Difficulties encountered by students in a private higher education institution at Iloilo City in attending online classes

Abstract

This research study was carried out to determine the difficulties students at a Private Higher Education Institution face when attending online classes. During the COVID-19 epidemic, which caused unprecedented disruption in people's lives, the Commission on Higher Education needed to find alternative modern strategies that would allow for more flexible teaching and learning alternatives to suit the needs of students, particularly undergraduates. During the data gathering process, 107 people responded. Non-probability sampling, specifically convenience sampling, was utilized by the researchers among the third and fourth-year Financial Management students. The researchers used a descriptive research approach to assess the respondent's profiles, the difficulties they encountered, and their significant differences. The descriptive study provided a detailed understanding and characterized the issues students have when attending online classes. The research instrument used for data collection was online researcher-made questionnaires.

Researchers calculated, analyzed, interpreted, and structured data using statistical methods such as frequency distribution, percentage, standard deviation, mean, Mann-Whitney U Test, and Kruskal-Wallis. When taken as a whole and classified according to their profile, the difficulties encountered by Financial Management students in terms of Access to Instructional Materials and Self-Motivation are determined to be very low. While the difficulties encountered in terms of Time-Management and Learning Environment are minimal when seen as a whole and classified according to their profile. This accounts that third and fourth-year Financial Management students had little to no difficulty accessing instructional materials, sustaining self-motivation, managing time, and keeping an optimum learning environment during online classes.