Introduction
In the past few years, the education landscape has profoundly changed with the advent of new technology in the field of virtual learning, such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. While the product of the Coronavirus pandemic, this turnabout has produced several changes in how students manipulate educational content and the mode of interaction with their instructors and classmates. Although virtual learning has shifted the geographic and time limits and generated a new level of accessibility, its implications on students’ academic success are the issue that has created a heated argument and skepticism in the public.
Hypothesis
The current research study aims to extend the existing literature by formulating a hypothesis that the effectiveness of virtual learning in improving students’ academic achievement depends on various involvements, such as instructional quality, technological infrastructure, and socioeconomic background. Firstly, students who benefit from sufficient counseling and virtual learning environments will have the same academic outcomes, if not better, as the net outcomes of the traditional classrooms. The practical realization of virtual learning benefits is a hypothesis based on a solid support system of teaching resources, access to reliable technology gadgets, and the equal distribution of resources. Through the examination of the various questions and their association, the current research will give a clear explanation of the complex connections between online learning and the learning achievement of students.
Literature review
The world of virtual teaching is vast and is covered by different perspectives that shed the brighter and darker sides on the effects of online education on students’ academics and mental health. Bettinger et al. (2017) say online learning is not problem-free. Students in this domain experience more extended periods away from their studies and poorer academic performance, with dropout rates more frequently shown. With Kruger-Ross and Waters (2013), we get a situational theory that anticipates a teacher’s capability to work in virtual learning by their confidence and students’ positive attitude to online studies. Sharma and Sharma (2022) show a contrast between genders of students by analyzing the state of their wellness in virtual learning during the COVID-19 era and differentiating its influence on mental health. Rakow et al. (2023), being the topic of mixed reality, focus on the way the multiplicity of the virtual learning environments impacts students’ mental health with a primary emphasis on the quality of virtual experience. Nayak (2022) encompasses the screen and its interactions with college students’ mental health during the pandemic via the movie; the spotlight is on the student’s perception of virtual instructions and its effect. Aggregately, all these research tools give us a clearer picture of the complex connection between virtual learning and student outcomes, which generates endeavors to upgrade and change virtual learning dates and rules.
Methods
The research will use mixed methods to determine virtual learning’s connection with students’ successes in academia. Quantitative data will be collected via surveys sent to students in virtual learning programs and traditional classroom classes. This will be the approach to data collection essential for measuring the effectiveness of virtual learning compared to face-to-face learning. This kind of surveys students’ perceptions concerning the quality of instruction, technological accessibility, and satisfaction with the learning experience. Furthermore, academic documents, including scores and standardized test grades, will be added to the parameters used to assess student academic progress. The qualitative data will be acquired through focus groups and in-depth interviews with students, teachers, and administrators who will deeply investigate the intrinsic factors affecting the student’s performance in a virtual learning situation(Ruslin et al., 2022). Leading questions will be used to discover what former participants offered, what went well, what they struggled with, and how to improve.
The study of virtual learning and its influence on students’ academic performance is conducted here, and a mixed-methods approach is applied. Consequently, the working hypothesis postulates that pupils with additional differentiation and different sources in virtual environments will have academic outcomes at least on par with those of regular students who study in the classroom. Data and academic results will be the quantitative measurements, and the focus group interviews will serve as qualitative views. The data from various sources is merged to ensure that the most meaningful linkages between virtual learning and academic success are discovered, thereby informing policy and practice that can be applied across diverse contexts in the future.
References
Bettinger, E. P., Fox, L., Loeb, S., & Taylor, E. S. (2017). Virtual Classrooms: How Online College Courses Affect Student Success. The American Economic Review, 107(9), 2855–2875. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26527929
Kruger-Ross, M. J., & Waters, R. D. (2013). Predicting online learning success: Applying the situational theory of publics to the virtual classroom. Computers and Education, 61, 176-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.09.015
Nayak, P. (2022). impact of virtual learning on perceived mental health of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teorija in Praksa, 59(3), 644-664. https://doi.org/10.51936/tip.59.3.644-664
Rakow, K. E., Upsher, R. J., Foster, J. L. H., Byrom, N. C., & Dommett, E. J. (2023). “It Ain’t what you use, It’s the way that you use it”: How virtual learning environments may impact student mental well-being. Education Sciences, 13(7), 749. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070749
Ruslin, R., Mashuri, S., Rasak, M. S. A., Alhabsyi, F., & Syam, H. (2022). Semi-structured Interview: A methodological reflection on the development of a qualitative research instrument in educational studies. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME), 12(1), 22-29.http://repository.iainpalu.ac.id/id/eprint/1247/1/Saepudin%20Mashuri.%20Artkel%20inter..pdf
Sharma, S., & Sharma, M. (2022). Virtual Learning and Student Well-being During COVID-19: Gender Matters? International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments [IJVPLE], 12(1), NA. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.jccc.edu/apps/doc/A759459023/AONE?u=jcl_jccc&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=b72a4f0c
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