Filipino higher education students are ready in terms of computer or internet self-efficacy. However, they are unprepared to control their efforts in directing their own learning.
These were the results of a Philippine Journal of Science (PJS) study conducted by a team of researchers from the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT)- University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) on “Assessment of Filipino Higher Education Students’ Readiness for e-Learning During a Pandemic: A Rasch Technique Application.”
"Filipino students are ready in terms of computer or internet self-efficacy - that is their ability to demonstrate proper computer and internet skills. However, they are not ready in terms of learner control,” the DOST said in a Facebook post.
The research team used five dimensions in assessing the level of e-learning readiness among Filipino students in higher education during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. These include computer or internet self-efficacy, self-directed learning, learner control, motivation for learning, and online communication self-efficacy.
“Results showed that gender significantly differentiates e-learning readiness under learner control and self-directed learning,” the DOST said.
Learner control is defined as the student’s control over his or her efforts in directing his or her own learning, while self-directed learning refers to the student’s responsibility for learning contexts to reach learning outcomes, the study provides.
One of the 290 students who participated in the study cited the difficulty of balancing the students’ responsibilities at home , while fulfilling their academic requirements.
“It is important to emphasize that there are students with responsibility in their own family. How would they be able to balance their responsibility from home and from academics?,” said a study participant.
The study also showed that male students feel that they are less likely to repeat online instructional materials based on their needs compared to female counterparts.
“Females, on the other hand, are more comfortable than males in seeking assistance when faced with learning difficulties,” it said.
Based on the study, graduate students have more confidence in gathering information online compared to undergraduate students.
“Perhaps since the undergraduate students belong to the “net” generation or those called digital natives, they are more confident in terms of skills in managing e-learning platforms.”
A total of 290 students from the UPLB participated in the study, 232 of whom or 80 percent are undergraduate and 58 or 20 percent are graduate students.
The research also found that “although 97 percent of UPLB students have tablets or smartphones, and 89 percent have desktops or laptops, only 58 percent have access to a fairly fast and reliable internet connection.”
The study likewise highlighted the important role of teachers in achieving course learning goals.
The INSTAT-UPLB research team stressed the need for the course design to “uphold the principles of empathy, understanding each learner’s situation and differences as shown in the differential item functioning (DIF) results, and inclusivity by considering the learner’s needs.”
They also recommended that a detailed schedule of activities for the entire semester be included in the study guides so that students will be able to manage their time well.
The researchers noted that prediction of any future behavior of technology usage is not part of the goals of their paper, but future researches may investigate possible associations of academic performance with e-learning readiness.
"Although e-learning has already been incorporated into the Philippine education system, as attested through the establishment of the University of the Philippines Open University in 1995, its enforced adoption has put the country in an entirely different situation. School administrators, teachers, and most especially students were caught unprepared for this new setup,” the DOST said.
"As an emergency response to the pandemic, e-learning became the modal solution for various academic institutions. But as pointed out in another related study, this situation resulted in a decrease in national student enrollment in 2020 by 3 million from 27.7 million in the previous year, in both private and public schools, due to the lack of resources and preparedness for the new system,” it added.
The DOST announced that the complete discussion and results of the study is available and can be downloaded for free from the PJS, Vol. 150 No. 3, June 2021.
The PJS is the country’s oldest peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is published by the Department of Science and Technology- Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII).