REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

I. Related Literature

A. The Effect of Pandemic throughout the Globe

Starting of March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the

Corona virus as a pandemic. It only means that the virus is spreading in most of the

countries around the world. UNESCO (2020) in their recent report revealed

“Governments in 61 countries have announced or implemented the closure of

educational institutions in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease” According to

UNESCO, over 39 countries have closed schools, colleges and universities, which has

impacted over 420 million children and youth.

According to the study of Jaspreet Singh “Covid-19 and its impact on Society”

2020, there is a big shift in the world economic market and the share market has

witnessed crashes day by day. It is mentioned that many sectors of each country were

shut down. The movement of the people was limited because of fear of the spreading

virus. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also

revealed that they cut their expectation for global growth to 2.4% from 2.9%, and

warned that it could fall as low as 1.5%. Their study concluded that The Pandemic of

Corona virus is severely impacting the life of the individuals. Everyone in the world is

directly or indirectly facing the severe consequences of this virus. Many countries have

declared unprecedented lockdowns and emergency. The Schools, Colleges,

Universities, Pubs Market, Mall, Shopping Complex etc. are shut down by the

Governments. It has created an environment of fear, anxiety and stress among the

developed and developing societies.

 In the study of BÖRKE TUNALI (“The effect of the covid-19 pandemic on

economic growth” it was mentioned that Given low global interest rates, the probability

of inducing an increase in the supply and Tunali demand through monetary policy

decreases, thus restricting the range of effective policy tools to alleviate the pandemic’s

negative economic effects. It was included in the study that COVID-19 is likely to lead to

severe contracted economic growth rates in most nations if the necessary economic

measures are not implemented effectively and on time.

Aside from the World’s economy, the Pandemic also affected one sector of the

society, the Education. According to the study of Jose Z Tria “The COVID-19 Pandemic

through the Lens of Education in the Philippines: The New Normal” 2020, it was

mentioned that within the new normal, the situation presents a unique challenge to

every educational leader’s decision-making process. According to UNESCO (2020) for

almost two pandemic months, most countries around the world have temporarily closed

educational institutions to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce

infections. This closure has affected more than 1.2 billion learners worldwide with more

than 28 million learners in the Philippines. Crawford et. Al., 2020 said that students and

teachers have to study and work from home which resulted to the delivery of online

learning platforms was led by the responses of several countries to the community

lockdowns and quarantine. Tria, 2020 said “we all are staying in our homes due to the

lockdown policy implemented by the government. However, learning should not halt.”

Several countries worldwide have presented different solution during the pandemic to

continue the education process – the introduction of distance learning. These are online

learning platforms such as Google, TV broadcasts, guidelines, resources, video lectures

and online channels were introduced (UNESCO, 2020). With schools to re-open its

doors the following school year, it’s vital to plan how schools will be able to pursue their

mission of implementing quality education to every student (Tria, 2020). As school is a

public place where crowd is unavoidable and children are vulnerable, there is a need to

strengthen policy in terms of the delivery of instruction - to provide opportunities for

online learning platforms (Tria, 2020). The Commission on Higher Education suggested

to strengthen online platforms and blended learning such as but not limited to google

classroom, messenger, zoom, edmodo, Facebook and YouTube (CHED, 2020). In

addition, both will adopt numerous learning delivery options such as but not limited to

face-to-face, blended learnings, distance learnings, and home-schooling and other

modes of delivery (CHED, 2020; DepEd, 2020). The Study of Tria 2020 concluded that

the pandemic’s most affected sector is the Education (Tria, 2020). Tria recommends

that the opportunity and challenges presented should be grasped and taken a serious

concern. The challenge herewith is on how to provide and deliver quality education

amidst exceptional times, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and on what extent are people

going to become prepared when another crisis comes in the future (Tria, 2020).

B. Effects of Global Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of people’s lives since the

start of it. It has not only impacted society in terms of economical, psychological and

social aspects but also the educational aspect up to a certain extent (Rotas & Cahapay,

2020). After it was declared a pandemic in December 2019, it led to schools and

universities closing in order to curb the spread of the virus. Traditional face-to-face

learning methods were not plausible and alternative measures were used such as
distance learning, online teaching, blended learning otherwise collectively known as

emergency remote education (ERE). A temporary alteration to the mode of instruction

as a crisis has occurred in order for educators to still provide instructions to the students

amidst the crisis (Hodges et al., 2020).

With universities and schools closing, the budget allocated for the education

sector will differ from its pre-pandemic to its post-pandemic as priorities are shifted

because of the crisis. In a study done by UNESCO (2019), results show that high-

income countries on average were spending about 43 times the amount on the

education of a primary-school-aged child as that of its low-income country counterpart

which can be related to all levels of education and not just primary schools.

Adding to that according to UNICEF (2020), the number of learners that are

affected by the pandemic is counted at around 1.5 billion due to schools and universities

closing. It has since then put the students out of proportion. As such when the provision

of education is a basic human right, the educational institutions of the world were once

again tasked to provide alternatives in order continue the educational effort. As stated in

the study done by Buzkurt & Sharma (2020) current events has revealed how

vulnerable and unprepared the educational system with the rise of current events.

In the context of the Philippines, after the declaring statement of Pres. Rodrigo

Duterte which was “no vaccine, no face-to-face classes”, Commission on Higher

Education (CHED) gave directives to universities to prepare for distance learning which

proved to be challenging as few months have passed since the order was given (Mateo,

2020). Remote or distance learning revealed the digital gap that is present between the
Filipino students (Santos, 2020). The situation got more complicated as not all students

can adapt and provide with the technological advances of today (Alvarez, 2020).

One of the consequences brought about by the current events is a poor learning

environment given the limited interactions and feedback between the student and the

teacher has proven to be detrimental for the students to engage in remote learning. This

difficulty has been revealed repeatedly among the students’ responses. Such that in

establishing a conductive and positive learning space has been a long problem in

distance learning most especially in poor households (Baticulon et al., 2020). If the

problem occurs, it would put the study productivity and the utmost focus of the students

at risk (Chang & Fang, 2020). With the sudden change of the mode of learning amidst

the health crisis has miss the unconducive learning environment by which may affect

the performance of the students. Furthermore, the students have also voiced out the

conflicts of the remote learning schedules with their household responsibilities. This

interference normally happens in remote learning as the students need to do the chores

in their respective homes. This problem can influence the academic performance of

university students as shown in previous studies where the involvement of the students

in household responsibilities affect their academic achievement negatively [CITATION

Ama18 \l 1033 ]

C. Factors Affecting the Performance of Students in School

The students’ academic performance plays an important role in creating the best

students who will someday be of service to particular country, consequently responsible

for the country’s social and economic development. Performance of students is affected

by psychological, economic, social, personal and environmental factors. Though these

factors strongly influence the performance of the students, but these factors differ from

country to country and person to person [CITATION Sin16 \l 1033 ]. Among these factors are

geographic location, internet connectivity, and sex. These three factors play an

important role, especially nowadays, amidst the pandemic, which has resulted to

distant-learning.

According to a study by Olufemi et al., Academic achievement is one of the major

factors looked upon by employers in hiring workers. This is why students have to exert

the greatest effort in their academics to obtain high or good grades. This also helps

them prepare themselves for the future obstacles, as well as preparing to fulfil their

future employers’ demands. The academic performance of the students also rely on a

various socioeconomic variables like students’ participation in the class, family pay, and

teacher-student ratio, presence of qualified teachers in school and gender of the

student. As previously stated, gender is one of the factors that influence and affect

academic performance.

As mentioned in the study of Menudeev (2016), gender has been one of the

variables, particularly personal, that have been related to the differences found in

motivational functioning and academic achievement. Different researches have

demonstrated the existence of different attribution patterns in boys and girls. It stated

that girls have a tendency to to give more importance to effort when explaining or

amplifying their performance while boys lean toward reasoning ability as reason of their

academic achievement. Many researches have concluded that girls usually make

external acknowledgments for successes and failures, and that when they make internal

acknowledgments, these refer not to effort, but to ability. Meanwhile, boys usually point
successes to stable internal reasons like effort, thus showing an ascription pattern

which allows them to improve their own perspective of themselves.

According to a study by Kakkar et al., (2016) the internet is becoming a widely

accepted channel for information exchange and networking. It is widely growing and

developing. It is also used by various people from all over the world. The benefits of the

internet have been widely researched. These benefits include making vacation plans,

keeping in touch with friends, managing finances, helping with educational aspects and

requirements etc. Along with the positive effects of the internet, it also poses negative

effects due to excessive usage. The Internet provides a constant, ever-changing source

of information and entertainment. It can be accessed from most smart phones as well

as tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. The study of Kakkar et al., (2016) revealed

that there was a significant effect of internet usage on academic performance.

As stated in a study by Ismail et al., (2018), millions of students from around the

world belong to the network generation. Students can travel around the world with the

click of a mouse or even at the command of their voice. A study by Irfan Mushtaq &

Shabana Nawaz Khan showed that one of the internal class factors that have a great

influence on academic performance is the technology used in classroom and exam

systems. According to a study by P. R. Burden and D. M. Byrd (2015), students prefer

interactive learning. This type of learning highlights the innovative approach which

includes learning discovery, student-oriented, manipulated materials, videotapes, slides,

computer-assisted instruction. The advance of technological support emphasized that

combined learning rapidly evolves as an alternative to teaching and learning in higher

education, which in turn positively contributes to distance education.

 With accordance to the study by Pastor (2020), Internet connectivity in Northern

Luzon such as Pangasinan may not provide what is needed for synchronous distance

education. The messaging application, Messenger, is utilized by most students to

access group chats or pages for academic purposes. The messenger application allows

android users to access it with free-data or non-paid internet subscriptions. This may

contribute to the response of the students since not all students have access to the

internet. Students’ geographic location is also a great factor since some students reside

in places where internet connectivity is still an issue. According to Ookla's Speedtest

Global Index as of November 2020, the Philippines ranks 110th out of 139 countries in

terms of mobile data speed, having an average of 18.49 megabits per second (Mbps)

as compared to November 2019's record of 17.15 Mbps. According to Speedtest Global

Index for January 2021, the Philippines garnered a -4% fixed speed change and a +4%

mobile speed change.

As stated in a study by Pastor (2020), Students’ geographic location is also a

great factor which affects internet connection since some students reside in places

where internet connectivity is still an issue.

Whitacre et al. (2015) stated that the metropolitan–non-metropolitan gap has

been steady at 12–13 percentage points although total residential broadband adoption

rates have amplified intensely over the past decade. Policy prescriptions to address this

problem have concentrated on either increasing broadband supply, usually via funding

for infrastructure, or demand such as educational efforts and determinations about why

broadband is convenient in rural areas. Decomposition results illustrate that metro —

non-metro differences in infrastructure comprised 38% of the 2011 adoption gap.

 According to a study by Riddlesden & Singleton (2014), the accessibility,

availability, and performance of broadband connectivity are becoming progressively

significant issue across much of the advanced world. The varied geography of

broadband infrastructure and investments results in variable service facility and

provision, and as such, there occur large inconsistencies in access and performance

within different spatial-temporal places and locations.

In a study by Adnan and Anwar (2020), the authors found that in underdeveloped

countries like Pakistan, online classes cannot yield anticipated academic performance,

since most students are unable to gain access to the Internet. According to Cooper &

Gallagher (2016), rural and urban divide still exists until today even though both the

former and latter have analogous percentage of people connected to the internet. For

rural areas, the rate of high-speed penetration lags behind hose in urban and suburban

areas.

D. Geographic Location as a Factor in the Academic Performance of Students

in Distance Learning

Geographic location can be a factor in a student’s academic performance. A

study from Mexico by Arturo Realyvásquez-Vargas and his colleagues entitled “The

Impact of Environmental Factors on Academic Performance of University Students

Taking Online Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico” considered three

factors that could affect the students’ academic performance: Lighting noise and

temperature. Siddiqui, T.M (2016) found that students may be exposed to ergonomic

risks caused by environmental or geographical factors. Cochran Hameen et al. (2020)

mentioned a connection among Academic performance, young students’ health, and the
interior environment quality of their schools. Zhong et al.(2019) mentioned that the

shortfall of natural air, or being presented to incredibly hot, cool, dry, moist conditions,

loud noise, even a quiet room, and splendid or dull lighting, can adversely influence

students’ academic performance and attendance in their online classes. The past data

uncovered that understudies can be presented to uncomfortable and risky conditions in

online classrooms, and their scholastic presentation might be thusly influenced.

Oselumese et al. (2016) mentioned that poor lighting leads to discomfort and poor

academic performance. Bhang et al. (2018) analyzed how high-pitched noise impacted

on the students’ cognitive functions, which is linked to students’ learning performance.

López-Chao et al. (2019) mentioned that low-temperature levels tend to distract

students and make them more alert, which increases their nervous activity preparing the

mind for action. On the other hand, hot environments negatively affect their

performance in comparison with thermally neutral environments. The study of

Realyvásquez-Vargas concluded that the variables mention consequently affects the

students’ academic performance, concentration, and comfort.

Poor internet connections due to geographic location can also affect’s students’

academic performance. Adnan and Anwar (2020) studied the attitudes of college

students in Pakistan towards online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The

authors surveyed undergraduate and postgraduate students. Students’ perspectives

showed that, in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan, online classes cannot produce

desired academic performance, since most students are unable to access the Internet.

Moreover, these authors discovered that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students face

other problems, such as response time, absence of traditional classroom socialization,

and lack of face-to-face interaction with the instructor. It was also included that Students

who access the internet through smartphones are unable to take advantage of online

learning because a significant amount of online content is not accessible via

smartphones. In comparison with the study of Cooper & Gallagher (2016), this rural and

urban divide exists today even though both have a similar percentage of households

connected to the Internet. Nonetheless the rate of high-speed penetration for rural

areas lags behind those in urban and suburban areas. Many scholars hypothesize that

high-speed Internet users are better able to make use of the Internet and hence gain

more value when performing critical day-to-day activities, as opposed to those with dial-

up access who are left behind in terms of efficiency and capability (Dewan & Riggins,

2017).

In the study of Keith Hampton and his colleagues “BROADBAND AND

STUDENT PERFORMANCE GAPS” 2020, they found out that High-speed home

Internet access is less common in rural areas, because rural areas are less likely to

have an infrastructure to provide broadband Internet access. Students who lack Internet

access at home are more likely to be living in rural, low-income, and children of parents

who do not have a university degree. In their findings, 53% of students who live in

small-town or rural areas have high-speed Internet access compared to 77% of those

who live in suburbs, and 70% of those in cities. Also, they found out that 9% of students

in rural areas, 6% in small towns, 4% in suburbs, and 5% in cities have no Internet

access at all. Their study has come to a conclusion that high-speed internet is important

for education.
 E. Relation between geographic location and quality of internet speed

connection

According to the statistics of United Nation’s Population Division (2016) 1, it was

estimated that almost half of the global population is in the rural areas. Moreover, in

2005, the majority of global population shifted from rural to urban area. Thus,

development efforts made in the remote and rural areas are efforts to improve the lives

of the majority of the people, and affordable broadband access should be one of key

elements which create an enabling environment in such areas.

According to the case study of International Telecommunication-D(ITU-D) Study

Group entitled” Broadband Situations in Rural and Remote Areas “broadband

penetration in developing countries is by far worst in the rural and remote areas.

Connectivity for individual residents and households is achieved by 2G/2.5G mobile

services for basic voice and short messages, etc. in rural and remote areas of Least

Developed Countries. Real situation of the rural and remote areas in developing

countries by far different from that of developed or average developing one. The

definition of rural and remote areas given by the report of ITU-D is that rural and remote

areas are away from large cities or towns and mostly not heavily populated in

comparison with urban and suburban areas. In some countries, such areas are defined

as areas which have population less than 2500. Their study found out that from the 12-

year long comparisons of project applications and technologies used that importance of

applications has not changed much to the people in rural and remote areas even though

the technology or access method has been changed. This only means that when

planning rural and remote area Broadband development, a long term view is essential
even though popular words and individual products may change in several years. The

development and maintenance of high-speed telecommunications networks in rural and

remote areas is the long-term consistent effort to help development in the rural and

remote areas.

Internet speed refers to the amount of data and information that can be

transferred to the web on a single connection in any given time. It is the biggest one to

consider in choosing the internet service provider (ISP) to subscribe to as it is the factor

that determines as to how fast a person can do the tasks online. The only question is

how many of those assigned task can the network handle at a single time (Sheehan,

2019). When the user changes locations, this result to variations in terms of signal

strength as it depends on the wireless coverage area provided by ISPs (Traficom,

2020). The Wireless Network Coverage is defined as the scope or the range of the area

wherein wireless signals are transmitted. The principle behind this can be explained

through the movement of sound energy by which the further away from the source, the

less detectable the sound becomes. In addition to that, any form of obstructions may

cause the sound to be less detectable as it causes interference. Wireless signal can be

thought of the same way. The signals are only strong as long as it is within a definite

boundary and outside of that boundary, the strength of the signal changes significantly

(Wireless Network Coverage: Definition & Limitations, 2019).

Internet speed is one of the biggest considerations when choosing an internet

service provider. It determines not only how quickly you can perform tasks online, but

how many of those tasks your network can handle at a single time. Unless you’re living

solo and only browsing Facebook, you might need more than the minimum speed.
Internet connection is significantly related to location, as well. If the user changes

locations, the speed may change because the signal varies depending on the coverage

area. If you have mobile broadband at home, you can check your operator's coverage

map to see how far you are from the base station.

Wireless network coverage is defined as the extent of the area to which the

wireless signals are transmitted. Let's compare this to sound energy. The further away

you are from the source, the less audible the sound becomes. In addition, you may be

within audible range of the sound but some form of obstruction (earplugs or a

soundproof barrier or another louder noise) may also make the sound source inaudible

to you. In the same way, wireless signals are strong within a certain physical parameter

and beyond that parameter, the signal strength significantly weakens. This leads to

slowing or an intermittent or total break in network connectivity.

F. Internet and Its Importance particularly in this New Normal

The internet is seen by the students as a source for general knowledge and

through that source it led to the improvement of their reading habits and academic

performance. At times, it is used by the teachers as additional learning materials and

has led to improvements in their achievement (Siraj, 2015).

The learning process using the internet is seen as a means in improving

accessibility, efficiency and quality of learning by easing access to resources and

services as well as remote exchanges and collaboration (Kamba, 2009). In the Nigerian

context, people have ascribed calm attribute to reading which piles up in the students’

mass failure in examinations in the use of the internet (Alakpodia, 2010). The infinite
information that the internet provides can offer access contemporary research and

global knowledge by which it has become a paramount part of electronic services in

academic institutions. In other words, the internet became an important tool for learning,

teaching and research in Nigeria (Nwokedi, 2007).

The results in the study Ogedebe (2012) states that around 79% of the

respondents have accepted the improvement of their academic performance through

the use of the internet, 13% of the respondents have believed otherwise, and 8% did

not respond to the question. It is also revealed that around 65% of the respondents

were tech-savvy, 29% of them were not, and the remaining 6% have left the question

unanswered. The study expounded that 8% of the respondents credit the improvement

of their GPA results towards the internet, 6% have agreed that their GPA lowered, 28%

of them responded that it helped in their preparation for CA and semester examinations

and 22% were not concerned of the options and did not respond.

Students having access to the internet has a positive influence on their academic

performance. However, other uses for the internet aside for educational purposes do

not influence their performance. Therefore, the study has concluded that the difference

of internet sources to students does not grant them all immediate access to those

resources (Yeboowah, 2018). Several studies (e.g Adedotun, 2015; Akende & Bamis,

2017) state that having access to information can influence the achievement of the

students. It helps the student to expand their knowledge, research and assignments

through the worldwide access of information. Not only that, communication with the

academic community has also improved (Siraj, et al., 2015). Yesilyurt et al. (2014) has

argued that when it comes to having access to a personal computer and a stable
internet connection contributes to the student’s academic achievement and also the

self-learning skills.

Despite the significance of internet usage to students’ academic performance, its

negative impacts are various. Some students use the internet for non-academic

purposes such as gaming and social networking, thus culminating in loss of study

schedules (Singh et al., 2013). Besides, students use the internet for leisure rather than

educational purposes (Olatokun, 2008; Ngoumandjoka, 2012) and this can lead to fallen

academic standards. The internet can be a bad tool for higher academic achievement if

only its usage is not controlled (Mami and Hatami-Zad, 2014). Recent studies (e.g.,

Mami and Hatami-Zad, 2014; Torres-Diaz et al., 2016; Carter, 2016) have found that a

balance use of the internet leads to greater academic success among students.

University students have control over the use of internet which has greatly reflected in

their academic performance (Sahin et al., 2010).

G. Effects of Internet Connection in the Academic Performance

Common methods of internet access include dial-up, land-line (over coaxial

cable, fibre optic or copper wires). Places of access to the internet include libraries,

internet cafes and various places where computer with internet connections are

available. The benefits of internet to academic community as, quick, global and

convenient access and exchange of information with experienced and expert in any

field; Easy dissemination of research findings, Enhanced collaborative research and

other activities, Ability to use some software and expand the capability of one’s

competences.
 Kuh and Hu suggested that using the internet has a strong relationship with an

overall measure of student’s engagement. In a study of “best wired campuses”

(institutes that have made large investments in technology), students reported slightly

more numerous contacts with faculty and participated more in active learning activities

compare with their counterparts attending less wired campuses. The results pointed out

to a positive link between information technology and engagement in effective

educational practises. Laird and Kuh in their study of use of data of the National Survey

of Students’ Engagement (NSSE) in Indiana University Bloomington to investigate the

relationship between students use of the internet and other forms of student’s

engagement, found a strong positive relationship between using the internet for

educational practises such as active and collaborative learning and student faculty

interaction.

Internet as affirmed by Awoleye, Siyanbola and Oladapo is used for information

development, enhances easy communication, improves academic performances, used

as a research tool, provides solution to assignments, gives information on entertainment

and education and a source of scholarship. Recently, Oyedun [4] conducted a study on

the level of internet use in the library of Federal University of Technology, Minna and

observed that most of the respondents claim that through the internet services in the

library, they have improved considerably in their academic performance.

Anasi investigated the pattern of internet use by undergraduates at the University

of Lagos, main campus, Akoka, Lagos. She discovered that even though the level of

internet use was low among undergraduates from both the faculty of law and education,

the study showed that internet use has a very high impact on the academic/career
related activities of the students. Internet appearance in higher education was used as a

tool for researchers to communicate and share project data [1]. The use of internet (if

maximized) plays a major role in helping undergraduate researcher’s access large

number of materials from different parts of the world [36]. With its advent, lecturers and

students can work together without physical interaction between each other and achieve

the same objective with that of traditional way of studying in the higher institution.

Lecturers exchange ideas and communicate effectively since teaching, learning and

research is now made easy with the internet.

H. Reasons for Unavailability of Internet/ Challenges in Accessing Internet

As stated in the study of Riddlesden &Singleton (2014), the availability,

accessibility, and performance of broadband connectivity are becoming increasingly

significant matters across the world as the prevalence of better-off media services and

increasing populations have produced increasing demands on current networks. Dutton

and Blank (2013), stated that within developed countries, access to the Internet in urban

areas is mainly accessible in the home and enabled through wired broadband

infrastructure.

According to Riddlesden & Singleton (2014), geographic inconsistencies in

access and performance exist in part because of the physical structure of broadband

networks. According to Ofcom (2013), performance is affected by the distance or line

length between a client's home and the nearest telephone exchange. Same effect

applies that distance to the nearest exchange is frequently used as a substitute for

deliverable speed. Distance has an immensely restraining effect on service provision

within rural areas due to meagre distribution of both populations and core network
infrastructure such as exchanges and backbone networks; as such, large disparities in

broadband performance exist between urban and rural areas. Similar limitations of

cellular networks also exist as a result of rurality, with mobile broadband coverage being

often poor in isolated areas. Thus, you may have urban areas with populations that are

normally digitally involved, yet materially deprived, or inversely, urban areas with low

digital engagement, but also low levels of material deprivation.

i. Relationship of Sex Orientation to Academic Performance of Students

According to DiPrete & Buchmann (2016), female students commonly make

better grades than their male counterparts. With this, teachers rate them as having

better aptitudes and skills. The female advantage in academic performance is so

established that some critics refer to schools as “feminized,” because they view schools

as promoting and rewarding potentials that are more common among female students

than male students. Women receive some benefits due to their strong academic

performance across levels of education according to existing researches.

Consequences in the labour market differ in men and women in relation to their

academic performance. Men have almost the same results regardless of their

achievement. For example, men with a C+ average are called back at about the same

rate as their A-average counterparts. However, women’s achievement has an inverted

U-shaped effect. Women with moderate and reasonable achievement receive more call-

backs than do women with low achievement, but this advantage does not extend to

high-achieving women. Subsequently, high-achieving men are called back considerably

more often than high-achieving women which falls at a rate of nearly 2-to-1. 
Students’ preparation for the labour market is an indication of their academic

performance. High grades indicate that students have skills employers’ value. On the

other hand, low grades indicate that students may pose a risk to the company if they are

hired.

Gender shapes many insights that are routinely made in social interactions.

However, research shows that gender is particularly salient in the judgment of others’

competence. For example, men are generally assumed to be more competent and more

capable than women. A lot of employers perceive women to be rated as less competent

than similarly-situated men in hiring. This situation can lead to fewer interviews and job

offers, lower starting salaries, and fewer promotions to managerial positions for women.

The worse employment outcomes apply to women than men because they are viewed

as less prepared to do their jobs well and they are not capable enough.

Voyer and Voyer (2016) conducted a research from 1914 through 2014 using a

meta-analytic model. They found out a minor but significant female advantage that was

largest for language courses and smallest for math and science. In this manner, they

stated, “Although gender differences follow essentially stereotypical patterns on

achievement tests, for whatever reasons, females generally have the advantage on

school marks regardless of the material.” This implies that educators observe a

tendency from the part of women to excel in scientific subjects that require logic and

reasoning despite of the stereotypical belief that boys perform better than girls in tests

as far as logical reasoning is concerned.

ii. Related Studies

A study by Mohammed Abdullahi Jibrin and his Colleagues titled “Effects of Internet

on the Academic Performance of Tertiary Institutions’ Students In Niger State, Nigeria”

investigated the effects of internet on the academic performance of students in tertiary

institutions within Niger state, Nigeria. Five research questions were formulated to guide

the study. The study also revealed some of the problems encountered in the usage of

internet which include slow internet speed. It was mentioned that in the today’s world,

the Internet plays a vital role in the teaching, research and learning process in academic

Institutions. Amaoge and Igwebuike (2016) believe that the internet has increasingly

become an invariable asset in education in terms of learning, teaching and research.

The use of internet in the tertiary institutions is an exciting prospect especially when the

rugged terrain is the significant impediment to obtain information for the vast majority of

people.

In the study of Mohammed Abdullahi Jibrin and his Colleagues, participants were

asked how frequent they make use of internet for academic activities. The results

showed that (21%) of the respondents make use of the internet every day. This is

followed by (15%) of the respondents who make use of the internet in 0-4 days a week.

11% of the respondents use the internet for 0-2days a week, (19%) of the respondent

make use of the internet for at least 3 to 6 hours in a week and (13%) uses the internet

for at least 2hours a week. Their study also revealed that majority of the respondents

63% accepted that the internet is very useful as it improves their academic

performance; also 30% of the respondents point out that internet is useful as it makes

academic activities much easier for them. Only 6% of the respondents said that the
internet makes academic activities difficult and also 3% of the respondents indicated

decreased in academic performance. Respondents were asked on the problems they

encounter when using the internet services. Their study also showed that majority of the

respondents (53%) indicated the problem of power failure, (21%) of the respondents

reported that they encountered the problem of slow internet speed, (8%) had poor

computer skills, and (10%) had the problem of inadequate numbers of personal

computers. Their study came to a conclusion that. The study reveals that internet has

great influence on the academic performance of students in these tertiary institutions.

The study conducted by Ivwighreghwerta and Igere (2014) investigates the

impact of the internet on the academic performance of the students in selected

institutions in Nigeria. The results of the study shows that around 88% of the

respondents were computer literate and 12% were not. This concludes that most of the

students were computer literate. As such the result coincides with the study conducted

by Ogedebe (2012) which also states that around 65% of the respondents were

computer literate and 29% were otherwise. The results further reveal that around 47%

of the students access the internet through Cyber Cafés, 22% access the internet at

home, 19% access the internet from the library. These results conform with the study of

Jagboro (2004) who declared that around 45.2% of the students are connected to the

internet at the university cyber café and only 8.2% use the library to access the internet.

Further results show that majority of the respondents (46%) use the internet for relevant

learning materials, 17% use the internet for sending and receiving emails and 12 % use

it for self-update. Lastly, the students also revealed the challenges that they have faced

in gaining access to the internet were power outages (31%) which was the most
mentioned and coincides with the study of Udende and Azeez (2010) who stated that

around 47% of their respondents face general power outage in the country that greatly

affects them from accessing the internet, slow internet speeds (18%), insufficient

computers (16%), information overload (12%), non-technical staff (9%), lack of

computer terminals (8%), and irrelevant information (6%).

According to a study by Tria (2020), the new normal situation presents a

distinctive challenge to every single educational leader’s decision-making process.

Hence, to maintain and sustain the delivery of quality and clarity of instruction to every

school, the study resulted to the presentation of opportunities for responding issues,

problems and trends that are arising and will arise in the future due to COVID-19

pandemic. It includes the strengthening of online platforms which has introduced

distance learning, wherein students can learn via online learning platforms such as

google, TV broadcasts, guidelines, resources, video lectures and online channels.

There is a need to strengthen policy in terms of the delivery of instruction as to provide

opportunities for online learning platforms since school is a public place where crowd is

unavoidable and children are vulnerable, thus, posing a great risk to exposure to

infection. The transition from traditional to the new normal, from the four corners of the

classroom to the borders of virtual reality, every learning organization needs to study

how successful online learning is in providing quality education and outcomes-based

education to students (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020). Results of the study showed that

schools at all levels need to address these concerns and sensibly assess plans and

measures on the implementation of the new normal although the challenge herewith is

on how to provide and deliver quality education amidst these exceptional times of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and on what extent are we going to become prepared when

another crisis comes in the future.

Distance education, as defined by Moore and Kearsley (2014), is teaching and

planned learning in separate spaces that require communication through technologies

and special institutional organizations. A study by Lou, Robinson and Detwitler (2016)

titled “The Effect of Geographic Distance on Distance Education: An Empirical Study”

investigated the effect of geographic distance on students’ learning experience in an

online master’s degree program in Geographic Information Systems (MGIS). The MGIS

program is offered by the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), a large public research

university in the north-eastern region of the United States. The study of Lou, Robinson

and Detwitler (2016) included the age, gender, Prior online learning experience, self-

regulation, previous academic achievement as factors affecting performance. Results

showed that Geographical distance is not a significant predictor for, and the addition of

geographical distance in the regression model does not increase the total variance that

can be predicted. It only means that geographic distance does not have a significant

impact on students’ online learning performance. It was also found out that

Geographical distance is also correlated with gender at a significant level, showing

more women than men tend to take the MGIS program at larger distance. The three

hypothesis that was introduce in the study were all rejected and it only suggests that

geographic distance does not matter since it has no significant impact on students’

online learning performance, satisfaction, and the length of time to complete the

program.
 Perkowski (2012) in his study, he performed a meta-analytic review in order to

determine the relationship between the gender and two constructs which measures the

accomplishment in distance learning –academic performance and self-efficacy- along

with the specific interest in identifying whether it is the males or females are the ones

who have the advantage in a distance learning setting. The data acquired from 15

studies resulted to 18 effect sizes for the aggregation and comparison wherein 9 of

those effect sizes have attributed to the academic performance and the other 9 for self-

efficacy. The aggregate effects for academic performance and self-efficacy were both

found to be significant (d = .36, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = .25-.46, p < .001; d = .

22, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = .04-.41, p < .05) and were small, or small to medium

respectively. The academic performance effect sizes were found out not significantly

heterogeneous, but as for the self-efficacy were otherwise heterogeneous. The

exploratory analyses show that the combined modes of learning both from online and

face-to-face reciprocity have moderated the effect of gender in terms of self-efficacy.

Results have indicated a significant relationship between self-efficacy and the

participants of the study coming from Asia versus Europe and the United States. These

significant relationships were evident only in fixed-effects model. The results of the

study shows that the females perform better in terms of academic performance and self-

efficacy in an online-learning setting than the males.

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