Track: IE / OM in Asia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic change to the entire world and has affected industries including the higher education. Since people are locked down in their respective homes, conduct of face-to-face classes needs to be suspended and be transformed to online distance learning as an emergency learning continuity strategy. A higher education institution in the Philippines ensures to make learning still possible amidst the pandemic. One of these steps is to assess the preparedness of the college students.

This study is conducted to determine the readiness of college students of Cebu Institute of Technology - University for online distance learning in terms of self-direction, learning preferences, technical skills, study habits and course communication. The students’ geographic profile, internet capabilities and experience in online distance learning were also gathered. Results have shown that the overall readiness of students is high at 2.9751 of 4.000. The students have high confidence in all five aspects: technical skills (3.1039), self-direction (3.0152), course communication (3.0128), study habits (2.8742) and learning preferences (2.8717) whilst only 80% of the students have internet connectivity at home. This means that the students are confident that they have the competency and can learn without assistance or supervision in a distance learning setup.

Notwithstanding, support for internet connectivity bundle for students and support programs on the five aspects were among the recommendations of the study.