ABSTRACT

As the world faces a global health crisis caused by COVID-19,

everything abruptly changed and transitioned from a traditional way to an

electronic mode of living. From lifestyle, corporate or academic, the pandemic

made most, if not all, grow accustomed with social media and different online

platforms to pull through with their daily lives. As expected, the country’s higher

education institutions were forced to shift from face-to-face to distance learning

like online education, hurdles starts to surface as many public institutions.

Especially in developing countries, often do not have access to formal online

learning management systems (LMS) for facilitating communication with students

and/or among faculty members. The research aims to assess the impact and the

role of social media mainly used as an educational tool to the academic

performance of selected fourth-year class of Gensantos Foundation College Inc.

during the pandemic. In other to measure social media platforms, a questionnaire

was developed based on past literature. The independent variables includes

Time Appropriateness, Time Duration, Nature of Usage, Accessibility,

Advantages and Disadvantages, Readiness/Preparedness, and

Challenges/Problems while the dependent variable was Student Academic

Performance. The whole population of the Bachelor of Science major in

Accounting Technology 2020-2021 fourth-year class are the selected

respondents of the study whether well-versed or not with social media

applications readily available online and the technology used to facilitate the

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online classes. During the pandemic, social media applications bridge the gap

created by COVID-19.

Undoubtedly, in social networks, there are also things useful for the

development of the students. Also, communication with peers through social

networks can help a student socialize, find new friends, discuss with them issues

related to studies. Thus considering the abnormal use of Social media platforms

by students, it is expedient that universities and colleges in the country educate

their students to positively maximize the usage of these platforms for educational

purposes which will eventually result in a positive impact on their academic

performance.

Keywords: Covid-19, Social Media, Distance Learning, Learning Management

Systems (LMS), Social networks.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Foremost, the researchers are very grateful to GOD Almighty for without

His graces and blessings, this study would not have been possible.

Immeasurable appreciation and deepest gratitude for the help and support are

extended to the following persons who in one way or another have contributed to

make this study possible.

To our ever-supportive family and loved ones, who always believed in us

and never failed to comfort us when time gets tough. You’re our blanket that

warms the heart and fires the motivation in every of our Soul.

To the Department Head, Mr. Jufel Tamala, CPA MBA of Bachelor of

Science major in Accounting Technology for his support and words of

encouragement that helps the researchers to start this study.

To Mr. Reynaldo L. Colegado, LPT, subject adviser for the guidance and

valuable comments, suggestions, and motivating words that benefited much in

the completion and success of this study.

To Mr. Roma Dela Fuente LPT, for the insightful comments and for

extending his expertise by helping out with no hesitation on very short notice.

Lastly, to the members of this study who contributed and gave every of

their best foot forward to complete the task and workload assigned to them, this

study would never be a success without each one. This is an embodiment of a

true group effort and it’s an honor to be working with you.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Cover Page

Thesis Abstract i

Acknowledgement iii

Table of Contents iv

List of Figures vi

List of Tables vi

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

The Problem and its Setting 1

Statement of the Problem 3

Scope and Delimitation 5

Significance of the Study 5

Definition of Terms 6

Chapter 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 10

Brief History of COVID-10 Pandemic 10

Distance Learning 12

Six Common Types of Distance Education 14

Social media 17

Social Network 19

Learning with Social Media 21

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 Positive effects of social media to the student’s academic

performance 23

Negative effects of social media to the student’s academic

performance 24

Social Media Usage in Higher Education 26

Benefit of using social media as an educational tool 28

Challenges faced when using social medial as educational tool 31

Conceptual Framework 33

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 35

Research Design 35

Research Respondents 35

Research Instrument 36

Data Gathering Procedure 36

Data Analysis 37

BIBLIOGRAPHY 38

APPENDICES 44

GRAMMARIAN’S CERTIFICATE 45

DOCUMENTATION 46

CURRICULUM VITAE 48

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Most popular social networks worldwide as of October 2020,

ranked by number of active users (in millions) 19

Figure 2.2: The Conceptual Paradigm of the study 34

Figure 3.1: Percentage Distribution of Respondents 36

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Distribution of Respondents 36

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