ABSTRACT

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I. Introduction

A. Background

In a 2020 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO) report, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 28 million Filipino

students at all educational levels. Students have had to conform to the Philippine

government’s pandemic protocol of staying at home to mitigate the growing coronavirus

threat.

Simultaneously, community quarantine measures enforced by the National Inter-

agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) compelled higher

education institutions (HEIs) in the country to shift to a flexible learning environment. On

September 2, 2020, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) mandated all state

universities and colleges (SUCs) the implementation of flexible learning through

Memorandum Order No. 4 series of 2020 to continue education despite the health crisis.

Flexible learning, as defined in the memorandum, is “a pedagogical approach allowing

time, place, and audience flexibility including, but not solely focused on the use of

technology (Cassidy, A. et al., 2016).”

As a CHED-accredited learning institution, Negros Oriental State University

(NORSU) System complied with the said order. It implemented the blended type of

flexible learning for the academic year 2020-2021 to its colleges including the College of

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Arts and Sciences (CAS), which includes using either printed modules or digital

platforms.

However, the abrupt transition from traditional face-to-face classes to flexible

learning brought adverse impacts on education that have dramatically reshaped how

students deliver learning inside the university.

There has already been significant growth in research regarding factors affecting

students’ learning outcomes while immersed in the new learning modality. The primary

aspect that has dramatically impacted students’ learning outcomes during the COVID-19

pandemic is the learning environment. Transitioning to the learning environment may

direct learners to withdraw from school or lessen their eagerness to pursue their degree

courses (Jaggars, 2014). Students learn more effectively when their learning environment

is encouraging and positive (Aldrige, et al., 2006). On the contrary, the absence of human

interaction may result in students learning less, unlike in the traditional setup (Edge and

Loegering, 2000). The absence of face-to-face communication with the instructor,

response time, and lack of conventional classroom socialization was among some other

issues that tertiary students underscored (Adnan, 2020).

One potential cause why students’ learning engagement lowered in online classes is

that other factors easily sidetracked student attention (Jonassen et al., 2003). Cited from

(Ragpala, 2021), noise, temperature, light, and air quality in the students’ study area were

some environmental factors that affected learning. Aside from these, family, peers,

teachers, online games, social media, time, Internet connection, health condition, and

attitude towards learning sustained in activating the students’ learning environment.

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 On some occasions, the new learning arrangements turned out to be indefensible,

thereby constraining some academic institutions from suspending classes because the

potholed socioeconomic status of students conditioned their access to the new learning

modalities. On the other hand, struggles in understanding course expectations, the must

for in-person interaction, harmonizing with alien technology, and uncertainty about the

future have molded every student’s learning experience. Further, the negative impacts of

COVID-19 on education have exacerbated students’ mental health (Lyubetsky, et al.,

2021).

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B. Statement of the topic

This research aims to recognize and explore the effects of environmental factors to

the learning and performance of NORSU, CAS students attending online modality during

the COVID-19 Pandemic.

*To provide studies regarding the risks of studying at home, in the hopes that it may

influence the schools decision of advancing the modality.

*To make a crticism of how weak public ordinance, let these factors prevail which

ruins education of students

*To make evaluation of how ineffective these modality is, and to evaulate the

readiness of the schools to implment and the city which is not.

*To cover the “other” area of online learning, since most deal with emotional,

psychologocal avenues.

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 *To provide an objective observation of how noise influence performance

II. Literature Review

A. Summary report

The Philippine higher education system and the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic provoked all SUCs in the country to restyle and review the

entire education system by utilizing Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

and all accessible possibilities to deliver instruction to the students. Because of the

pressures of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, the Philippines has

gradually and consistently postured flexible learning even before the pandemic. But, with

the unusual normal condition stemming from the health crisis, HEIs have leaped into the

breach by rapidly changing the conventional form of education into flexible learning.

From the start, education officials were aware of the challenges of the flexible

learning system. As corroborated by (Pawilen, 2021), the pandemic affected many HEIs

worldwide, including in developing countries like the Philippines. Challenges such as

access to a conducive learning environment, the right amount of technology and the

Internet, the capacity to do online learning, infrastructure for flexible learning, and the

geographical location of the students were among the raised concerns. In the onslaught of

the pandemic, there is no denying that there has been a need to bridge the gaps in distance

learning.

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Importance of learning environment

Several kinds of research have presented that an engaged learning environment

escalates students’ responsiveness and concentration, upholds significant learning

familiarities, reassures advanced stages of student performance, and prompts students to

exercise higher-level critical thinking skills. In an article by (Movchan, 2018), social,

physical, psychological, or cultural dynamics tangled in a learning environment

profoundly impact the learners’ learning abilities. It added that it would be difficult for

students to stay engrossed or interested if the learning atmosphere is not conducive to

acquiring first-hand skills or knowledge.

Additionally, in a better learning environment, teaching spaces to grow into

“communities” wherein improved learning levels transpire. This logic about community

consents learners to feel attached – as well as their teachers – and to absorb two-way,

vigorous learning. Learners not only absorb knowledge through logical thinking but also

sightsee learning in a direction that employs their germane mental state and comforts.

Moreover, it permits extra-personalized learning, with every student functioning at a

developmentally suitable pace.

How surroundings affect the way students study

With the instructional adjustments executed by the Philippine HEIs,

environmental factors – whether at home, in school, or elsewhere–speak volumes

regarding how students effectively learn and mesmerize new information. A student’s

high-quality academic performance and outcomes link to the nature of the learning

environment and the available functional facilities, as (Usman, Y. et al., 2019) specified.

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In addition, the educational development process arises in the physical, social, cultural,

and psychological environment, which suggests that suitable and satisfactory

surroundings are indispensable for productive learning (Mudassir and Norsuhaily, 2015).

Comfort, noise, lighting, and color can affect one’s learning ability (Hendrix,

2019). Thus, it is imperative to keep these elements in mind to make one’s ultimate study

space for better knowledge acquisition.

Similarly, (Ragpala, 2021) mentioned that noise, temperature, light, and air

quality in the study area were some environmental factors affecting learning. Aside from

these, he added that family, peers, teachers, online games, social media, time, Internet

connection, health conditions, and attitude toward learning sustained in activating the

students’ learning environment.

On the one hand, learners who study in an encouraging learning environment are

more energized and motivated and have increased learning proficiency. On the other

hand, learners studying in poor backgrounds – uncomfortable, noisy, or full of

distractions – will get at it more uneasy assimilating knowledge and staying committed to

learning. That said, the quality of infrastructure – along with the magnitude to which they

are sustained – has a solid bearing on school performance among students.

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B. Conceptual framework

Map ; Poor conditions – Findings – Influence environmental factors, influence actions

of concerned body, evaluation fo condition.

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 Research – problem; Prob. Noise affecting students performance; Relate; to validate

and shed light into the conditions

Research – obj.; Obj. To provide conclusive reports that noise and other external factors

influence students performance during the modality; Relate; to produce evidence that a

correlation between noise and performance do exist.

C. Research question & hypothesis

Noise and performance have correlation

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III. Method

A. Participants

*NORSU CAS students. Encompass all year levels, all course. Limited to undergrad.

*ample number per year level. Atleast 50-75% of total pop. Anticipated pop. Results may

be lesser.

*undergrad. On all four year levels (freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior), at home

student., boarding students. Online, module. Asynchronous learners, synchronous learner.

Active performance.

*male, female. Encompass all age); encompass destitute to middle class. Address density.

*estimate no. Of all applicable students.

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 B. Materials

*online google survey, online results gathering

*multiple choices questionnaire (control). Open suggestion question (opinion). Rating

surveys (gauge).

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C. Procedures

*posted online fb group. Open for 3 days. Evlauate.

*06/18. Questionnaire was posted.

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IV. Results

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V. Discussion/ Conclusion

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Limitations

The research only focuses on noise, etc other ecternal factors. and does not

encompass other conclusive enironmental factors

*should discuss about efficient students?

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VI. Acknowledgements

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