEP victims to be included in national data and statistics on cybercrime and their experiences accurately represented and addressed in cybersecurity initiatives."

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Story Source:

Materials provided by University of South Florida . Original written by John Dudley. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Fawn T. Ngo, Anurag Agarwal, Katherine Holman. Cyber Hygiene and Cyber Victimization Among Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Internet Users: A Mixed-Method Study . Victims & Offenders , 2024; 1 DOI: 10.1080/15564886.2024.2329765

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