Diocese of Imus Catholic Educational System, Inc.

(DICES)

HOLY FAMILY ACADEMY OF GMA, INC.

Congressional Road Brgy. Poblacion 5 General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite

COMMON PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Prepared by:

Jillian Dionela

Julie Ann Espino

Karen Cagas

Prepared for:
Ms. Vhia Layaban Alcantara

February 08, 2021

 INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus pandemic has rewritten the syllabus for the 2020-2021
school year. Teachers are facing formidable challenges, whether
educating students in masked-up, socially distant classrooms or virtually,
from computer screens. Schools have been forced to close the doors in
response to the growing coronavirus outbreak and switch classes to
online
learning to keep students’ retention and maintain access to learning. A
solution to continue teaching and learning activities was offered by the
online platforms. However, even where the necessary infrastructure
existed, the immediate challenge generated by the lockdown was to
ensure clear and effective communication streams with staff and
students. Teachers did not necessarily have the appropriate skills so that
they could suddenly and easily shift from face-to-face to online teaching
and often resulted in “learning by doing” or imitating the face-to-face
approach, which, in turn, may not guarantee the same level of quality of
the educational process.

Online school was confusing to adjust to as we had not been prepared

through simulations or practices beforehand. Students reported the
home-learning program to be even more stressful than regular
classrooms. Some of the common reasons for this went along the lines
of: "Normal classes may have been difficult, but having friends makes it
so much more manageable and less stressful. Online classes take out the
benefits of having friends to socialize with and being stuck alone with
nothing but assignments."

Many students participating in home-learning programs also say that the

workload of online classes is larger than that of regular classes. The
general consensus is that home-learning programs — although highly
beneficial and a good alternative to school as schools are closed — still
require some getting used to by students, as it is a novel concept and not
many are experienced with them. A great burden was placed also on
students who suddenly had to possess a variety of skills, competencies,
and resources. These issues have impacted the emotional, psychological,
and social well-being of both teachers and students all around the world.

The aim of this paper was to present the results of a students’ and
teachers survey carried out at Holy Family Academy of GMA, Inc., on
the quality of teaching–learning assessment process on online platforms,
in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 PROCEDURE

The basic method used in conducting the study was the survey method,
which used a questionnaire as a tool. An anonymous online survey
assessing the students’ opinion on the quality of the educational process
on online platforms was created using the Google Forms online
application. We were tasked to have at least 15 student respondents and
5 teacher respondents.

The survey consisted in 6 questions. The questions were cut into three
types, 2 question each for the students and teachers alone with 2 question
for both of them combine.

The questions for the students and teachers were closed questions;
teachers and students had to choose between multiple options given to
them.

Respondents’ responses were automatically collected and statistically

processed by the Google Forms application. Data were then imported
into the Excel program (Office 365) for a clearer graphical
representation of them, which facilitated their analysis and interpretation.
 RESULTS

The majority of the respondents considered that the measures taken by

the teachers and students at Holy Family Academy, Inc. during the
COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the continuity of the educational process
were sufficient and effective.

Unfortunately, the questions for the teachers were answered only by two
out of five teachers asked to answer the survey. The two answered yes at
both questions resulting in 100 percent yes at the question one and two
for the teachers alone.

It was originally planned to only have 15 anonymous students to answer

the survey, but because of some circumstances, the researchers added
five more students instead to answer the survey with the total of 20
student respondents.
Surprisingly, all the student respondents answered yes and I agree at
question number 5 and 6, resulting in 100 percent “Yes” and “I agree”.
As for the question number 3 and 4 for both teachers and students
combine, we are going to use a simple computation by dividing the total
number of answers to the total number of respondents and multiply it to
100.

For the question number 3 “Having a poor internet connection during

this pandemic can lead to poor grades?”, 18 respondents answered “I
agree” and 4 respondents answered “I disagree” and using the simple
computation, 81.82% agrees to the question while 18.19% disagrees with
it.
 For the question number 4 “Does pandemic affect your mental health?”,
16 respondents answered “Yes”, 4 answered “Not Really” and 2
answered “No”. Using the simple computation, 72.73% answered yes,
18.19% are not sure and 9.09% answered no.

CONCLUSIONS

The conducted study revealed that although the DepED has taken
important steps to ensure the continuity of the educational process in the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still a long way until we
have successfully implemented a real and effective online educational
system. The challenge to which the teachers and students must face is
not related to the technical feasibility of implementing such a system, but
especially to the preparation of human resources for this form of
education.

References

Angdhiri, R. P. (2020, July 21). TheJakartaPost. Retrieved from

https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/04/11/challenges-of-home-learning-during-a-
pandemic-through-the-eyes-of-a-student.html
Heim, J. (2020, October 6). Washingtonpost. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/10/06/teacher-pandemic-essays/?
arc404=true

Maria-Crina Radu, C. S.-A. (2020, October 23). The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Quality of
Educational Process: A Student Survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health, 15.