Before the school year even began this week, Araling Panlipunan teacher Bryan de Asis already delivered lectures in front of a camera.
The Punturin Elementary School teacher was among the educators in Valenzuela City’s public schools who were selected to create educational content and broadcast lectures through live videos.
The supplemental videos cover different subjects, from Filipino to mathematics to physical education for different levels.
Large viewership
De Asis’ social sciences videos are available to some 15,000 Grade 5 students in the city through a private Facebook group specifically for “social learning.”
With the large viewership, De Asis said creating a 30-minute educational presentation—from the lesson plan aligned with the students’ learning modules, to the script and slides and fact-checking of their coordinators and supervisors—takes about a week to complete.
The videos are shot in one of the 18 studio-type rooms at Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science (ValMaSci), which are all equipped with cameras.
De Asis noted that while the 15,000 Grade 5 students are not required to watch the videos as these were only supplemental to the modules, viewership could reach up to 24,000 as some students are repeat viewers.
Presence of mind
“You really should have presence of mind when delivering lectures. And you should be doubly careful because this will be up on social media. The lectures should be delivered correctly, coherently, without mistakes,” he said.
The videos must also be interactive, meaning that teachers should deliver the lecture as if they’re physically speaking to a class. Some videos even use reaction buttons as choices.
“The learners, even if they’re home, they leave their answers [in the comment section]. The moderator, who is behind the camera, gives me the responses from the learners. If the students have queries, I can answer them as long as we still have time,” said De Asis.
Discussions
A day after the broadcast, teachers will then discuss the learning module on a specific subject through Facebook messenger.
During this period, teachers could also discuss and answer students’ questions regarding the supplemental video.
If a student could not connect via internet, De Asis said that teachers would personally call or text the student or the student’s parent to provide individual assistance.He added that the city government provided teachers with SIM cards with internet and call allocation.
“The assistance is for students who could not watch the videos or could not access the messenger classroom. This is so they would not be left out,” he said.
Free data subscriptions
Aside from teachers, some 8,000 public college and high school students in Valenzuela City will receive free data subscriptions as classes shift to online learning.
The SIM cards with a Microsoft 365 software license will be distributed to students of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela, Valenzuela City Polytechnic College, and junior and senior high school students of ValMaSci.
The monthly subscription will be shouldered by the city government to make distance learning more accessible to students.