CHAPTER l

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As technology continues to develop, mobile devices have become
prevalent among users due to its multiple features and countless advantages
provided. Mobile devices refer to any handheld electronic device designed to
assist human activities including communication, gathering of information,
entertainment, and others. According to Richard Beach and Jill Castek (2016),
mobile devices are small portable digital mechanisms such as phones or tablets
that provide access to the web, apps, and other software. It refers to a set of
devices that enable users to access data and information from anywhere they
may be. Specifically, it includes devices such as cell phones, smart phones,
netbooks, laptops, tablets, iPods, iPads, eReaders such as the Kindle, Nook,
etc., palms, Treo, and other devices that are typically lightweight, portable and
can connect to the internet (Van Wingerden, 2016). In addition, the advent of
social networks has enabled mobile devices to become more popular, allowing
users to communicate online.
In a report from the International Telecommunication Union, it was
indicated that about 60% of the world’s population has access to mobile phones
(ITU, 2008 as cited in Sarfoah, 2017). The population of mobile users worldwide
already reached to 3 billion and is believed to continue to escalate in the next few
years. According to a statistical data published by S. O’dea (2020), China, India,
and the United States are the countries with the highest number of smartphone
users, with each country easily surpassing the 100 million user mark. In the
Philippines, almost 70.7 million people are connected to internet using their
mobile devices and is estimated to increase by 90 million on the year 2025. It is
almost equal to the current population of the country which is evident that using
mobile devices has been part in the daily activities of every individual making it
susceptible to be used as one of the learning materials.
 According to Julie Evans (2017), adding mobile devices to the classroom
provides students with equity, empowerment and a better understanding of
complex concepts. Mobile devices tend to improve student self-efficacy and
generate constructive student thinking about learning. Smartphones not only
enable students to view and read content, but can also take pictures of abstract
concepts learned in class with cameras on their smartphones, so that they can
apply them to specific ideas at a later date, mostly in distance learning during this
pandemic. Despite the issues and concerns posed mainly by parents and the
school administration with regard to the use of mobile devices, researchers
strongly believe that using mobile devices has a positive effect among students
based on the experience of other learners and the evidence put forward by
experts. The results of the study will serve as an awareness on the importance of
using mobile devices as a learning material which could help modify the teaching
strategy or the educational curriculum of the school.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aims to determine the benefits of using mobile devices on the
academic performance of the selected STEM students amidst the COVID-19
pandemic in St. Mary’s Academy of Palo. This study aims to answer the following
questions:

Main question: What are the benefits on using mobile devices on the academic
performance of the selected STEM students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in
St. Mary’s Academy of Palo?

Specific question:
1. How often does the selected STEM students use mobile devices?
2. What are the reasons that STEM students have opted for their use of
mobile devices?
3. How mobile devices affect the academic performance of the selected
STEM students in St. Mary’s Academy of Palo?
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The research aims to explain the benefits of using mobile devices on the
academic performance for the selected STEM students at St. Mary’s
Academy of Palo.
The study has the following specific objectives:
1. To determine how often does the selected STEM students use mobile
devices.
2. To identify the reasons that opted the selected STEM students on the use
of mobile devices.
3. To determine how mobile devices affect the academic performance of the
selected STEM students in St. Mary’s Academy of Palo.

HYPOTHESIS
Alternative Hypothesis: The use of mobile devices can provide benefits on the
academic performance of the selected STEM students amidst the Covid-19
pandemic in St. Mary’s Academy of Palo.

Null Hypothesis: There are no significant benefits on the use of mobile devices
to the academic performance of the selected STEM students amidst the Covid-
19 pandemic in St. Mary’s Academy of Palo.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This study cited different articles and studies which are relevant to the
present investigation. It is composed of related literature and studies which
contains facts and information regarding to the research problems.

RELATED LITERATURE
In the face of growing concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and calls to
contain the Corona Virus, a growing number of educational institutions are shut
down globally along with face-to-face classes. COVID-19 has identified emerging
vulnerabilities in education systems around the world.
Mobile technologies are an appealing and simple way to retain literacy skills
and to gain continuous access to information. They are accessible, easily
distributed and have a great potential to reach out to disadvantaged communities
and give them access to more learning and growth. Mobile technologies facilitate
distance learning in situations where access to education is difficult or interrupted
because of geographical location or due to post-conflict or post-disaster
situations.
In an article written by Oxford Learning (2019), teachers can take advantage of
cell phones by providing students with resources to find more information about a
topic. This can include videos, news stories, online discussion groups, and more.
The use of mobile devices can give students an access to tools and apps that
can help them complete and stay top of their class work.
Moreover, one of the biggest advantages of mobile learning education is the
easy access to information while at work. When learners are able to find and
retrieve information in a short period of time using their personal mobile devices,
this facilitates their overall learning experience (Laskaris, 2018).
Self-organization tools such as alarms, dictionary, calendar, encyclopedia,
notes and watch found on a majority of mobile phones make learning experience
easier for students. These apps are all comprised of a small and lightweight
device that makes learning, time management, and planning less cumbersome
(Nolly Tech, 2020).
However, in an article written by Manila Times (2015), excessive use of mobile
phones causes students to fare poorly in elementary, junior high and high school,
not only because it makes them lose their concentration due to a lack of sleep,
but also because it apparently compromises what they have studied. Access to
video games, the internet and music can adversely affect the attention span of a
student which leads to a negative effect on their academic performance.
Regardless, when accompanied with high-quality instruction on digital
responsibility, student phones don’t necessarily to cause trouble in their learning
experience. Instead, they can be an incredibly powerful tool for learning for the
students and to improve the teaching strategy of the educators.

RELATED STUDIES
In a study conducted by Melchor Gomez-Garcia et al. (2020), it stated that the
use of mobile phones by the students has a positive impact on their academic
performance. With the data of 1,887,027 students from 7381 compulsory
secondary education schools in Spain, the study came up with a conclusion that
there is a strong correlation between the use of mobile phones and academic
performance which also inferred that there are elements that improve it in a
positive way. These students, who seem to be particularly affected by the
incorporation of mobile phones into the teaching process, notice significant
improvements in their assessment, to the extent that they significantly reduce the
number of repeaters in schools that allow the use of mobile devices. This is
where studies agree on the increased interest and motivation caused by the use
of mobile phones as most of the students who suffer from a special lack of
motivation for studying, and when this is improved,academic results rise at the
same time.
Also, in a study conducted by Noah Darko-Adjei (2019), study found a
positive usefulness of the use of smartphone in the students learning activities
such as easy sharing and accessing of lecture materials online, easy
communication with colleagues and course masters, being able to carry
smartphone any anywhere and at any time because of its portability as compared
to a laptop and many others. Again, the study revealed negative effect on
students’ academic activities by the use of smartphones whereby, for instance,
smartphones shift the focus of users because of its addictive nature, intruding
calls coming in during lecture hours and the tendency of checking social media
platform which distract learning on the part of the distance learning students and
some of the inhibiting factors found were unreliable internet connectivity, the
screen and sizes make smartphone uncomfortable for learning.
Moreover, according to the study designed by Virginia Gorra and Shyam
Bhati (2016), most students in state colleges and universities of Caraga region in
the Philippines are likely to use technology in classroom for the purpose of
positive consequences supporting the view that use of technology helps in
enhancing learning related activities . The most observed positive consequences
were instant messaging through chatting, lesson enquiry about assignments,
sending and receiving e-mails, research through surfing the net including data
gathering by downloading files and sharing cultural experiences with others
through internet.
Furthermore, in a study conducted by Bikram Biswas et al. (2020), students
that are very familiar with mobile learning, have a positive perception of mobile
learning, and used various social media apps for their study during COVID-19
pandemic time. The findings also demonstrate that mobile learning is a useful
tool for this pandemic where students can learn from outside of the classroom or
participate in class from anywhere; improve the relationship with their teacher
and also fulfill the long term study gap.
 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
The following paragraphs present the research methodology that was used
in the study. It involves the research design, research instrument, respondents of
the study, scope and limitations, and the research procedure.

RESEARCH DESIGN
This study employed a qualitative approach in obtaining information
regarding with the benefits of using mobile devices in the academic performance
of the selected STEM students amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in St. Mary’s
Academy of Palo. This design explores and understands a topic or problem
through a process that involves questions and procedures, data collection, data
analysis, and data interpretation (Dela Cruz, 2018). This study also used the
descriptive survey method since this is a qualitative research that focuses with
experiences and interactions of the respondents with mobile devices. In
descriptive research, the goal of the researchers is to provide a picture of the
concepts or ideas about a topic or problem where the researchers describe the
nature of variables used in the study ((Dela Cruz, 2018). In addition, this study is
correlational in nature since it examines important variables related to the
problem. Correlational research is a type of non-experimental research method in
which a researcher measures two variables, understands and assesses the
statistical relationship between them with no influence from any extraneous
variable (Fleetwood, 2020). Thus, the study conducted is both descriptive and
correlational in nature that used a qualitative approach.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
The instrument used in this study was a researcher-made survey
questionnaire distributed online. A survey is an empirical study that uses
questionnaires or interviews to discover descriptive characteristics of phenomena
(Reinard, 1994). Also, the survey instrument used was composed of mixed forms
of questions arranged based on the arrangement of the research questions. For
the first part, it used close-ended questions and multiple choice for the
demographic profile of the respondents. For the second part, multiple question
and rating scale questions were used focused on the first problem of the study.
For the last part, it was focused on the second and third problem of the study
using the Likert scale where responses include strongly agree, agree, neutral,
disagree and strongly disagree. It is composed of 10 questions where each
research problem is composed of 5 questions.

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY

The respondents of the study were the STEM students in St. Mary’s Academy
of Palo where each of the 4 sections focusing on STEM strand, 10 students were
chosen thus having a sum of 40 respondents. They were chosen through simple
random sampling in which it is a method used to gather a sample from a larger
population and then formulating a universal assertion about the whole matter.
The researchers also measured each answer of every student which served as
the unit of analysis of the study. Moreover, Slovin’s formula was used to
determine the sample size of every population in each section.
N
Slovin’s Formula: n = 2
1+( N ) e
Whereas: n = sample size e= margin of error N = population

SECTION POPULATION SAMPLE SIZE

Piety 54 10
Obedience 40 10
Peace 49 10
Simplicity 50 10
Total 193 40

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

 As stated in the research objectives, this study is focused on the benefits
of using mobile devices in the academic performance of the selected STEM
students amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in St. Mary’s Academy of Palo. The
study only focused on STEM students of the institution since their population is
larger compared to other strands. Thus, the other strands are not included.
For the mobile devices, the study only considered the use of cellphones,
tablets, laptops, netbooks and other portable devices as the variable to measure
the academic performance of the students. Non-portable computers and other
devices that cannot be used for educational purposes are not included. In
addition, the study only focused on the experiences of the student during the
school year 2020-2021 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Experiences of the
students during the months before the epidemic and the implementation of
modular learning are not included. Thus, the study conducted is a cross-sectional
study where data are collected once.
Furthermore, the data were only obtained from the students of St. Mary’s
Academy of Palo during the fourth week of March 2021.

RESEARCH PROCEDURE
In order to obtain information from the selected respondents, a permission
letter was sent to the principal to allow us to conduct the online survey. Then
after the approval, the distribution of online survey questionnaire was done.
Using the Messenger, a social media app used for sending online messages, the
online survey questionnaire was sent to each of the respondent. Since there are
four sections, the researchers decided to divide the group into four to collect the
data in a short period of time. After the respondents answer the survey, data
collection was done in a systematic way.
Moreover, analyzing and interpreting the gathered data was done after the
data collection in able to create a conclusion and to present the gathered data
using the applicable graphs and charts.