The outburst of the invisible enemy known as Corona Virus Infectious Disease 19 (COVID-19) as pandemic has brought changes and challenges in the educational system. In its worst scenario, the pandemic led schools in the entire nation shutdown-leaving both learners and educators in a state of uncertainty.
Truth be told. The overarching thought of shifting the traditional of face-to-face learning where teachers facilitated learning in the four corners of the classroom to multiple delivery modalities especially on the emphasis of blended learning has remarkably changed the word 21st century education to “new normal”. Thus, this has been the struggle of the country in sustaining quality education and ensuring continuous learning amid the pandemic.
Today, the transformation in education is evident as teachers need to adopt a well-structured platforms and new practices as public demand for better learning. In this light, the Department implemented Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) where multiple learning modalities should be applied in the context of locality thereby, stressing the significant of blended learning, distance learning and home-schooling learning modalities.
Moreover, a flexible learning strategy in the new normal need to be critically emphasized and be given priority as these foster psychological supports and learning management system in distance learning in the new normal. Massive Open Online Course, self-paced learning materials, mobile learning applicaations, Open educational resources and digital tools for educators should be created and contextualized to create digital learning content and external repositories thus, giving solutions to distance remote learning. In addition, schoold should not only focus in training the teachers and learners but also contextually inform and update the parents and guardians in the supervision and guidance of their childrens’ studies in the new platform.
Today, teachers are being challenged with the multitude of works to be done and surely most of them are praying and hoping to make all plans work smoothly and become worth it. Armed with the right programs of the Department, surely teachers will hitch their wagon to a star.