Abstract
The goal of the study was to identify the difficulties and coping mechanisms faced by first-year students enrolled in online Master of Arts in Education courses at St. Peter's College in Iligan City during the first semester of the academic year 2022–2023. The survey provided information on the respondent profiles in terms of their age, sex, civil status, career, technology usage, and monthly family income. Also, the difficulties of taking lessons online, including isolation, instructor ability, motivation, and features. The respondents' coping strategies for the difficulties of taking online classes as well as for course, individual, technological, and environmental difficulties. Significant differences in the challenges and coping mechanisms for the challenges in the online classes of the respondents when grouped according to their socio-demographic profile and significant relationship between the respondents’ challenges in online classes and their coping mechanisms. Family monthly income and age mediated the relationship between respondents’ challenges and coping mechanisms were determined. The data gathered led to develop an action plan and made recommendations for this study. The study used the descriptive-correlational research method. It involved 149 students as respondents. The data used an adapted questionnaire that was validated through pilot testing. The result showed that most of the respondent’s challenges in online classes were motivation, features of online classes, and isolation. The respondents' coping mechanisms for the challenges were in terms of environmental challenges; nevertheless, the other coping mechanisms—course challenges, technological challenges, and individual challenges—were also affirmed to have a better coping mechanism in their online class. The challenges faced by the respondents did significantly differed with the gadgets they used and their family's monthly income and coping mechanisms for online class challenges did significantly differed by their family's monthly income. The challenges in online classes were significantly correlated with their coping mechanisms. The challenges and coping mechanisms are not mediated by family monthly income and by age.
