In the Philippines, while the government and health officials are trying to flatten the

epidemiological curve of the deadly virus, the Department of Education (DepEd) is working
hard to transition the modality of teaching from conventional “face-to-face” learning, or the
traditional "brick-and-mortar schools” to so-called “distance learning” and “blended
learning.” Face-to-face refers to a learning delivery modality where the students and the
teacher are both physically present in the classroom, and there are opportunities for active
engagement, immediate feedback, and socio-emotional development of learners. Distance
learning refers to a learning delivery modality where learning takes place between the
teacher and the learners who are geographically remote from each other during instruction.
This modality has three types: Modular Distance Learning (MDL), Online Distance Learning
(ODL), and TV/Radio-Based Instruction. Blended learning refers to a learning delivery that
combines face-to-face with any or a mix of online distance learning, modular distance
learning, and TV/Radio-based Instruction. Blended learning will enable the schools to limit
face-to-face learning, ensure social distancing, and decrease the volume of people outside
the home at any given time(TeacherPh,2020). Given the pandemic case worldwide, teaching
strategies in Philippine Education will transform from direct teaching in a classroom
setting, indirect instruction method, interactive instruction, cooperative learning,
experiential learning (Department of Education, 2016) to independent learning via online
class and modular instructions. The DepEd is absorbed in its month-long “remote
enrolment process”, which means that parents or guardians can enroll their children
through alternative ways, i.e. via phone calls, text messaging, or online submissions to avoid
face to face interactions. This is to minimize the risks of possible transmissions of the
deadly virus (Uy, 2020). DepEd is offering schools a menu of alternative learning methods
that includes online learning and offline methods, such as take-home readings and
activities. Parents will also have to take actions on their child’s education during the home
schooling or online class. For the modular instructions, since from kinder – grade 4 needs
extra guidance in learning, parents will have to guide their child in answering the activities
and served as a substitute teacher to their child. According to Maria Celia Junio-Fernandez,
Dagupan City school’s superintendent, online classes may be the best option for
“independent learners” or those who are in Grades 4 to 6 and those in high school. These
students are internet-savvy and are spending more time on their mobile phones and
laptops. With the Covid-19 crisis forcing schools into online instruction, the adoption of
open educational resources (OER) as an inexpensive alternative to traditional textbooks.
Over the years, many educational materials have been developed and made freely available
for teachers and students to use, adapt, share and reuse. Low-cost (and even free) quality
educational content is ideal for online instruction; it is in a digital format and it can be
embedded into a school’s LMS (Grant Thorton, 2020)