Rationale

It would take a few more years to flatten the curve. Given by the

current situation, students and teachers will have another year of online

classes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic change in our livelihood, and

the domain of education has also been affected drastically. After the school

closings, students have to stay at home and transitioned into online schooling.

The effect of the pandemic is felt differently, both students and teachers are

affected by this new change and are managing to cope. It would take a few

more years to flatten the curve. Given by the current situation, students and

teachers will have another year of online classes.

People cope with stress differently. The stress of having to change the

pattern of their lifestyle, leaving the comforts they had, the inevitable

economic impact, and the feeling of hopelessness, affecting their mental

state. Unfortunately, some may even go as far to taking their own lives due to

overwhelming stress.

How are other schools are coping? The COVID-19 pandemic have

caught the educational system by surprise leaving it unprepared. Because the

most radical remedy was to eliminate the face-to-face teaching method,

making it necessary to avail of the internet. Some schools were unable to

make use of the internet and had to resort to module learning. Other schools,
their teachers and students have the complete facilities such that they were

able to adapt the online learning system.

Obviously the module method have some disadvantages, such as the

inability of the teachers to verify if their students actually read or answered the

modules or done by others. The phenomena of “ghost” students is a reality

and cannot be denied. Even in conducting periodical examinations the

teachers can never be sure if the test results were by the students

themselves. This reality has wreaked havoc on the honor system. In one

particular instance all the students got perfect scores. The same applies to

schools online. The use of module system is made difficult because of the

expenses involved in the production of modules. The money required for the

paper and the printers is considerable.

Economically private schools are more hard hit by the pandemic than

public schools. The teachers of private schools are paid by the student fees

whereas the public schools are paid by public funds. Thus the lack of students

in public schools does not bother their teachers but on the other hand the lack

of students in private schools will lead to reduced salary of the teachers.

Recent reports informed us that progressive countries such as USA,

Canada, Australia and other European countries have now opened up their

face-to-face schools although some have yet to wait awhile to do so, this is

because they have attend the state of herd immunity which have made

COVID-19 on the same level as common colds.

 Some experts, have predicted that online learning will become popular

in these countries such that some schools will adapt the hybrid system, a

combination of online and face-to-face classes.

For the Philippines however, the light of the end of the tunnel is not yet

seen and we have to expect a longer while for this pandemic to go away.

Considering however that the pandemic has resulted into so many

consequences it is decided to narrow down this study into inquiry of the

difficulties experienced by the students and teachers in the learning process

and the mental health of said students and teachers.

The most feasible method to gather information or data for this study is by

questionnaire supplemented by interviews of the respondents. The

respondents will be limited to students and teachers in the senior high UB

VDT-ALC. The responses of the respondents will then be compiled and

subjected to analysis to come up with reliable conclusions.

This study will be conducted on the new experiences and the resulting

difficulties encountered by the teachers and students with this new

educational methods such as, the lack of face-to-face teaching, developing

teaching materials, effective monitoring of the pupils learning level, and so

many others, causing an ineffective state of learning. Moreover teachers and

students may not also have the best gadgets encountering poor internet

connection, low fps, choppy call, and so on. The bewilderment of the students

and teachers most probably have affected their mental health.

Considering that the phenomena of the COVID-19 pandemic is very recent, it

follows that there would be several studies on the effects of the same on the

learning process between students and teachers. But then none had yet been

published for reference such that this particular research will navigate on its

own.
Theoretical background

As mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted into so many

consequences but among the most significant is the new normal learning

process which is the online learning rather than face-to-face. There had been

many debates on the efficacy of online learning because of the lack of

personal interaction between students and teachers, and between students

themselves.

It cannot be denied that the online learning method requires a higher level of

technology as compared to face-to-face method which in the Philippines is not

yet highly developed. This has caused difficulties among the teachers and

students and even of the parents themselves.

The training of the teachers (while they were still students) never anticipated

online learning and thus they were totally unprepared for this. On the other

hand the students had been nurtured on the face-to-face learning and to them

online learning is a new animal.

Moreover the absence of social interaction between students and teachers

have greatly affected their mental state. Gone are the camaraderie between

the students, and their bonding activities. Everybody knows that all work and

no play makes Juan a dull boy and to extrapolate, Juan facing his computer

several hours a day will become sociologically abnormal. This is to say the

extreme. But then it cannot be denied that the online learning process which

requires long hours of computer use has took a toll in his mental health.

This situation is significant enough for a topic for this research.

The Theory of Online Learning can be seen in the concept that the computer

and internet are used to deliver course content in Technology Enhanced

Learning Environments and to facilitate communication and assessment using

Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication: Tools for Collaboration,

primarily asynchronous methods. It is largely student-centered requiring

personal engagement, high level of authorship, peer review and mediation.

Teachers act as mediators and facilitators in a somewhat shared role in an

environment that is based in knowledge construction through critical inquiry,

collaborative learning and problem-solving involving discussion, clarification

and debate. With the use of technology for learning and teaching, it is very

different from the more objectivist approaches found in computer-assisted

learning, teaching machines and artificial intelligence applications to

education, which primarily aim to use computing to replace at least some of

the activities traditionally done by teachers.

With online collaborative learning, the aim is not to replace the teacher,

but to use the technology primarily to increase and improve communication

between teachers and students, with a particular approach to the

development of learning based on knowledge construction assisted and

developed through social discourse. This social discourse furthermore is not

random, but managed in such a way as to ‘scaffold’ learning, by assisting with

the construction of knowledge in ways that are guided by the teacher, that

reflect the norms or values of the discipline, and that also respect or take into

consideration the prior knowledge within the discipline. Students and teachers

have a significant role in the learning process. Any intervention ignoring these

factors will be ineffective in warranting students and teachers’ satisfaction in

their online learning and teaching. Powers and Rossman (1985) discussed

students’ interaction with pears and with the teacher necessary for satisfaction

with online learning. Vonderwell and Turner (2005) identified several factors

that affect satisfaction levels of students and teachers, such as clear

directions about course objectives and assessment, and active student-

teacher interaction.