Perceptions and Online Experiences of Stem Students Toward Customized E-Commons

To ensure learning continuity, the Philippine’s Department of Education adapted distance education as the alternative, amidst the pandemic. To help with the shift, the department developed DepEd Commons for the purpose of providing easily accessible learning resources. In the same token, Calbayog City National High School in Samar, Philippines developed the customized E-Commons. Being a first attempt and a work in progress, the online platform is admittedly incomplete and the purpose of this study was to evaluate and improve it. Using the descriptive-correlation design, the study aimed to determine STEM students’ perceptions and online experiences with the customized E-Commons. Fifty percent (50%) of the total STEM student population was assigned as respondents using the simple random sampling technique. The findings reveal positive perceptions and online experiences in all criteria, specifically in quality, usability, potential effectiveness, support system, and resources. However, despite the overwhelming approval, the customized E-Commons relatively had lower marks with indicators pertaining to internet connectivity and consumption, indicative of the needed optimizations to make the platform compatible with slower and limited internet. The study calls for further research on the subject with a more balanced representation of students from other strands and disadvantaged backgrounds.