DepEd's TV test broadcast of episodes for blended learning successful

On Monday, Department of Education Director Abraham Abanil said that the first of the five-day test broadcast of the television episodes of DepEd's blended learning approach was successful.

Successful po ang aming pag-broadcast kaninang umaga. From September 21, today, up to Friday, September 25 mag-dry run kami ng 26 episodes corresponding to one day of TV episodes that we'll be airing on October 5,

Abanil said in a virtual media forum
.

[Our broadcast this morning was successful. From September 21, today, up to Friday, September 25, we'll have a dry run of 26 episodes corresponding to one day of TV episodes that we'll be airing on October 5.]

Photo credit: governmentph.com

Before the opening of public schools set on October 5, Abanil said that the final dry run is important to test the logistics and procedures in broadcasting 26 to 28 episodes per day.

There will be 130 episodes per week of TV lectures to be aired in major networks for the major subjects. Hindi pa po namin kaya mag-produce sa kasalukuyan sa lahat ng [We can't produce episodes yet for all] subjects,

he said.

Each lecture episode was around 20 minutes long with a 5-minute break in between. The episodes started early at around 7:00 A.M. until 7:00 P.M.

Abanil said they are planning to ramp the number of episodes up to 220 episodes per week by January and include dubbing of K-3 subject areas into the local language. The 220 episodes will be covering all the subject areas in the most essential learning competencies. In addition to that, Abanil earlier said that there is a dedicated studio putting in Filipino sign language into all the video episodes.

DepEd’s partner channels that will air the TV episodes include: IBC 13, Solar TV, Cignal TV, GSAT, PTV4, Planet Cable, Philippine Cable and Telecommunications Association, Gracia LMP, Mabuhay Pilipinas TV, and GMA Network.

Abanil said that to produce the 130 episodes per week, the department had trained 107 teacher-broadcasters nationwide, most are from the National Capital Region. The department is already in the third batch of training and there are around 91 teachers that may pass. As of September this year, DepEd has five studios which is in Metro Manila, 18 public schools for off-site shootings, and 72 production staff members who work on post production tasks pertaining to the episodes.

Furthermore, DepEd said that they are also building up several production sites in various regions in the country such as Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, Quezon, Batangas City, Palawan, Zamboanga City, and Davao City, among others, to aid in the production of the episodes.