The Challenges of Modular Learning in the Wake of COVID-19: A Digital Divide in the Philippine Countryside Revealed

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is a global health crisis that has affected educational systems worldwide. North Eastern Mindanao State University (NEMSU), a typical countryside academic institution in the Southern Philippines, did not escape this dilemma. The advent of remote learning to continue the students’ learning process has caused difficulties for both the students and the educational institutions. Thus, we conducted this study to assess the students’ level of submission of assigned tasks from printed remote learning modular materials under the College of Teacher Education of NEMSU. We evaluated whether the distance of students’ residences to the campus or the nearest online learning facilities affects the level of modular task retrievals. We also determined the current situation, challenges, and struggles of the students with remote learning. Our results showed that out of 392 printed learning modules sent to Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) students, 299 or 76% were retrieved. There were also 292 Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSED) students who received the learning modules, and 237, or 81%, complied with their tasks. We found that 68% of the total number of students reside within a <30 km radius, while 32% were within a 30–40 km radius. We also found that the distance of their residences from the NEMSU campus slightly affected the percentage of modular learning material retrievals for both the BEED and BSED students, with R2 = 0.38 and R2 = 0.07, respectively. Nonstructured interview results showed that most students were constrained by many challenges and struggles in complying with the tasks. These include internet connectivity problems, inadequate learning resources, difficulty understanding the module contents and assessment instructions, overloaded remote learning tasks, poor learning environment, and mental health problems. This study also revealed that the country’s digital divide became more apparent as we navigated this new mode of the remote learning system.

Problems and responses of schools in the COVID -19 pandemic: The case of Mountain Province

“…Most students do not have a computer or internet at home and are unable to access online classes and lessons broadcast over social media. The shift to distance learning due to the pandemic highlighted the difficulties of teachers and students in public schools: they are burdened with heavier workloads, internet connectivity problems, cost problems and inadequate resources which is similar to the finding of other studies [14][15][16][17]. Parents are concerned with providing their children with gadgets and prepaid loads for internet connectivity.…”

“…In the Philippines, Rotas and Cahapay [14]; Bustillo and Aguilos [15] investigated the challenges that confronted university students in distance education during the pandemic. Their results revealed that most of the problems are related to technology such as internet connectivity problems, inadequate learning resources and their limited access to technology because of their socioeconomic status and geographical location.…”

What’s on your Mind? Impact of Online Education on Students’ Mental Wellness

“…It's tiring and no fun." In consonance, when the Philippines transitioned to online education, this impacted psychological difficulties (Bustillo & Aguilos, 2022;DeDios, 2022). Overworked students became emotional (Gumarang, 2022).…”

“…Since the start of the outbreak, the virus has been global concern, even surpassing the number of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases in 2003, which is a contagious illness manifested by fever, cough, pneumonia and respiratory failure (El-Shabasy, Nayel, Taher, Abdelmonem, & Shoueir, 2022). In the Philippines, all in-person classes were eliminated, and institutions transitioned to modular and online education, which had many repercussions in various parts of the academic community that could have had a direct impact on psychologically-related issues (Bustillo & Aguilos, 2022;DeDios, 2022). Overworked students developed emotional issues (Gumarang, 2022).…”

Modular and Online Learning Satisfaction in Mathematics Amid COVID-19: Implications for New Normal Teaching Practices

“…According to Bustillo and Aguilos (2022), the integration of learning through a modular approach during COVID-19 to continue the students' learning process, created challenges for both the students and academic institutions. The majority of students struggled to finish their assignments because of the many obstacles they faced along the way (Moawad, 2020).…”