A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON STUDENTS’

LEARNING AT THE HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF

FOOD INDUSTRY

[NGUYỄN HOÀNG MAI LY]

nyaneki@gmail.com

Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry 

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Research Methodology Course

Faculty of Foreign Languages

Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry

(15th, July 2022)

 A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON STUDENTS’
LEARNING AT THE HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOOD
INDUSTRY

NGUYỄN HOÀNG MAI LY

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has been a worldwide significant issue that has had a
negative influence on people's lives. The purpose of this research is to look at students'
e-learning experiences at the Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry, as well as
their online learning preparedness throughout the pandemic. While each university is
different, we believe that our evaluation will give some insight into how effective the
students' e-learning experience was throughout the epidemic. Following the
distribution of a structured online questionnaire, a descriptive analysis was conducted.
Students from rural and impoverished locations faced significant hurdles, such as
limited technical access, inadequate internet connectivity, and unpleasant learning
settings. This research also emphasizes the importance of internet commerce in the
transformation of remote learning. More investments and contingency preparations are
required to build a resilient education system in Hufi that accommodates electronic
and distant learning.

Keywords: COVID-19; online learning experience; Hufi; university students

1. Introduction

On January 23, 2020, the first instance of COVID-19 infection was reported in
Ho Chi Minh City, with a Chinese parent and son being treated at Cho Ray Hospital.
By February 2, 2020, there had been one additional confirmed incidence of the virus,
this time in a passenger on a flight from the United States transiting in Wuhan. HCM
City is experiencing a huge increase in daily-confirmed COVID-19 cases. HCMcity
reported 39.934 cumulative positive cases, 324,711 total recovered cases, a daily
positivity rate of 6.44 percent, and 4433 death cases as of 2 March 2022. As a result,
governments throughout the world are moving quickly to protect their citizens and
local communities from the epidemic, and Hufi is no exception. One of these swift
steps has been the imposition of lockdowns and the closure of university campuses,
which has had an unprecedented impact on educational systems and the teaching and
learning processes. On Monday, March 16, 2020, the Faculty of Foreign Languages at
Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry directed all universities to cease on-campus
instruction and transition to distant learning using synchronous online learning
platforms. As a result, online education has become a new norm, yet it presents
significant obstacles. Because of societal inequities in many countries, not all students
have access to this style of education.

(Gonzalez, 2020) did a quantitative analysis and discovered that students'

achievement was considerably different before and during the COVID-19 epidemic.
They analyzed students' test scores from 2017, 2018, and 2020 and discovered
statistically significant variations in students' performance throughout the years, with
2017 and 2018 students performing much better than 2020 students. Ardan et al.
(2020) did a study in Indonesia and discovered that the COVID-19 epidemic had a
spiritual and psychological influence on the pupils. Almost the majority of the
respondents reported experiencing high or moderate levels of anxiety.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) can offer ideal
solutions to the challenges of traditional approaches such as online learning, distance
education, and virtual universities. Teleconferencing, online lectures, online
examinations, and communications in virtual environments will usher in a digital
transformation for the higher education sector as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Before the COVID-19 epidemic, for example, the government lacked proper rules to
assist institutions in incorporating components of new educational technology, such as
those utilized in online learning, into their courses. Distance learning has historically
used two approaches: synchronous and asynchronous. The first strategy involves
learners learning together in real-world contexts such as classrooms, allowing for an
increased engagement at the price of scheduling and technological obstacles, as well
as a sense of community. The second form of learning, asynchronous learning, allows
students to study and debate information alone in venues such as emails or message
boards, without having to engage in group work, resulting in more time for material
synthesis. Online learning is a form of learning that takes place away from the
traditional classroom setting. It has been used by colleges in the United Kingdom and
the United States for several decades. Online learning is a teaching and learning
strategy that allows teachers to give educational materials to their students via the
internet, intranets, or other computer network media. Online learning is the digital
transformation of the traditional educational system and material. The purpose of this
study is to determine the student's learning experience, learning techniques, and the
primary learning problems during the coronavirus epidemic lockdown.

2. Literature review
2.1. The Impact of E-Commerce on Distance Learning

Distance learning has helped society by allowing professionals to further their

education on a flexible, part-time, and remote basis. Furthermore, as advanced
information technology (IT) such as digital libraries and electronic publishing
becomes more widely available, distance education will see significant changes in
organizational structure and design, as well as in how educators teach classes, assign
grades, and certify degrees. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) as an IT form has
resulted in the change of present processes and organizational frameworks, leading to
the transformation of learning settings into new and more effective learning
environments.
COVID-19 has had an impact on e-commerce all across the world, as e-commerce has
grown dramatically throughout the epidemic. Ecommerce has grown and thrived in
several nations, including Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. In Pakistan,
internet shoppers accounted for 3% of the total population [5]. However, as a result of
the epidemic, the number of purchasers grew to 15%. Furthermore, COVID-19 has
had a substantial influence on e-commerce revenues, which are expected to exceed
$6.5 trillion by 2023, according to academics.

2.2. The Educational Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Electronic learning, often known as e-learning, is defined as "the online distribution of

information for training or education." It is a web-based system that allows
information to be accessed over the Internet and uses technology to disseminate, track,
and manage courses at any time and from any location.

The expansion of technology and the ease with which we may access the Internet have
had a significant influence on many parts of our lives. It has benefited numerous
industries, including education, medicine, and commerce, and many firms now rely on
distant information exchange for success. E-learning gives the skills required to run a
business electronically and provides students and staff with customized learning
programs. It also allows for the collection and redeployment of information within an
organization and aids in the proper management of knowledge. Furthermore, the
COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on people's daily life. Many governments
requested their citizens to stay at home, thus businesses transitioned to virtual
workplaces where employees began to work remotely, utilizing e-learning tools like
Zoom. This made it simpler for firms to arrange meetings and address work-related
issues, so ensuring the continuity of their operations. Zoom, an online video
conferencing software, has seen a profit increase of up to 78 percent, and Google Meet
has seen user traffic growth of up to 60 percent. Businesses are getting easier and
more adaptable as a result of this digital business transition. It is believed that flexible
working hours and digital meetings will continue long after the epidemic has ended
and that they will eventually replace traditional meetings.
The COVID-19 epidemic has also had an impact on education, leading to the closure
of schools and institutions all around the world. As a result, distance education and
online learning have become popular. This put educational institutions to the test for
e-learning preparation and led to the quick development of the education environment
and sophisticated technology required to guarantee the continuity of effective teaching
during the epidemic. As a result, many colleges have grown interested in the most
effective methods of delivering instructional information online.

Sadeghi (Sadeghi, 2019) thoroughly explained the benefits and drawbacks of distance
learning; he argued that distance learning has the advantages of being able to study
from anywhere at any time, saving significant amounts of money, not having to
commute, and having the flexibility to choose the course of learning, and saving time.
However, it does have certain drawbacks, such as the high risk of distraction, the use
of advanced technology, the lack of social connection, the difficulty in remaining in
contact with teachers, and the fact that online degrees are not accepted by employment
markets. The impact did not stop with the educational system; it also had an impact on
students' learning experiences when it came to accessing research and study materials;
for example, students' ability to access textbooks and resources they need to review
can be hampered by a lack of copyright limitations and exceptions.

2.3. Theoretical foundation

The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic induced cognitive dissonance in the global
education system, resulting in paradigm upheavals and transformations in Hufi. The
perplexing quandary produces modifications that result in cognitive disparities and
profound changes in schooling. This theory is appropriate for the current article since
it investigates students' experiences of teaching and learning at a period of rapid
change in Hufi higher education. The notion of transformational learning focuses on a
person's experiences in a learning context. It claims that as students learn, they
construct meaning, which leads to changes in their attitudes, behavior, and knowledge.
This theory claims that learners face difficult problems during paradigm shifts and
should be taught to think critically and logically to assess their grasp of the learning
process. When the learner is interatomic with the environment and coordinated with
the learning handle, transformative learning occurs. Because offices in developing
countries are few, students may have difficulty accessing resources. This reintegration
is reasonable and has a significant impact on students' learning outcomes in higher
education. Teachers should apply beneficial approaches and shift the learning plan to
underutilized standards to boost students' learning during a cognitive dissonance. This
change will provide the students with a sense of power and self-awareness. As a
result, these variations will result in progress and modification inside the learning
management system

3. Materials and methods

The goal of this study is to investigate students' e-learning experiences at the Faculty
of Foreign Languages at the Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry, as well as their
online learning readiness throughout the epidemic. The mean score and a simple
percentage computation were used to assess the data objectively. The information is
then input into the computer using Microsoft Excel. Furthermore, classifications of
students' reading comprehension issues are supplied so that the findings of each item's
questionnaire analysis may be clearly described.

The data collection method used in the survey was a questionnaire through Google
Forms at the address https://forms.gle/BMvkkd9Rbcdy7PwXA. To accumulate data
related to the thesis question, the questionnaire " a study on the impact of covid-19 on
students’ learning at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry" will be used
to collect data. The questionnaire "a research on the influence of covid-19 on students'
learning at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry" will be used to gather
data connected to the thesis question. Google Forms questions are made up of closed
format questions of various forms such as linear scale, multiple-choice, and checkbox.
A given reality is represented as a numerical value in quantitative analysis. The
information gathered via Google Forms will be processed in Excel. This provides
researchers with additional possibilities to select or fill in more plausible responses.
The study's purpose is to identify the factors that impede students' reading
comprehension and then devise strategies to enhance their reading comprehension
skills.

Descriptive statistics were used to better understand the distribution of research

participants. Because descriptive statistics are utilized when huge volumes of data
must be processed, evaluated, and summarized. To define the characteristics of the
participants, their location, their knowledge, and awareness of COVID-19, the
learning mode and learning environment during the lockdown, attendance, and
accessibility of online classes, the used platforms, the economic impact on education,
and the main study challenges, a simple percentage distribution was estimated.

Participants

The purpose of this study was to determine if HUFI Faculty of Foreign Languages
students value reading comprehension abilities, their current state, and their impact on
language major students. This study's participants are 43 students from HUFI
University in Ho Chi Minh City in 2022. All poll respondents are first- through
fourth-year HUFI Faculty of Foreign Languages students. As a consequence, 39
female students and 4 male students completed the questionnaire “A study on the
impact of Covid-19 on students’ learning”.

4. Finding and discussion

In this study, the demographics of the participants were presented as a backdrop and
context for discussion. The measurement model assessment and structural model
evaluation were used to support our recommendations and findings for the concerns
raised in the online study. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, these undergraduate
students participated in online learning. Their demographics are detailed in Charts
1,2,3, and 4 below.
Chart 1 The demographic data of participants’ majors in the study

Chart 2 The chart of student's course taking

Chart 3 The pie chart of participants' gender

 Chart 4 The demographic of participants' location

The Hufi student participants in the study represented a diverse variety of majors,
providing an overview of the setting of online learning in the Covid pandemic. The
participants' experiences mentioned in Chart 5 were recorded and reported.

Chart 5 The quality of the online learning experience

This bar chart shows the percentage of eager Hufiers participating. At the first glance,
it is noticeable that there are only 9.3 percent of students exciting about online
learning, and most of the others feel neutral (53.5 percent). Moreover, this 53.5% are
from Ho Chi Minh City, meanwhile, the remaining 2.3 percent are not excited about
distance learning from rural areas.
 Themes Participant 1 Participant 2 Participant 3 Participant 4
What activities Answer questions Raise your hand Teamwork Speaking without
do you find most and get plus to speak, divide a camera
engaging in an points, make into groups to do
ONLINE class? presentations quick exercises,
easier and take a small
test to review the
previous day's
lesson

Table 1 The interview of the participants

Looking at chart 5 again, there are not many students overwhelmed in online classes
but there are still benefits promoting them to take part (table 1).

Their professors used to prepare some questions from each section of their classes and
then assign them to students to digest and find answers to. In addition, not all
questions were found, participant 1 indicated that online learning could help him find
the needed answer easily. Participant 2 realized students can avoid the problem of
raising hands in offline class and the matter of dividing groups also has been solved.
Moreover, due to the benefit of making online groups, teamwork is also improved,
and learning experiences get more efficient (participant 3 said). Participant 4 declared
that speaking without the camera was the most engaging activity he like in online
class.

Chart 6 The difficulties of e-learning

During the lockout, students faced a number of obstacles, the most significant of
which were Internet connectivity issues to attend online classes, trouble with computer
operation, and not having a device to study. The most common obstacle was Internet
connectivity concerns (88.4%), followed by computer operation (9.3%), and not
having a device to take online classes (2.3%). Students in rural and isolated places are
likely to experience poor Internet connectivity.

Chart 7 The survey of future online class expectation

The chart illustrates the opinion on learning online in the future. It is clear that most of
the participants choose to continue e-learning (51.2 percent). The percentage of 39.5
belongs to neutral students. The rest of Hufiers from rural areas chooses not to
conduct distant learning(9.3 percent).

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' e-learning experiences at the Ho

Chi Minh University of Food Industry was investigated in this study. The students
polled came from various parts of Vietnam, and they were all enrolled in a new
method of study, remote learning, as a result of the pandemic. The influence of under-
resourced institutions and economically disadvantaged learners have hampered
organizational response or student capacity to participate in a successful online
learning experience (Zhong, 2020). The students who participated in the study (Chart
5) reported that their learning had not really worsened when they switched to e-
learning, with (2.3 percent) of them responding that their learning had somewhat
worsened' and (9.3 percent) responding that their learning had “more significantly
improved”. The same set of students said that since the start of virtual lectures, stress
has grown although student attendance has remained constant. According to
(Semenikhina, 2019), online lectures have significant shortcomings in communication
and engagement, but they also offer some advantages, such as the option to play
offline with the ability to seek/pause/backward or even repeat the lecture as many
times as needed. Furthermore, if the instructor speaks too slowly or too quickly, the
recordings can be sped up or slowed down. The findings of this study revealed a lack
of motivation among students to attend online classes in synchronous time. This does
not imply that they will never watch the classes again.

The major purpose of this study was to cover a knowledge gap in the literature about
students' experiences with distance learning after being forced to relocate due to an
unexpected pandemic. We accomplished this by explicitly interrogating and reporting
on the students' online learning experiences, paying particular attention to the learning
sources, attendance rate, study length, and learning environment during the lockdown.

5. Conclusion

COVID-19 is a global significant issue that requires global cooperation and

coordination to mitigate its impacts. The virus pandemic has dramatically altered
people's lives all around the world. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.)
announced the virus pandemic to be worldwide in March 2020, causing
transformation and adjustments in schooling. While many students use digital learning
tools, many confront substantial online learning problems such as Internet access
concerns, computer operation, and personal devices for taking online classes. This
study investigates the factor affecting students’ experiences in e-learning. As a result,
Hufi should invest in developing a resilient education system that supports electronic
and distant learning for the university's educational system future. This study is
constrained since no universities or faculty members' perspectives were included.

Future study should look at the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic on students'
learning at Hufi University, as well as the experiences of learning in the school setting
during the pandemic. Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, the researcher experienced
certain restrictions in performing the research, and only 43 of the subjects replied to
the survey questionnaire.
References
Gonzalez, e. (2020). Influence of COVID-19 confinement on students’ performance in higher
education. PLoS One, 220-225.
Sadeghi. (2019, 4). M. A shift from classroom to distance learning: Advantages and limitations. Int. J.
Res. Engl. Educ, 80-88.
Semenikhina. (2019). Open educational resources as a trend of modern education. n Proceedings of
the 42nd International Convention on Information and Communication Technology,
Electronics and Microelectronics, MIPRO(20-24), 779-782.
Zhong, R. (2020). The coronavirus exposes education’s digital divide. The New York Times, 24-40.

APPENDIX

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Which lecture you are?

□ Language
□ Food
□ Industry
□ IT
□ Business Administration
□ Hotel Manager
□ Others
2. Which course you are?
□ 10
□ 09
□ 08
□ 07
□ 06
3. What is your gender?
□ Male
□ Female
□ Prefer not to say
4. Where are you from?
Your answer:
5. How excited are you about going to your ONLINE classes?

1 2 3 4 5
UNSATISFIE o o o o o SATISFIED
D

6. What activities do you find most engaging in an ONLINE class?

Your answer:

7. What has been the hardest part about completing your ONLINE schoolwork?
□ WIFI/Internet connections
□ Computer operation
□ Do not have a computer or smartphone
□ Others
8. Do you still prefer learning online in the future?
□ Yes
□ No
□ Maybe