Do It and Do It Well: Assessment of Online Teaching in the New Normal among Selected Universities in the Philippines ()
1. Introduction
The study of Fatima, Nasreen, Parvez, & Rahaman (2020) mentioned that Internet is one of the greatest recent advancements in the world of information technology that has become a useful instrument which affects the global village. The use of Internet has the major impact on the students’ academic achievement and social life, however, excessive internet usage negatively affects one’s physical health, family life, and academic performance (Akhler, 2013). Students used Internet for various purposes such as academic, social communication, and recreation (Balouch, et al. 2019). Asdaque, Khan, & Rizvi (2010) stressed that the use of Internet influenced academic achievement and performance of students. This means that the more time spent in online study, the more effect could be observed in academic performance. Ivwighreghweta & Igere (2014) stressed that students considered Internet as a new tool of learning and its importance exceeds the information given by physical library. Furthermore, students still agreed that low speed, power outage, and information overload are the challenges of online learning. Colombo’s (2020) study posited that online education is no longer a new phenomenon and in the near future, this method has the potential to exceed the traditional or person-to-person education. This may be because of the extent of its usability as long as there is Internet, students and teachers can access anywhere and anytime. Chen (2020) stressed that teachers are trained to master the mode of networking-teaching, they are trained to do it in a very constructive way. Using different online platforms, teachers’ level of teaching was improved, changed, and enhanced. It was in this study that the author found out the positive correlations among the teachers’ adaptability, teachers’ attitude, and teaching effectiveness.
The present study aimed to evaluate the extent of online teaching using the different online platforms among instructors at the selected universities in the Philippines. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following specific questions:
1) What is the level of online teaching among instructors at the selected universities as an entire group and when grouped according to the following such as: a) gender, b) type of residence, c) number of years in teaching, d) age, e) the highest educational attainment, and f) areas of specialization?
2) Are there significant differences in the online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to different categories such as a) gender, b) location of residence, c) number of years in teaching, d) age, e) the highest educational attainment, and f) area?
3) What are the views and comments of the respondents about online teaching?
4) What are the challenges encountered and suggestions of the respondents using online teaching?
2. Hypotheses
There are no significant differences in the assessment of online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to different categories such as 1) gender, 2) location of residence, 3) number of years in teaching, 4) age, 5) the highest educational attainment, and 6) department.
Related Literature and Studies
The present study included some related studies in the fields particularly in using the online learning and teaching. The study conducted by Xiao, Zhang, & Pu (2021) mentioned that online teaching platform of the colleges and universities is one of the important contents of Internet education platforms, this is considered as urgent requirement for the online information construction among colleges and universities to build favorable online platform and to adapt to the new challenges of education. The advantages of this online teaching platform were the self-study at any place and clouding, while the disadvantages were network bandwidth, Internet connectivity, and teachers’ and students’ literacies.
Another study by Xie, Qui, Huang, & Wang (2020) underscored that urgency of online education have been considered at the highest level and online education had become the focus of the study of the different groups, communities, and institutions.
Study conducted by Alagsam et al. (2021) stressed that researchers should conduct studies on online tool-assessment and integrating it in the online learning environment. The authors mentioned the different areas of studies such as: online learning materials, designed software, online platform, online websites, and online courses.
Yang (2021) discussed that online learning management and academic performance are beneficial for teachers and administrators in order to understand the whole process of online general education, types of learning, and students’ characteristics in order to provide personalized learning and support service with high quality educational system.
Another study conducted by Hu et al. (2020) agreed that during this pandemic online teaching is used by the schools and universities, which the result stated that most of the students in this particular study were satisfied with the teaching method, specifically in dealing with online teaching of electronics engineering.
However, in the study of Yang et al. (2020) revealed that various problems and emergencies kept on happening in the online platforms and Internet connectivity of students and teachers in the colleges and universities.
Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks
The relationships of the different variables in this study are presented in Figure 1.
The illustration in Figure 1 indicates that online teaching may influence by teachers-related factors such as gender, type of residence, and number of years in teaching, age, highest educational attainment, and area of specialization.
The study was anchored on the Constructivism Theory of Teaching by Jia (2010), which states that the roles of teachers should shift from initiator, helper, and driver for the students’ development. Teacher must be designer of teaching environment, academic consultant, and help students to form technique, attitude, and habits in learning. This theory focuses on improving students’ comprehensive quality learning. The teachers’ experiences in drawing cooperation and communication were the important factors leading to build the students’ knowledge system, cultivate innovative spirit and problem solving abilities. This theory brings new insights, views, and challenges to the teachers engaging in the online teaching in order to create better quality teaching environment.
3. Method
The researchers used quantitative and qualitative research designs. The quantitative research design utilized a Likert-type data instrument and statistical tools used were mean, t-test, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Moreover, the quantitative and qualitative information and statements were analyzed using the mixed method (Dawadi, Shrestha, & Giri, 2021; Poth & Munce, 2020), this method integrates philosophical frameworks of both post-positivism and interpretivism, interweaving qualitative and quantitative data in such a way that research issues are meaningfully explained. This enables the researchers to answer questions with sufficient depth and breadth and helps generalized findings of the whole issues. Furthermore, this method is used to address impact of research questions integrated and synergized in order to answer complex problems. The qualitative design process was guided by the qualitative and qualitative experts and was based on a qualitative framework by Creswell (2012).
Respondents of the Study
The study utilized the 120 faculty members from the different universities in the Philippines for SY 2020-2021. Participants of this study were classified according to gender, type of residence, number of years in teaching, highest educational attainment, and department.
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Figure 1. The diagram shows the online teaching as influenced by teacher-related factors.
The distribution of the respondents according to different categories is reflected in Table 1.
4. Results of the Study
As shown in the Table 2, the results of online teaching of the respondents as an entire group and when categorized according to different categories such as gender (male and female), residence (rural and urban), number of years (10 years & below, 11 years - 20 years, and 21 years and above), age (30 years and below and 31 years & above), highest educational attainment (master’s & doctorate degrees), and areas of specialization (professional, business, general education)are “very high” as indicated by the following mean scores of 4.40, 4.46, 4.34, 4.36, 4.45, 4.51, 4.42, 4.19, 4.76, 4.36, 4.47, 4.30, 4.38, 4.35, and 4.56 respectively.
Differences in the Use of Online Teaching
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Table 1. Profile of the respondents.
Legend: Scale: Description; 4.21 - 5.0: Very High; 3.41 - 4.20: High; 2.61 - 3.40: Average; 1.81 - 2.60: Low; 1.00 - 1.80: Very Low.
Table 3 presents the t-test results of the level of assessment of online teaching using different EL (Electronic Learning) platforms of the respondents when grouped according to gender, residence, age, and highest educational attainment. Results revealed that there are no significant differences in the level of assessment on online teaching according to gender with t (118) value of −0.457 & p > 0.05, residence with t (118) value = −0.715 and p > 0.05, age with t (118) value = 0.665 & p < 0.05, and highest educational attainment with t (118) value = 0.882 & p < 0.05. Therefore, null hypotheses that state “there are no significant differences in the assessment of online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to different categories such as 1) gender, 2) type of residence, 3) age, and 4) highest educational attainment” are all accepted.
Data are shown in Table 3.
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Table 3. t-test results in the level of assessment of online teaching using different el when grouped according to gender, residence, age, and highest educational attainment.
p < 0.05.
ANOVA Results of Online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to Number of Years in Teaching
The ANOVA results in Table 4 indicated that the respondents did not differ significantly in their online teaching when classified according to number of years such as 10 years and below, 11 to 20 years, and 21 years and more as indicated by F (2, 117) = 1.48, p > 0.05.
ANOVA Results of Online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to Different Areas of Specialization
The ANOVA results in Table 5 revealed that no significant differences in the respondents’ areas of specialization when grouped according to marine/professional, business, and general education as reflected in the F (2, 117) = 1.828 with p > 0.05.
Qualitative Findings and Discussion
The researchers gathered the respondents’ views about online teaching, these views are centered on the three statements such as the following: challenging (35% of the respondents), enjoyable (35% also), and satisfying (30%) as indicated in Figure 2.
From the richness and thickness of the statements and views by the respondents, four (4) interesting themes emerged relative to comments on online teaching. These include: (1) helpful and good tool for students’ learning, innovative and appropriate teaching method/strategy, and need more time to explore/training, of which these ranked first, and followed by (2) improvement of the system.
Data are shown in Table 6.
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Figure 2. Respondents’ views of online teaching.
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Table 4. One-Away ANOVA Results of Online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to Number of Years in Teaching.
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Table 5. ANOVA when grouped according to areas.
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Table 6. Respondents’ comments about online teaching.
1) Helpful and Good tool for Students’ Learning
Interestingly, one of the themes emerged from the views of the respondents that online teaching is “helpful and good tool for students’ learning” as supported by the one of the statements of the respondents, which stated as “online is very helpful in the learning process of the students”.
Another respondent mentioned: “this modality should be embraced as this is the only appropriate and applicable tool for learning during this time of pandemic.”
One of the respondents’ comment “it is one of effective platforms for online teaching, it is good and easy to use, and making my preparations easier”.
Online teaching using JEL is crucial to the academic performance of the students. This may mirror the kind of teaching delivery that teacher would employ in his class. The use of this online platform-JEL is one of the indicators of the instructor’s adherence to attain standards of teaching in the university in the midst of this pandemic.
2) Innovative and Appropriate Teaching Method
Some people may state that the “teacher could be identified the way he teach,” it appears that the respondents considered this “Online teaching” as “innovative and appropriate teaching method.” Students find this method as appropriate and excellent for the sake of catering students’ needs in terms of learning in the university. The comments on online teaching as “innovative and appropriate teaching method” are supported by the following statements:
“very appropriate teaching method under this pandemic”;
“good innovation, it is easier to track the objectives of the lessons and quizzes”;
“user friendly, it is easy to access and provides relevant functions as needed”.
3) Need more time to explore/training
This theme was supported by the few statements such as:
“need more time to explore the JEL”;
“there was a difficult before due to some barriers in communication”;
“only applicable to those who are living in urban areas.
4) Improvement of the system
This comment is reflected by some of the respondents’ statements:
“the performance of JEL sometimes is not good”;
“sometimes, there is a system error”;
“maintenance of JEL should be scheduled during no class, exams, and activities.
Challenges of Online Teaching
The respondents shared the following challenges in dealing with online teaching: interrupted and unstable signal (f = 45, R = 1), technical issues (f = 25, R = 2), unpreparedness of users or teachers (f = 15, R = 3.5), and offline connection due to maintenance (f = 15, R = 3.5) as shown in Table 7 and Figure 3.
Data are shown in Table 7.
Suggestions in order to Improve Online Teaching
After processing all the qualitative suggestions of the respondents, majority agreed on the following with regards to the use of different online platforms in conducting online classes: 1) upgrading of the Internet (50%, R = 1), 2) training of the faculty members to further familiarize with EL (electronic learning) (30%, R = 2), and 3) monitoring of Internet connectivity (20%, R = 3) as shown in Table 8.
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Figure 3. Challenges of online teaching.
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Table 7. Challenges of online teaching.
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Table 8. Suggestions of the respondents in order to improve the online teaching.
5. Summary of Findings
This study revealed the following findings:
1) The results of online teaching of the respondents as an entire group and when categorized according to different categories such as gender (male and female), residence (rural and urban), number of years (10 years & below, 11 years - 20 years, and 21 years and above), age (30 years and below and 31 years & above), the highest educational attainment (master’s & doctorate degrees), and areas of specialization (professional, business, general education) are “very high”.
2) There are no significant differences in the assessment of online teaching when the respondents were grouped according to different categories such as a) gender, b) type of residence, c) age, and d) the highest educational attainment.
3) The views of the respondents about online teaching were: helpful and good tool for students’ learning, innovative and appropriate teaching method/strategy, and need more time to explore/training, of which these ranked first, and followed by improvement of the system.
4) The challenges in dealing with online teaching were the following: interrupted and unstable signal, technical issues, unpreparedness of users or teachers, and offline connection due to maintenance.
5) The qualitative suggestions of the respondents with regards to the use of different online platforms in conducting online classes were: upgrading of the Internet, training of the faculty members to further familiarize with EL (electronic learning), and monitoring of Internet connectivity.
6. Conclusion
Based on the findings of the study, the conclusions were advanced:
The very high results of the assessment of the respondents on online teaching using JEL were influenced by the concerns and aims of the administrations of the selected universities in helping the instructors in using this new method of teaching in the midst of pandemic.
The results on “no significant differences” existed in the assessment of online teaching using different EL platforms which means that categories of the respondents do not influenced the favorable level of assessment of the instructors. It means further that male and female instructors considered this “electronic online platform” as a new method of teaching and very useful to them to deliver the intended-learning objectives (ILO) and achieve the objectives of their lessons through their teaching-methods.
7. Recommendations
After analyzing and interpreting the results of the data and framing the conclusions of this particular study, the researchers would suggest the following:
1) The administrators of the universities involved in this study should sustain the favorable results of assessment of online teaching using the JEL by the instructors.
2) Qualitative statements and views of the respondents should have course of action in order to improve the delivery of online teaching of the instructors.
3) The results of this study should be discussed in the academic council meetings in order to improve the online-instructional delivery of the faculty members.
4) The suggestions and recommendations of the faculty members should also be part of the academic course of action.
5) The researchers suggested for parallel studies to determine the other factors that influenced online teaching, which are not included in this present study.