INTERNATIONAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY: APPLIED BUSINESS AND EDUCATION RESEARCH The Experiences of Selected Teachers in Dasmarinas City During the Initial Implementation of Online Distance Learning (ODL) in the Philippines

The challenges brought about by the COVID- 19 pandemic was not only on the health, economic, and medical sector. It also brought about drastic changes to the education sector. With the "No Child Would Be Left Behind" philosophy, the Department of Education ensured that classes would push through without face-to-face communication. This policy led to various Online Distance Learning (ODL) designs per Division or locality. This qualitative study done through narrative inquiry aims to determine the different challenges experienced and recommendations proposed by the ODL teachers in the actual delivery of education at this time of pandemic and inputs for a better implementation of the school learning continuity plan. Responses from fifteen participants from the Division of Dasmarinas yielded experiences by which various themes were extracted from the participants. Written interviews were sent to many public elementary and high school teachers experiencing the Online Distance Learning provided and designed by the Department of Education, and fifteen responded. Results have shown that the system pro-cesses affect both teachers and students. Thus, further study must be done to perfect the Learning Continuity Plan design, specifically ODL. It may be an abrupt change brought by the pandemic, but a more in-tensive and careful plan must be done for problems are coming in the chain and bigger.


Background
The COVID-19 pandemic relandscaped the process and tactics implored to deliver education. It has revealed vulnerabilities yet also surfaced extraordinary human resourcefulness and potential. The Department of Education has sojourned possibilities to ensure that classes will push through despite the economic challenges and health crisis crippling our communities. Education will remain unshaken and dedicated to ensuring that no child will be left behind.
With the challenges faced by all sectors brought forth by the pandemic, the City Schools Division of Dasmarinas redefines the education landscape through innovative strategies that would address the teaching and learning crisis faced by the forty-four (44) public schools, which comprise of twenty-eight (28) kindergarten / elementary schools, thirteen (13) junior high schools, and eight (8) senior high schools. The Division has ninety-seven (97) community learning centers offering Alternative Learning Systems in the same vein. The Learner Enrolment and Survey Form (LESF) of the Division revealed that 107,612 learners from public schools alone intend to continue their studies this school year despite the pandemic threatening our country. This fact is supported by the enrollment data that shows 60,165 or 81.83% of the population of the previous school year were already enrolled in the elementary level, 38,752 or about 93.49% for junior high school and 8695 or about 127.62% in senior high school decided to enroll in various distance learning delivery modalities. It is essential to underscore that out of the whole figures, 31.7% of the total enrollees for this school year are under Online Distance Learning.
Based on the Division Learning Continuity Plan (D-LCP) of Dasmariñas City, of the 2,083 elementary teacher respondents, only 56% or 1165 have available laptops and desktops with internet connectivity that can be used for distance learning modality. Meanwhile, 73% or 1,533 teacher respondents indicated their smartphones with internet access. For the junior high school, only 58% or 926 only of the 1,603 teacher respondents have available laptops and desktops with internet connectivity that can be used for distance learning modality and 68% or 1,094 of the teacher respondents indicated that they have a smartphone with internet access. Lastly, for the 257 senior high school teacher respondents, only 65% or 167 have available laptops and desktops with internet connectivity that can be used for distance learning modality and on the availability of smartphones, 64% or 165 of the teacher respondents indicated that they have a smartphone with internet access. Templeton (2010) notes that web-based learning management strategies, templates, and web-portals can meet the challenges posed by extended campus-wide crisis events such as what we currently face with the global pandemic. However, in the study of Arrieta (2020), it is revealed that teachers may be equipped with the knowledge and skills for online learning, but without the needed support from the school administration, particularly on technological resources, online learning will not be successful. Teachers need equipment that will meet the technical requirements of online teaching. Having a more stable and dependable internet connection at home will enable them to carry out more effectively and creatively online teaching and learning. In order to ensure that students are guided and accompanied in this new normal in education, communication guidelines and systems must be in place. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that online learning will become impossible if there are no technical equipment and infrastructure. Teachers have to be provided with the school's needed technological equipment and support.
Like all other professions, teachers were caught off guard by the pandemic and remained steadfast to deliver by knowing how important it is to keep the education going for the benefit of all learners. With all these sudden changes, many questions are surfacing, especially to the current situation of our teachers.
This qualitative study aims to identify the challenges and recommendations of ODL teachers in the actual delivery of education at this time of pandemic to purposively suggest inputs for the better implementation of the school learning continuity plan utilizing case studies.

Methods
This research utilized a narrative inquiry design under the qualitative approach. Creswell (2009) defined this strategy as a method of inquiry investigating a program, event, process, or group of individuals through multiple sources of information.
In this study, the researchers explored the experiences, challenges, and issues of Online Distance Learning (ODL) teachers in the City of Dasmarinas as they implement the online learning modality in their virtual classrooms.
Data were gathered using written interviews online with fifteen teachers from public elementary and secondary schools handling ODL classes in the SY 2020 -2021.
The experiences and voices of the participants were organized and hand-coded by the researchers as part of the data collection and analysis. The interview texts were coded into two types: descriptive code, which summarizes the concept of the interview text, and process code which captures the action of the interview text (Saldana, 2013).

Results and Discussion
1. What are the challenges encountered by the teachers in delivering Online Distance Learning? Through the coding, the researchers found out five challenges the teachers encountered in delivering Online Distance Learning or ODL. Figure 1 shows the challenges concentrated on: the ODL Process Flow, Teacher Deployment, Learning Resources, Training and Development, and Assessment of Student Learning.

ODL Process Flow
For the ODL Process flow, five subcategories of challenges were coded. These five are the modality, schedule, teaching-learning process, learning management system, and connectivity.

Modality
The participants revealed that the ODL process flow was not clearly explained to the teachers, students, and parents resulting in difficulty in implementing the modality. Though the modality is flexible to shift from ODL to MDL, the ODL process flow is described as a difficult and unclear process that causes a hard time, creates impulsive decisions, and makes parents undecided.
However, through process coding, the participants regarded the ODL modality as flexible for the students to allow student transfer.

Schedule
When it comes to the schedule of the ODL process flow, participants described it as conflicting. Through process coding, participants justified the transferring of students from one modality to the other as conflicting. This description is evident through some of the statements such as "Conflict on schedules arose during the transfer." Confusion arises when one student request for transfer of schedule. "It seems that we also need to adjust our schedule because we have a different schedule for online and because our students are transferring to MDL, then, schedules get mixed-up."

Teaching-Learning Process
The teaching-learning process describes the plan of work of the teacher for the successful delivery of learning. However, this is also a factor affected by the pandemic changes in the education sector. Teachers reveal that the Teaching-Learning process of the online distance learning (ODL) teachers are flexible for both the teachers and students. However, it was also seen that it is unclear and requires cooperative communication among teachers, students, and parents. In sum, it is more challenging for the teachers than the students.
A participant described the teaching-learning process as flexible by stating: "Teachers were given the option to validate learning or further discuss the topic at hand." However, the Teaching-Learning process is also regarded as confusing. A participant described a scenario in the class where students get confused: "Since teachers are using the synchronous lessons differently, students are confused who is doing it correctly and ought to make a judgment to teachers as if adding salt to their wound." Effective instruction now becomes more challenging. It is important to note that these challenges lie heavily on the teachers to ensure successful learning. Four ODL teachers exclaimed these concerns: When it comes to delivering lessons online, "It is challenging since teachers are being compared to each other by the students." The variation of modalities also affects the TL process since "the monitoring of students' activity is very hard and the plan (WHLP) that was made for them to follow was not abided by the students most of the time." Moreover, "there is spoon-feeding of information." It is challenging to facilitate learning, especially when "students do not want to open their cameras." Because of these challenges, it is also regarded that cooperative communication is very vital in the teaching-learning process. A participant mentioned: "Parents' and students' cooperation [is a challenge]."

Learning Management System
The City of Dasmarinas utilizes Moodle as its Learning Management System. Since this is the first time that an online application or platform will be used for the delivery of learning, participants regard the use of Moodle as unstable. Participants show that there are descriptive codes associated with Moodle as slow, confusing, and insufficient. However, it is also noted that using an LMS is essential in the ODL implementation but would entail somebody proficient in the application to become very successful.
The teachers' issues and concerns regarding the use of Moodle are greatly on its stability, network traffic, and the server, which cannot accommodate a large number of users in the Division. Some ODL teachers raised these: "The Moodle classroom still needs to be fixed, especially the network traffic issues, among others," which makes "…access to Moodle difficult." In addition, "not all are not knowledgeable in using technology."

Connectivity
Among the issues surrounding the Learning Management System is internet connectivity. Participants regard internet connection as ever-fluctuating, which impedes successful online teaching and learning delivery. Since the medium in ODL implementation uses the internet connection, it also becomes a barrier when either the teachers or the students have an unstable internet connection. Teachers explained that "The usual challenge we (they) met in implementing ODL in our school is that not all teachers have strong internet connectivity.". They also shared that "Sometimes pupils in the ODL class cannot attend the synchronous class because they have a problem in the internet connectivity at home."

Teacher Deployment
The second major challenge experienced by the ODL teachers is their deployment. Here, five subcategories of challenges were also coded. These five are the modality assignment, teacher preference, teacher selection for deployment, responsibilities, and delivery during deployment. The teachers were asked which modality they preferred. Other significant factors were also considered before giving loads of the teachers like the distance of their home from the school (since teachers living far from the school may find it difficult to travel if they will be assigned to MDL), availability of gadgets, and internet connection at home, and pieces of training attended by the teachers in preparation for the online modality.

Modality Assignment
Modality assignment refers to being assigned either for Online Distance Learning (ODL) or Module Distance Learning (MDL). Participants reveal that ODL teachers are also handling MDL. Moreover, if one is assigned as an ODL, the teacher can sometimes substitute for the MDL teachers. To wit, these are some of their remarks: "Some teachers were required to work in between these two modalities since there is a lack of teachers to deploy in some subjects or year level," thus, "ODL advisers are also performing the tasks of MDL advisers because of their absence."

Teacher Preference
In line with the modality, it was also noted that "the teachers were asked what kind of modality they prefer." Therefore, teacher preference is being considered in teacher deployment. This implication shows that schools exercise a consultative approach. Therefore, volunteerism also plays a role before being deployed. Nevertheless, for others, modality is assigned according to resources, "Basta Kung gusto mo at may internet connection ka ay Ikaw na ang ODL teacher. (As long as you like to be an ODL teacher and you have an internet connection, then you automatically become the ODL teacher." Also, "we (they) identified teachers who will handle MDL and ODL by considering the following: 1. availability of internet connectivity at home, 2. availability of materials to be used, like a laptop, 3. training attended by the teachers."

Teacher Selection
However, the former subtheme is being negated by some. Instances happen that teachers are selected as to which modality they would be assigned instead of teacher preference. They described teacher deployment as not optional and sudden. As one noted, "I do not know specif-ically…suddenly, I was assigned as an ODL teacher." Teachers are also selected depending on the teacher's availability, proxemics, or nearness to the school. Considering the situation that there is a pandemic, "if a teacher lives far from school, she will be assigned as ODL."

Responsibilities
The major role in the Online Distance Learning modality is to provide instruction to students in a virtual model. However, teachers describe their responsibilities related to teacher deployment as multiple jobs, seldom in attendance, and heavy tasks. Three participants mentioned these statements: "Some are seldom attending their (ODL) duty schedule." Some were assigned multiple times a week to perform their (ODL) job in school" where "too many papers need to be accomplished."

Delivery
Online Distance Learning must be delivered smoothly to the students. There is already a Learning Management System available for both the teachers and students. However, there are still issues in their delivery of instruction. Participants say that the delivery of instruction as ODL teachers is difficult. For example, "…work from home is quite difficult". They also mention insufficient training because "Not all teachers can deliver ODL, especially the senior teachers" and "Teachers were trained in ODL but not in MDL." They likewise consider the delivery inefficient in document approval since "It takes time to have a particular module be approved."

Learning Resources
The Division of Dasmarinas already provided the teachers and students with a readymade online classroom where learners can readily access lectures, videos, tutorials, and activities. For the teachers' access to resources, participants described that the ODL design allows the school to send copies of modules, give access to teachers, and provide training.

Access to Resources
It is important to note that there is a pressing concern on accessing learning materials or resources primarily for the students. Teachers may have access because of books as references modules as a guide, but the students may not have them. The pressing concerns are: "The learning resources needed by the students in their learning was uploaded in the Moodle classroom, but the website was not always available all the time to some students because of unavailability of gadgets, internet connections or the website itself has the problem."; there is also the "inability of (our) learners to access prepared video tutorials, digital notes and lectures due to internet connectivity."; and "We have books for our references but due to low internet connection teachers finds it hard to find other references in teaching."

Strategies
Despite the difficulty of accessing learning resources, there are still teachers who try to strategize on how to teach the students. Four IJMABER 387 Volume 3 | Number 3 | March | 2022 participants stated the following: "Sariling sikap sa pag-gather o pag research ng information na maitututro sa mga bata. (We try our best to gather or search for more information to teach to the students)". They also do "peer tutoring with co-teachers para mas maliwanagan sa ituturo na topics (for a better understanding of the topic)."

Training and Development
Training is an integral part of faculty development. It initially shows how much a school cares for its employees by providing them with enough knowledge and skills. However, with Online Distance Learning, almost all teachers need to immediately change from traditional face-to-face teaching to virtual teaching. Thus, three challenges were extracted from the coded transcripts of participants concerning training and development. These are training provision, training application, and training access.

Training Provision
By introducing a new learning modality, teachers regard that the Department of Education provides, gives, and ensures better handling of online activities. However, the teachers would appreciate it more if there was enough time to be trained, from beginner to advanced, since they noticed overlapping training and schedules and difficulty balancing activities at home.
Indeed, there was "a Moodle readiness training." The "Division ensured that every ODL teacher was trained in using the Moodle Classroom ."However, since "only virtual training is provided," there was an "overlapping of schedules, seminars, and training given by the school, division, and regional office ."Moreover, "it is hard to balance household chores and to listen or participate in training." Thus, the training is also described as crude ("hilaw") for lack of hands-on training.

Training Application
After training is applying the theoretical foundations of using the Learning Management System, three ODL teacher participants noted their concerns about having more practice and time to navigate the system thoroughly. Others initiated self-training. As they mentioned: "The teachers were trained but still need to practice the use of Moodle since this is the first year of its implementation ." In addition, "Another training was voluntary and self-initiative." and that "The teachers do not have the time, they needed to navigate the system thoroughly."

Training Access
Three additional teachers connected internet connectivity as a factor in successful training. With low and sluggish internet connectivity, training would also be impossible. The following are their actual statements: "Though there were seminars and training conducted, due to low internet connectivity, there are teachers in our schools who were not able to attend." and "Some teachers experienced sluggish internet connectivity."

Assessment of Student Learning
Assessment of student learning gauges how well a faculty member performed in the class. It describes how well the students learned from the process. Without assessment, the teachinglearning process is incomplete. Among the fifteen ODL teachers, there were only two who observed that there must be a standard assessment set for the ODL modality to wit, "there is NO standard assessment set." Standardization is said to be assessed similarly for every student: "Considering that this is distance learning, the students could answer all the activities intended for them, but the accuracy in measuring the students' learning was questionable." However, with the ODL, the teachers might confuse the extent of considerations given to the students.

Implementation
Teachers described the assessment of student learning as limited difficult, and they needed to look for alternative assessment forms. The teachers' voices also matter in discussing the assessment of student learning.
Participants stated that "there are activities we can do before that we cannot do now due to a virtual setting." The capacity of the teachers to provide stimulating activities is very limited. More commonly, "drills were used only during a synchronous meet," and there is a "volume of activities given to the learners." Even one experi-IJMABER 388 Volume 3 | Number 3 | March | 2022 enced that "more students do not get the instructions and the right answer to the activities." Moreover, the assessment was limited to "seatwork and other activities." In cases where performance-based assessment is implemented, "portfolio was used." Since the learning management system is available, "Moodle was used during asynchronous learning (for the assessment)," and teachers provide "learning tasks in Moodle/LMS." However, participants observed that learners "always skip the lesson and proceed on answering activities." Though there are some difficulties in assessing students, participants also recognized the advantage of using technology since "Some online activities are automatically checked so, it is a big help for ODL Teachers."

Output Issues
With the access to the Internet, teachers developed a sense of distrust when assessing the students' outputs. Since answers are easily accessible through the Internet, especially theoretical concepts and foundations, teachers felt that the students' outputs for the ODL are untrusting, substandard, and insufficient.
The following are the varying concepts of teachers that tell why the outputs are untrusting: "Most students verbatim copied the key answers from their modules." In addition, "they (students) did not even bother rephrase or reword the answers" and "there is a high risk that parents and siblings are the ones answering the Moodle and the Module." Moreover, outputs are characterized as substandard: "the activities are good in assessing their learning, but the outputs were not of quality ."Teachers cannot help but compare "unlike before, it is hard now to assess students' learning because we are not sure if the students honestly answered each activity ."Another example is "if they will always do this, we will always check substandard activities and will ask them to repeat those." Further, "there is no assurance if their answers came from them. Since students can access the Internet, they can rely on those taken from the net." Outputs are also regarded as insufficient to assess student learning: "Mga activities sa Moo-

Connectivity
Though only one teacher mentioned connectivity, it still serves as an issue in terms of assessment, both for the teacher and students. Without strong connectivity, there will be delays in retrieving instructions for assessment and submitting outputs. To wit, the teacher remarked: "90% of my pupils can do the given and completed the task, and the remaining 10% are not, maybe because of the internet connections or availability of the gadgets (not all students can do the tasks due to connectivity problems)" 2. What are the personal issues/concerns experienced by the ODL Teachers? Through the coding, researchers were able to extract the personal issues or concerns of the ODL Teachers: Transfer from ODL to MDL leads to confusion on record and list, no private room at home to conduct ODL, cannot focus on being both an ODL and MDL teacher, work from home arrangement is more difficult than working in a school, there is also the fear of being infected by the virus, and there are learners who are unreachable. The thorough discussions regarding the teachers' issues and concerns encountered and continuously encountered will be discussed.

Transfer from ODL to MDL Record and list confusion
According to the teachers' responses, "five of our learners suddenly decided to change their modality from ODL to MDL. This incident creates confusion on the records/ list. Students will sometimes decide to shift from online to modular without informing their teachers. According to Ryan and Deci (2020), one of the three elements in providing good motivation is giving students space to make their own decisions to feel they belong. Because (students) do not have sufficient loads and gadgets, changing from time to time is okay if there is guidance coming from the school personnel. Since the modalities in teaching are new to some, adjustments always come in. Teachers are also humans, and it is hard for them to change the records from time to time, especially nowadays. However, documents are necessary to be submitted, and a list of students is one of them. Therefore, if one student transfers into another learning mode, the teacher will adjust the record again, which is not easy.

Acceptance and adjustments
Moreover, it will always go back to the heads of the school to provide a good and understandable acceptance of changes in parents, students, and teachers. They should understand that these changes are part of the process. Therefore, adjustments should be made accordingly and stress-free. As one participant stated, "when administrators are not listening to your ODL concerns and there are no clear solutions, this just adds stress to all (Yung hindi ka pakikinggan sa mga concern ninyo sa ODL at walang gagawin na mas malinaw na solusyon para sa ikakabuti ay dagdag stress sa lahat") therefore, adjustments must be made by every member of the educative process. Again, the primary importance of transfer for education is this: educators cannot produce specialists who can transmit their knowledge or identities to deal with any problem or situation that may emerge. Rather, educators can only set students on a path to mastery by preparing them to transfer their knowledge to future study."

No private room to conduct class/classes Absence of home workspace
This absence is one of the crucial personal concerns encountered by the majority of the teachers. "Our house is not fit for ODL class. (there is no private room to conduct virtual classes)". That is normal since the pandemic arose in the year's first quarter. There were no preparations done on the part of the teachers, especially those who did not have enough space at home and no allotted budget from the side of the school organizations. All should be done personally by the teachers involved.

Environmental/ community noises
The number one factor in the preparation of the class is the environment. It is not easy to conduct lessons in a very noisy environment; shouting and crying of kids will erratically outvoice in the teaching and discussions done by the teachers. As mentioned by Pena-Bandelaria (2007), "Technical work, more superficially, should draw attention to functionalities that people value and, more fundamentally, should articulate those analytical categories that have been found useful in describing social reality ."We all know that we should work hand-in-hand to have a successful teachinglearning process, and the ultimate goal is to no one left behind on the part of our students. All should learn and apply all these and put them into action as they encounter challenges in life.
Aside from the other factors, not to mention those teachers with special needs like having a kid with special needs like autism, no room for IJMABER 390 Volume 3 | Number 3 | March | 2022 the same scheduled virtual classes like for example, those who have schooling children too, with 2-year older kids that also need special attention and needs to take care at the same time same schedule of classes; just imagining all these makes us realize the stress teachers have in their lives.

Cannot focus on being both ODL and MDL teachers MDL as an extra task
Let us not forget that the very purpose of education is to impart academic knowledge to students and not to lose sight of how to implement and deliver lessons effectively. All teachers had been doing their responsibilities and adjusted in their professional and personal aspects. Being flexible is one of the good qualities of a teacher; hence this is not a question for every teacher of schools/institutions. Nevertheless, as the pandemic arises, this challenge affects a lot on the part of the teacher since teachers cannot control time. The research revealed that "we cannot focus on being an ODL teacher because we were given extra tasks to prepare materials for MDL learners."

Stress
Teachers also added that doing modules and, at the same time, teaching online is very hard on their part since they really cannot concentrate. They need to do both tasks simultaneously, which makes them more stressed nowadays. Teachers need more time to do the tasks once to lessen their stress and concentrate on their teaching.

The work from home arrangement is more difficult than working in a school
The respondents emphasize this factor since the following was observed personally by the teachers:

Absence of good internet connection
Not all have good and quality internet connections. It depends on the geographical location. The internet connection is good at times, but it is not for the others. The respondents also reveal this scenario because this serves as another stressor. It is the only way to communicate verbally and virtually with their students. Not all the time or 24/7 has good internet connections, even no storm at all still the connections most of the times, fluctuate or worse no connection at all. That gives frustrations on the part of the respondents or teachers. There are many ways that a lack of internet access can affect a student's academic performance on the part of our teachers affects the entire lessons or modality of teaching. The absence of the Internet means the absence of output and demands. Slow internet connections or limited access from rural homes can cause academic failure, according to a new report from Michigan State University's Quello Center (Bauer, Brooks, and Hampton, 2020). Beyond basic technology use, digital abilities are associated with competency in a variety of fields, including language and computation. Increased access to the Internet at home adds to more broad usage of technology and increased digital abilities. Educational failures may have a profound effect on academic performance, college admissions, and job chances, according to Bauer, Brooks, and Hampton (2020) Some teachers live in rental apartments with not enough space to work and intermittent Wi-Fi. Even in areas where the Wi-Fi is usually strong, there are still interruptions experiences. Some teachers have roommates and have to teach from their bedrooms. Others have no space, and kids are roaming around, which is beyond awkward.

Series of webinars
"Virtual conferences and webinars still go on, and there are other ways educators can acquire professional development points while working from home. Even amid the Covid-19 crisis, teachers still have a responsibility to keep their professional licenses and certifications up to date." This statement comes from an article dated May 4, 2020, by Kwame Sarfo-Mensah. The webinars are indeed good for each teacher's development. Teachers will follow if their respective schools give the scheduled seminars or webinars. That is part of their responsibility to apply in their classes. That is all acceptable.
However, the research revealed that sometimes, webinars and classes conducted simultaneously lead to choosing webinar attendance over classes since it is required to attend. "The result is a new phenomenon we are all experiencing: webinar fatigue is the phrase that has been coined to describe the overall feeling of disinterest towards the oversaturation of webinar offerings. We all know what a bad webinar looks like -it is no longer simply passive intake of information" (Shootsta, 2020).
The statement would like to reveal that sometimes even the teachers are tired of doing so many things started from the preparations of class/es. Still, they need to prioritize the scheduled webinars over their classes. Nevertheless, some of them realized to do the same thing simultaneously as long as they could do it possibly. With the help of dualuse gadgets, they can attend webinars simultaneously, not compromise classes. Moreover, that makes sense for the teacher who can do it simultaneously. For some, the webinar is still the priority even though it is hard for them to sacrifice time for their students.

Saturday classes and meetings are done simultaneously
"Sometimes the schedules are conflicting: there are webinars and meetings on the same day," the respondents revealed this statement since it happens during weekdays because of the class schedules. Some teachers have no time to attend, but they are forced to because it is required to attend. Being a personal concern is that they have almost no time for themselves from the weekdays they have, especially if the students or parents keep chatting with them during or beyond school time.
Teachers have their children at the same time they have teaching students at the same time parents have their virtual working conditions at the same time their children are required to learn virtually. Teachers are also a parent, and some are students too. It is so hard for the respondents to do what is first. Saturday is intended for their professional growth because some teachers are students enrolled in a virtual class. If the meeting is scheduled on that day, two or more factors will be affected. First, the family, the students, the teacher's class, and at the same time, some personal schedules prior to the school meeting schedules.

Learners that are unreachable Communication problems
The personal concern of the respondents revealed that some of the students could not be reached on the given contact numbers provided on them, so made them frustrated and look for another venue to contact the students. "Learners that cannot be reached through their given contact numbers and some Learners do not have parents/ household member to get their modules/activity sheets" This statement is not easy since the teacher will make an effort to communicate with her students for them to give the necessary materials of learning. The teachers gave time and effort to communicate well with the students. Parents and students often keep communicating with the teachers through messenger or any other technological gadgets, but the cellular number is a big factor to the students since that is the only way to exchange communication between teachers and students and vice versa.

Absence of gadgets
Another problem or concern raised by the respondents revealed that there were still students who had no cellphones. Some students also have no guardian or parents to get the modules from their teacher or community/barangay. Alternatively, the student itself is considered the guardian of their siblings, which is evident during the respondents' revelations. It is very hurtful for the teacher to see the real scenario of her/his student since the pandemic. It is so hard to study while doing house chores while being a parent of their siblings because no one will take care of the young kids.
The realities of life on the teachers and students are challenging. It is a challenge for both to strive more to benefit their teaching-learning mode in this pandemic.

Conclusion
This study concludes that there are five challenges in the initial implementation of the Online Distance Learning (ODL). These challenges are experienced in the ODL process flow, teacher deployment, learning resources, training and development, and assessment of student learning. Moreover, personal issues experienced by the ODL teachers are concentrated IJMABER 392 Volume 3 | Number 3 | March | 2022 on the transfer form ODL to MDL, absence of private rooms at home to conduct the ODL, cannot focus on being both an ODL and MDL teacher, work-form-home arrangement is more difficult than working in the school, and learners who are unreachable. This study has shown that the system processes affect both teachers' and students' social, emotional, financial, and other dimensions of wellness. Thus, further study has to be done to perfect the design of the Learning Continuity Plan, specifically, the ODL. It may be an abrupt change brought by the pandemic, but a more intensive and careful plan has to be done for problems are coming in a bigger chain. And the following are suggested: a. ODL Process Flow a. Review the processor design in consultation with the teachers instead of the administrators b. Teacher deployment a. Value teacher preference over teacher selection c. Learning Resources a. Provide alternative resources pdf, ebook, etc. d. Training and Development a. Continuously train teachers, most especially the senior faculty members e. Assessment of Student Learning a. Provide authentic assessments for the duration of ODL b. Integrate the course activities, exercises, and other assessments tools between subjects f. Have a set of "Self Care" or "Me" time for all the teachers to be scheduled in one whole week, same with the students. g. Regular "Kumustahan" for stress-free time for all teaching and non-teaching personnel.