Addressing studying barriers to students’ online learning majoring in social sciences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Addressing studying barriers to students’ online learning majoring in social sciences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Vu Thi Phuong Thao thaovtp@vnies.edu.vn The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, Vietnam
Nguyen Xuan An annx@vnies.edu.vn The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, Vietnam
Tran Thu Giang giangtt@vnies.edu.vn The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, Vietnam
Tran Bich Hang hangtb@vnies.edu.vn The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, Vietnam
Luong Dinh Hai haild@vnies.edu.vn The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, Vietnam
Summary: 
The transition from traditional (face-to-face) to online learning mode presents challenges and barriers to students globally. Reports on this issue during the pandemic show the various effects of barriers to online learning on their academic achievement. Some researchers have been interested in this issue. However, specific research on the group of students majoring in social sciences is still limited. To fill this research gap, this paper aims to build a theoretical framework on barriers to students’ learning in the online environment through a review of research papers, thereby examining the relationship between barriers and students’ academic achievement. The barriers identified in this study are Social Interaction, Academic Skills, Technical Skills, Learner Motivation, Time and Support for Studies. The Snowball sampling method was used, and the Google Forms application designed the questionnaire for data collection. The analytical data set included 482 records collected over 32 days from April 5th to May 6th, 2021. The results show the difference in demographic conditions in terms of the academic year, learning conditions, gender and region with the identified barriers. The study results show that most female students are guaranteed to fully meet the requirements of online learning in the context of COVID-19. However, the results of online learning are still affected, and the main reason is the time and support for learning activities. Through the findings, the research has contributed to strengthening the knowledge about the relationship between barriers and academic performance among students majoring in social sciences in the online learning environment. The research results can be a reference source so that educational administrators, teachers and related stakeholders such as parents, enterprises and the community will propose solutions to issues affecting the students’ learning effectiveness and outcomes.
Keywords: 
online learning
students’ barrier
social sciences
academic achievement
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