Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

The Covid-19 pandemic began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and

spread fast over the world within months. The epidemic had an impact on
all aspect of life, including education. The global shutdown culminated in a
lockdown of educational institutions as the situation worsened. The
closure of schools, colleges, and universities created a severe situation for
educational administrators, who were left with very few options. Students
all over the world have been trapped for an undetermined period of time.
In order to prevent community infections of the virus, in-person classes at
universities, colleges, and schools were postponed. More than 1.5 billion
students and youth across the planet are or have been affected by school
and university closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (UNESCO, 2021).

Distance learning brought students in a situation that is prone to

distractions, any events happening around a student's environment can be
a great challenge to their focus and attention, especially in the midst of a
virtual class. As a result of these distractions – and possibly having
additional responsibilities time management becomes more challenging
(Klawitter, 2022). This is only one of the many difficulties, a student can
experience during this pandemic. This study can help all the people that
are affected in this mode of instruction, most especially the school
stakeholders. Moreover, the results of this study will generate new ideas
and perspective by means of applying the insights and coping
mechanisms of the students who are also affected by COVID-19 and thus
continuing their dreams through distance learning. The students were
aware of the COVID-19 pandemic and possessed sufficient knowledge
about this global concern even though there were still gaps in various
points. Students understood how the virus is spread, its symptoms, and
the precautionary measures needed to be done by both individuals and
the general community (Baloran, 2020)
 An emotionally mature person is always adding self-value and to those
around wherein learning and developmental activities form a key part of
the daily activities and goals that enable to understand and manage
emotions that maintains a calm exterior and understands that vision,
planning and empathy are critical tools of a life well lived (Nangia, 2016).
By studying this, we can see that there is more to the negative things we
see now, we learn and realize things that we didn't before, and so it
applies to us now. The research is brought to formality and is done to
make us see the improvement of the student's ability to handle situations,
develop their thinking capacity regarding the fundamental nature of
knowledge, reality and existence and have a significant effect on the
society as a citizen that can bring success in the near future.

With the learning changes a lot of experiences are prone to come out,
these are a person's own discoveries that will remain to be in mind even
though school isn't present on one's life. This research is formulated for
the reason that it seeks to generalize the perspectives of students on the
learning changes encountered in the form of their lived experiences
throughout the crisis. This study aims to see the positive effects of the new
normal learning system to the students' point of view and thinking ways
despite of the fact that a lot of students are suffering on psychological
problems. Thus, everyone is seeing the negative effects of the changes in
the learning system, we should see the importance of having a positive
mind in midst of this crisis. With such difficulties, students must have a
stronger mindset of adding additional perseverance for the desired
survival.

Since the epidemic began, many of us have experienced challenges

and realizations as a result of the never-ending cases that continue to
emerge. The abrupt transition from face-to-face classes to virtual/distance
learning complicates things, requiring pupils to acclimatize to the new
normal of learning, thus suspending basic K-12 education in our society.
Lack of clarity due to the fact that most students are focused on
completing the piled-up schoolwork and activities in order to make the
deadline. Distance learning can be made easier and more efficient with
the help of technology and internet connections because it allows students
to complete schoolwork more quickly. However, not all students can
access the internet because they live outside of the city, and some
students cannot access the internet because they live in rural areas (Katie
Martin,2022)

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this phenomenological study is to explain the

experiences of Senior High School students in the midst of a pandemic.
This study was designed to learn about and generalize the students’
perspectives on learning changes that they have experienced.

Research Questions:

1. What methods/techniques did you use to perform the study?

2. Who was the subject/participants of your study?

3. What are the drawbacks and barriers that senior high school students
experience while in distance learning?

Review of Related Literature

Using Students’ Experience to Derive Effectiveness of COVID-19-

Lockdown-Induced Emergency Online Learning at Undergraduate Level:
Evidence from Assam, India Literally, online learning is an electronically
supported form of learning relied on the Internet for interaction between
students and teachers. The integration of information and communication
technologies in the teaching–learning process became a fundamental part
in countries worldwide (Matukhin & Evseeva, 2014).Widespread
expansion of Internet connectivity, availability of different e-applications,
modern gadgets and so on, in the twenty-first century had pushed the
educational institutions go online, at least to a combination of online–
offline mode. Innovations like VLEs, MOOCs, blended learning, flipped
classroom and so on, had already got impetus in most countries of the
world. They provide many benefits They provide many benefits especially
related to accessibility, flexibility, affordability, modern learning pedagogy
and so on. Shifting to online mode is beneficial to those who could not
afford to attend traditional classes for many reasons. It provides
opportunity to students to participate in a course or program of study
regardless of where they reside (Milheim, 2014) and make able to pursue
a course from different institutions other than they are currently studying
(Sarma & Sive, 2013). Students being at anywhere can independently
interact and learn from teachers and fellow students (Singh & Thurman,
2019), thereby ensuring accessibility and flexibility. It is considered to be a
relatively cheaper also in terms of the lower cost of transportation,
accommodation and the overall cost of institution-based learning. Blended
learning and flipped classrooms, which combines face-to-face learning
with technology, can increase potential of students (Dhawan, 2020). Smart
teaching with digital sophistication can provide the students latest course
materials as well as access to lectures of renowned professors, including
Nobel Laureates, through virtual classroom (Gurukka, 2020). There are
empirical investigations also claiming advantages of online learning.
Moussa-Inaty (2017) in a study observed that though a high percentage of
higher education students preferred face-to-face learning, almost all the
student samples in the study enjoyed a blended approach and opined to
take more such courses. Kalayci and Humiston (2015) in their study
reported that students have significantly positive attitude towards the
collaborative tools used in Moodle. Contrary to that, many people do not
believe on the efficiency of online learning. There have been debates on
the effectiveness of online learning in creating a solid learning experience
for students. Students’ feelings like lack of community, technical problems
and difficulties in understanding instructional goals are the major barriers
for online learning (Song et al., 2004). Low-level preparedness of students
on usage of learning management systems (LMS) is another problem of
online learning (Parkes et al., 2014). Students’ passivity during the
communicative process, their reluctance to use the technology, and
inability to continue to be part of the virtual session after a period are the
major problems a teacher faces in online learning platform (Nalliveettil et
al., 2019). As per Angiello (2010), people believed that there is no way
that an online virtual class can even compare to the traditional classroom
education. In spite of the pros and cons, no one in the twenty-first century
can deny the importance of adopting online mode of learning in tertiary
level, if not in schools, as today’s young generation is thriving towards
digital system diversified.Online instruction may not provide a superior
learning experience, but definitely offers a sufficient one (Kasraie &
Alahmad, 2015).
 The success of an online course depends greatly on the quality of the
teacher, who plays the most critical role in many aspects. Selwyn (2014)
argued that teachers are supposed to be capable of acting as guides
and/or facilitators with extensive digital competence. The Technological
Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (TPACK) of Mishra and
Koehler (2006) identified technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical
knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK) as must for any effective
digital learning. Designing of lesson plan, preparation of materials such as
audio–video clips, operating various interactive mediums and so on,
demands the teachers to be highly techno-savvy. Over 37% of instructors,
instructional designers and college administrators viewed teaching or
technical competency as the most significant factor affecting the success
of an online course, as reported by Kim and Bonk (2006) in their survey of
over 500 respondents. To be effective in an online setting, the teacher
must be embedded with a wide range of technical skills, ability to socially
facilitate and a high level of professionalism. Since the space is limited to
be interactive, a teacher must engage students in other ways like
discussion forums, facilitation and leading of discussion boards and so on,
which often turn out to be a complex task without proper training.

During this tough time of COVID-19, the concern of educational

institutions is not the quality of education, rather how institutions will be
able to adopt online learning (Carey, 2020). Such a sudden shift with
minimum or no digital infrastructure, no previous training and preparation
on use of digital platforms, the teachers of the country started scrambling
to finish off their syllabi online through trying different online pedagogical
approaches. Consequently, video conferencing and online meeting
platforms such as Zoom, Cisco Webex and Google Meet saw a huge
usage spike. Other mediums including LMSs and social media platforms
like YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook and so on, are also being used
profusely. However, students considered online classes during COVID-19
not engaging and difficult due to network and bandwidth problems and
favor a blended learning approach with 30% of online and 70% of face-to-
face education (Sreehari, 2020). Molise and Dube (2020) on the basis of
their key findings argued that the teachers should adjust their teaching
plans, assessment details and teaching materials and adopt new ways of
interacting with learners through emergency online teaching during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Theoretical Lens:

Theory of Distance Education.

As with all new fields of study, a well thought out theory is needed to
be a standard to guide future decisions to keep the new ideas organized
and coherent. According to Keegan (1995) Simonson offers theory that is
centered on this long-distance education area. If the remote control is
successful, learning was described in Traditional Settings (Simonson et
Allen, 2015) if the remote control is successful. As they are physically
adjacent to each other, or each new knowledge is integrated into their
existing plans, learning will always differ depending on the individual.
Since the basic premise of Simonson is not the same as the unique
people, students are the same as the unique people, so students are the
central distance lessons in traditional course transfer You can make
students. However, this does not mean that the two courses should be
identical. Instead, distance learning courses need to be specially designed
so that the learning experience actually matches the traditional course.
For example, correspondence courses for elementary school students
should be designed in a different way than traditional variations, taking
into account the intellectual development and technical abilities of the
child. "The same traditional distance course is unlikely to be effective, but
rather it is necessary to provide a variety of equivalent educational
approaches for local and remote students to learn" (Simonson et al.,2015,
p.50). In other words, carefully design your course so that the learning
outcomes are the same for both distanced and traditional courses.

However, despite Simonson's solid theory, there are still some other
theories that need to be considered. Keegan (1996) categorized the
theory of distance learning into three groups. The theory of independence
and autonomy, the theory of industrialization of education, the theory of
interaction and communication.

Distance learning is a formal approach to the teaching and learning

process where learners and trainers are given learning instructions when
they are not physically present to each other. This is the process by which
the learner who is the source and recipient of the information creates and
provides access to learning in different locations. Distance education is
also known as distance education.
 This study aimed at describing of lived experiences of the senior
high school students in distance learning, During covid-19 pandemic at
Sto.Tomas National High School.

Significance of the Study:

This study will be important to the groups of people particularly the

Department of Education, because the results will serve as their basis for
drafting plans in improving guidelines in the implementation of proper
ways in dealing with the problems of learning. The school's divisions
superintendent on the other hand, will be guided in dealing with the plans
for improving memoranda and orders relative there to. The teachers on
the other hand will be guided on how they will implement good strategies
in delivering instructions that will help the learners especially those who
experienced hardships to cope and learn best. Moreover, students will
also be recipients of the benefits from this study since this will help them in
paving their difficult paths to success by making use of the reflections from
other students who are experiencing similar difficulties yet managed to
achieve good academic ratings. Lastly, this study will be of great help to
future researchers who are going to choose the same topic because this
will serve as their guide to the success of their study.

Definition of Terms

Experience - is a knowledge or expertise of something or an event earned

by involvement in or exposure to that item or event, as a generic idea. The
word experience has a long history of being associated with the concept of
experimentation (2022 STANDS4 LLC).

Distance Learning - is the creation of innovative and effective teaching

methods and tactics to enable postsecondary faculty, staff, and
administrators to provide accessible distance education programs or
classes that would improve access to higher education for students with
disabilities. This includes the use of adaptable curricula as well as
electronic communication for education and advice (HED Act, 2008, Sect.
762, Paru. Di).
Positive - is a tangible, favorable, or constructive characteristic or feature
rather than their absence, comprised of or defined by the presence or
possession of attributes or qualities (Collins 2022).

Negative - is a critical signifying something that is discouraging, undesired,

or contradictory to something else (2022 Vocabulary.co Inc., a division of
IXL Learning).

Senior High School - is the final stage of the K-12 program's

implementation. It is for students in grades 11 and 12. Students can pick
from four different general programs or tracks. There are many specialties
or strands to specialize in under each program (Law Insider Inc 2022).

Phenomenological - is the study of consciousness structures as seen

through the eyes of a first-person observer. The intentionality of an
experience, or its being oriented toward something, is its essential
structure, since it is an experience of or about some object (The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2021).

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

According to Creswell(1994) that the delimitation addresses how the

study will be narrowed in scope. The focus of this study is to determine the
lived experiences and realizations of every students in Sto.Tomas
National High School. This research is designed to have a thorough
knowledge of the experiences of the students in the midst of pandemic.
And what are their realizations and ways of coping those situations.

Organization of the study

This study is all about the experiences of every student to sudden

shift from face-to-face classes to distance learning for the reason that an
unexpected virus spread all over the world, which made an impact to
every single one of us, not just to the students but also to our frontliners.
We come up with this topic to indicate how students dealt with the new
normal learning system, to imprecise the viewpoint of students to the
learning changes they experienced throughout the pandemic. The COVID-
19 continues to spread across the world after an approach that is difficult
to predict, causing the students to settle with distance learning for the
reason that the government prohibited to continue direct contact to
prevent the virus for spreading in our country, prioritizing the health of the
students. The distance learning had an impact to the students by reason
of lack of understanding, because some doesn't easily understand the
text, others prefer that the lectures are being discussed and has examples
of how the lesson was created and solved. All in all, this study shows us
that every student has its own way of learning things from distance
education, enhanced flexible learnings, and to appear how students
handle time in doing school activities from home.

Chapter 2

Methodology

This study uses a qualitative research approach, specifically a

phenomenological study that employs non numerical data to analyze
human conceptions, views, behaviors, and experiences. This study will be
conducted at Santo Tomas National High School if Face-to-face classes
will take place, if not, the online interviews will be conducted. In gathering
the information's relevant to this study, purposive sampling will be utilized,
also it will utilize interviews, observations and used Colaizzi's method in
the data processing and analysis (cited in Sander, 2003, and Speziale &
Carpenter, 2007). Ten (10) senior high school students are the expected
participants, the researchers will be giving a rundown on the objectives of
the study and their important roles in the data collection. Because of the
in-depth nature and process of this qualitative research, ethical guidelines
will be followed.

Research Design

In the pursuit to understand and explore the experiences of students

learning journey in this time of pandemic crisis, this study uses a
qualitative phenomenological research design. Essentially, it facilitates a
deeper understanding of a certain phenomenon being lived through as
described by the participants (Creswell, 2014; Giorgi, 2012). In this event,
it is focused on addressing the lived experiences of six senior high
students during the pandemic.

The phenomenology claims to understand human experiences, it requires

immersive penetration of individual’s thoughts and insights through
employing interviews or extensive discussions (Creswell, 2009; Giorgi,
2009; Moustakas, 1994). Since these were the actual lived through of the
participants who have all experienced the phenomenon of distance
learning, it facilitates a culmination of interpretation of their experiences
(Campbell, 2011; Creswell, 2009; Willis, 2007). For instance, it involves
the actual establishment of meanings from the views of their lenses which
is essential for the researchers to know deeply where the participants are
coming from. Likewise, it provided the researcher to picture out the
situation of the participant from the phenomenon they lived through based
on their actual shared experiences (Creswell, 2014; Giorgi, 2012).

Research Locale

The research will be conducted at Sto.Tomas National High

School, Menzi, Santo Tomas, Davao Del Norte, Tibal-og, Philippines, this
place was selected for knowing the efficiency of the study of the lived
experiences of the Senior High School student's midst pandemic.

Research Participants

The selection of participants is a critical step in defining the dimensions of

the study (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007). We will choose six participants for
the study, two from the HUMSS strand, two from STEM, one from the TVL
and one from ABM. to obtain a generalized representation of senior high
school students. All participants will be asked to give their consents to
participate in the study and give their information about their personal
experiences.

The criterion for selecting the participants reflects the purpose of the
study and identifies the information to study.
Research Instrument

The research instrument that will be used in the study is the in-depth
interviewing. All the questions are all about the lived experiences of
distance learning in the midst of pandemic. The interview guide questions
contain (3) main questions that were answered by the participants.

Data Collection

In a qualitative research study, the researcher serves as the

primary data collection instrument (Patton, 2015). In the position of
collection instrument, the researcher must attempt to be detached,
eliminate any assumptions, biases, and prior notions about the
phenomenon from the research and concentrate on data collection
methods (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The researcher typically relies on a
variety of methods for data collection. Marshal and Rossman (2014), as
well as Merriam (1998), describe data collection in qualitative studies as
three distinct strategies: interviews, observations, and document analysis.
Phenomenology study necessitates a methodical approach, a deliberate
and detailed attempt to capture and describe how people react to a
phenomenon. As noted by Patton (2015), this includes “how they perceive
it, describe it, feel about it, judge it, remember it, make sense of it and talk
about it with others” (p. 115). In order to gather this information,
researchers must conduct in-depth interviews with people who have
personally experienced the problem. As contrast to secondhand tales,
there is a phenomenon (Patton, 2015; van Manen, 1990).

The researcher chose personal in-depth interviews as the method for

this phenomenological investigation. The most common way of data
collecting. Conversational skills are recommended by Patton (2015).
Focused interviews on capturing the lived experience. According to
Moustakas (1994), “The phenomenological interview involves an informal,
interactive process…aimed at evoking a comprehensive account of the
person’s experience of the phenomenon” (p. 114). Through structured, in-
depth interviews, the researcher was able to investigate and comprehend
each participant's online course experience. The pre-interviews and
interviews provided an opportunity for collection of specific knowledge and
perceptions from Senior High students in order to gain insight into their
individual experiences and identify relevant themes. Throughout the
interviews, memos, and non-verbal's such as eye contact were all used to
document any more crucial findings; the respondents' facial expressions,
gestures, and bodily motions.

Data Analysis

The purpose of phenomenological research is to gain a better

understanding of a particular experience by gathering information from
people who have had it and then analyzing it to reveal the primary themes
and underlying structure of the experience (Moustakas, 1994; Patton,
2015). Essentially, the goal is to identify common themes in the participant
descriptions in order to arrive at an overall understanding of the
phenomenon under study. Essentially, the goal is to identify common
themes in participant descriptions in order to gain a comprehensive
understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Highlighting
"important remarks, sentences, or quotes that provide an understanding of
how the participant views the phenomena" is part of data analysis
(Creswell, 2007, p. 61). This leads the researcher to horizontalization or
the attempt to understand the participant’s experiences (Moustakas,
1994). Although the steps of data analysis are described in a variety of
ways (Creswell, 2007; Creswell, 2012; Moustakas, 1994; Polkinghorne,
1989), data analysis simply entails collecting, organizing, classifying,
categorizing, searching for patterns, and synthesis in order to gain a
comprehensive understanding of a topic of interest. The seven-step
Moustakas (1994) modified Van Kaam approach for assessing data from a
phenomenological background was used in this study.

Ethical considerations

All participants will be informed verbally and in writing about the study,
and it was emphasized that the participation will be voluntary. We'll make
sure not to intimidate them while doing the interviews. They will be
provided with a safe and trusting environment in which they can be candid
and critical without fear of personal consequences or invasion of their
privacy. To safeguard the participants' identity, their initials and names will
be replaced with ID numbers. All interactions with participants will be
conducted in a polite and ethical manner (Nielsen, 2021).