Understanding and Utilizing Media in Teaching (UUMT) is a seminar-workshop on the integration of Media Literacy in the K to 12 curriculum. The said seminar-workshop is conducted nationwide by the National Council for Children’s Television (NCCT) for the Basic Education and Alternative Learning System Teachers of the Department of Education. UUMT will have eight runs for both Elementary and High School teachers; 16 runs in total equally divided among regions and has the sole purpose of widening and deepening the teachers’ knowledge on media and on how to utilize them appropriately.

The seminar-workshop had already four pilot runs conducted in Luzon, Mindanao, Visayas, and NCR respectively. Luzon pilot run (with 136 participants) was conducted at Hotel Veniz, Baguio City on May 22-25 and Mindanao run (with 150 participants) was held at Upi, Maguindanao on May 28-June 1, 2017. On the other hand, Visayas run (with 117 participants) was held at Cebu Business Hotel, Cebu City on June 20-23, and NCR run (with 100 participants) was conducted at Marand Hotel, La Union on July 10-14, 2017.

The Luzon and Visayas pilot runs were served to high school teachers while the Mindanao and NCR pilot runs were conducted for elementary school teachers. The goal of the program is to fully equip the teachers for them to be able to guide their students in accessing media and understanding its content critically.

Each run follows the same program flow and differs on speakers for every module. UUMT made sure to serve its objectives by tapping the best and most qualified speakers in their field of expertise. The well-commended speakers were:

Mr. Ramon “Bong” R. Osorio – Council member of the NCCT representing the Broadcast Media sector (Luzon, Visayas, and NCR run)

Dr. Luis “Tito Dok” P. Gatmaitan – Council member of the NCCT representing the Child Development Specialists sector (NCR run)

Prof. Generoso “Gene” Pamittan – Associate Dean, Institute of Arts and Sciences, FEU-Manila (Luzon, and Visayas run)

Prof. Joeven Castro – Vice President of Philippine Association of Communication Educators (PACE)-Luzon and Assistant Vice President for Academic Services, FEU Manila (Luzon, and NCR run)

Prof. Ulderico “Derek” Alviola – Vice President of PACE-Visayas (Mindanao run)

Prof. Marco Polo – Associate Professor, Communication and Journalist Department, De la Salle University – Dasmarinas (Visayas, and NCR run)

Ms. Bernadeth Daran – Supervising Education Program Specialist, DepEd – Bureau of Curriculum Development (Luzon, and Visayas run)

Mr. Ariel Sebellino – Executive Director, Philippine Press Institute (Mindanao run)

Prof. Janet Tibaldo – Associate Professor, Saint Louie University (Luzon run)

Mr. Danilo Mutia – Principal, Malaking Pulo National High school (Mindanao run)

Ms. Digna Paningbatan – Master Teacher I, Quezon City Science High School (Mindanao, and NCR run)

And to help the secretariat execute the flow of the program, the following facilitators were also involved:

Mr. Danilo Mutia – Principal, Malaking Pulo National High school, Tanauan City (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR run)

Ms. Digna Paningbatan – Master Teacher I, Quezon City Science High School, Quezon City (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR run)

Mr. Joey Villanueva – Department Head, Maria Clara High School, Caloocan City (Luzon run)

Mr. Wilfredo Villagracia – Master Teacher I, Plaridel Elemenary School, Manila; Alternative Learning System teacher (Luzon, and NCR run)

Mr. Ryan Esquivel – Teacher III, Pag-asa National High School, Legazpi City (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR run)

Ms. Melody Galingan – Head Teacher, Munoz National High School-Annex, Nueva Ecija (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR run)

The modules of the program were thoroughly studied by the Technical Working group members, selected Speakers, and Council Members which include Understanding Language, Communication, and Media; Media and Society; Media Literacy and Media Education; Key Concepts in Media Literacy; Program and Advertisement Analysis; Critical Thinking in Media Education; Landscape of Child Friendly Television; and Lesson Plan Development.

As reflected through the feedbacks of the participants, an overwhelming suggestion that NCCT should conduct the UUMT seminar-workshop in their respective divisions and schools as they agree that Media Literacy is timely needed and that would surely help both students and teachers in becoming intelligent consumers of media contents.

As a newly designed program of NCCT and with the shared hopes and desire of the people behind UUMT to propagate media literacy among Filipino children through our dedicated teachers, the said seminar-workshop is expected to be all around the country in partnership with the Department of Education and the Local Government Units.