This study aimed to determine the effectiveness and challenges in the use of google classroom in Graduate Education at Guimaras State University, an island university in the Central Philippines, for Academic Year 2022-2023. A descriptive research design was used in this study utilizing 330 respondents who were purposively chosen through convenience sampling technique. A researcher-made questionnaire was employed in gathering the data needed. Frequency count, percentage ranking, mean, Mann Whitney U-test, Kruskal Wallis H-test, Chi-square and Spearman’s rho were the statistical tools used and the level of significance was set at .05. It was found out that the use of google classroom in Graduate Education at Guimaras State University was at very high level of effectiveness as assessed by the respondents as a whole and when classified according to age, civil status, course, type of program and status of employment; the graduate students considered the use of google classroom challenging due to lack of high speed internet in the island province; the respondents had varying assessment on the level of effectiveness in the use of google classroom when they were classified according to civil status, course and type of program but similar when they were classified according to age and status of employment. The respondents encountered different challenges when they were classified in terms of their age, course and type of program and encountered similar challenges in the use of Google Classroom in their graduate studies when they were classified according to their civil status and status of employment; and the effectiveness and challenges in the use of google classroom in the Graduate Education were not significantly related.
Introduction
The landscape and perspective in offering graduate programs have dramatically changed in the past decades. These changes demand new or enhanced competencies among students to meet the requirements set by globalization, regional integration, internationalization of higher education, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Thus, students must be able to optimally use 21st-century skills in their daily work and professions thereby strengthening the nation’s innovation, research, and development. (CHED MEMORANDUM ORDER No. 15, Series of 2019).
As the Philippine education system has been undergoing reforms, the occurrence of COVID-19 has resulted in schools being shut down all across the world. As a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching and learning is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. Along with these changes, the Guimaras State University has developed a Learning Continuity Plan (LCP) which focuses on the transition of the University from the traditional teaching and learning to the Flexible learning modalities as it adapts to the changes in the educational landscape brought about by the worldwide health pandemic where Google Classroom is one of the online platforms adopted by the University.
Google Classroom is part of the online Google Apps for Education (GAFE), a suite of packed productivity applications for teachers and students in learning and online collaboration. This application provides a central site for communicating with students that starts with creating classes and adding students, then it explores the features found in these applications such as sending information, starting discussions, distributing and collecting tasks, Zhang, M. (2016).
As there are studies on goggle classrooms that show about the use of their technology in learning process particularly its effectiveness as a learning medium or an alternative way to embrace learning, it was noted in Guimaras State University specifically in the Graduate education where since the use of it as a teaching-learning online platform in 2020, no study has been conducted yet as to effectiveness of this platform in the delivery of instruction and what challenges have been encountered by the users. Thus, this study was conducted.
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International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) such as PISA and TIMSS have become the prominent measure of mathematical literacy across countries and educational systems to date. As evidenced by released PISA and TIMSS items, math items in such ILSAs are characterized by an application of mathematics in a problem that supposedly simulates a real-world situation, where student test-takers are to use their mathematical knowledge and skills to come up with a solution. Math test items in such assessments are nested in contexts that have been defined in their assessment framework (e.g., the Personal, Occupational, Societal and Scientific context categories in PISA). This study followed the item-writing activities of four tertiary math instructors in the Philippines as they construct context-based math items. After undergoing an orientation on the PISA Math Assessment Framework, the respondents were asked to create PISA-like math items with a given set of specifications for content and context categories during an item-writing seminar-workshop. The data consists of transcripts from the focus-group discussion which was conducted after the seminar-workshop. The transcripts were then analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of this study showed that there were two themes that explain the phenomenon of item writing in the context of writing PISA-like math items. These themes are the phases of item-writing and the dimensions of item-writing. There were three phases and three dimensions captured from the participants’ narratives. Findings showed that the respondents primarily struggled with finding realistic contexts that fit the indicated item specifications based on the PISA categories. Additionally, the writers engaged in a problem-solving task similar to solving a puzzle as they created items that satisfied the content, context and process categories in the table of specifications. This study contributes to filling in the research gap on item-writing activities particularly those of math teachers in the Philippines- a country whose recent performance in the PISA 2018 and TIMSS 2019 was nothing short of dismal in terms of mathematical literacy.