Technical Difficulties And Challenges Of Students In Flexible Distance Learning: Basis For Instructional Intervention

The COVID-19 pandemic messed with the conventional education and has compelled higher education institutions to embrace distance learning that is flexible, posing considerable technical problems and challenges to students. The objectives of this research were to identify the online learning devices, the challenges faced in the synchronous and the modular distance learning, the degree of the technical difficulties faced by using different devices and the internet provision and the instructional interventions required to help the students in the new normal. The research design was descriptive-developmental and used a population of 192 students of Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges who were enrolled in the Bachelor of Technical-Vocational Teacher Education (BTVTED) course in the second semester of S/Y 2021-2022. The structured questionnaire was used to gather the data, which were analyzed with the frequency counts, weighted mean, percentages, and ranks. The findings had found out that the most common online learning tools were smartphones (47.91%) and mobile data (78.12%), and a general problem of students experienced was poor internet connectivity, poor access to good technology tools, and inadequate technical skills. The most significant synchronous learning challenges were bandwidth needs and quality of tools, and household responsibilities and assessment affected the modular learning. The general findings indicate that the issue of technological constraints, increased digital literacy and flexible support systems are in dire need of instructional intervention to provide equitable and quality education in the new normal.