Methodology

The aim of the current study is to find out the challenges confronted by first year students of
College of Architecture at University of Northern Philippines, who are taking graphic course,
during the transition to online learning in the first semester of 2021 due to the COVID-19
pandemic and explore possible solutions and suggestions for future virtual learning.

The researcher will use quantitative methods for data collection, which would allow the
measurement of variables and build numbers to reflect the findings. A survey techniques and
questionnaire was used as the instruments to collect the data. By using quantitative methods,
the researcher can measure the relationship with numbers and statistical facts and figures to
assess the relationship, to describe the relationship of cause and effect and identify the extent
to which the variables tested affect their academic performance.

Participants

The study was conducted by selecting the respondents from the first year students of the
college of architecture at University of Northern Philippines, who are taking graphics course
at the current semester of the school year 2021.

Table 1 shows the sampling distribution of the respondents. It comprises of 174 first year
students who were taking Graphics course. The data were obtained from the official
Facebook page of college of architecture. Using the study population of 174 first year
students from the College of Architecture of the University of Northern Philippines, simple
random sample s was used in selecting students. The sample size of 121 was calculated using
the mathematical sample size determination formula by Millar and Brewer (2003). The
sample size was therefore calculated as follows:

n = 𝑁 /1 + 𝑁(𝑒)^2

n = 174/ 1 +174(0.05) ^2 = 121

Where: n = (121) Sample size, N = (174) Sample frame, e = (0.05) error or confidence level.

No. section NO. OF POPULATION PER SAMPLE SIZE

 CLASS
1 Bs-Arch 1A 35 25
2 Bs-Arch 1B 35 25
3 Bs-Arch 1C 34 21
4 Bs-Arch 1D 35 25
5 Bs-Arch 1E 35 25
TOTAL SAMPLE SIZE 121

Research Instrument and Procedure

For the investigation and data collection, an online survey-based questionnaire was designed
to estimate the first year architecture student online learning challenges during the
unprecedented health and economic crisis.

The Survey items were divided into two sections. Items from the first section were designed
to collect demographic information including questions about age, gender, status, and major.
The purpose of collecting this demographic data was to increase external validity for
generalizability applications. The second section of the survey contained items aimed at
collecting the information needed to answer the research questions. To gain a better
understanding about online course retention rates, participants were asked to respond to an
item about their experience with online education. Items were meant to distinguish groups of
students by their experience with online learning. The survey-based questionnaire contains
multiple questions, which covered the study’s objectives. It was designed via Google Forms
and distributed among students using Facebook Messenger groups. The questionnaire
consists of different parts; the first part is about students’ demographic information, the
second part includes a set of questions about the knowledge level of architecture freshmen
students in their Graphics course. the third part is about the students’ cope in learning
Graphics course. The questionnaire was checked for validity and reliability fulfillment.

Data Treatment
 After all the data are being gathered, the researchers tally all the answers of the respondents.
All the information gathered after answering the questionnaire was computed and interpreted
using the following formulas:

1.Frequency and Percentage Distribution

 All the data are interpreted after getting the number of students who answers the given

questionnaire by the researcher and getting the percentage of the result.

Formula: P= (∑f / N) x 100

Where in:

P=percentage

∑f= total number of the students who answer the question

N= total number of the students

2 weight mean

This formula used to determine the total numbers of answer per item over the total the
number of respondents.

Formula: X̄ = ∑fx / N

Where in:

X̄ = weight mean

∑fx = summation of f and x; where in f is the frequency of the answer while x is the
equivalent of every answer which is based on the given legend

N= the total number of answers in every item.

3. average weight mean

This formula is used to show the total number of indication presented in the study.

Formula: AWM = ∑X̄ / N

Wherein:

AWM = average weight mean

∑X̄ = average number of result

N = number of indication

Likert’s Scale

Likert items are used to measure respondent’s attitudes to a particular question

or statement. One must recall that Likert-type data is ordinal data, i.e. Researcher can only
say that one score is higher than another, not the distance between the points.

RANGE INDICATION
3.50 – 4.00 Strongly Agree
2.50 – 3.49 Agree
1.50 – 2.49 Disagree
1.00 – 1.49 Strongly Disagree

The researchers used the following statistical tool to make the gathered data more valid and
accurate.

Range

. It is used to show the rank of every item which tells the hierarchy of each item.

Weighted Mean

. It is used to know how the respondents agree with the factors

which affect the students’ academic performance in terms of lack of internet

access.