News, tips and tricks

The mozaTeam has been really busy these last couple of weeks. As you may know, we exhibited at the Frankfurt Bookfair in October. However, that was nothing compared to last week, when Mozaik Education participated in 4 different events in various countries all over Central Europe. In addition, we were invited to attend the Education and Sport in the Prosperous Epoch of the Powerful State conference organized by the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat as well. For a quick look at our time abroad, check out our Facebook page, where you can find photos from the Elementary Schools Principals’ Meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia; the Pro Školy a Školky exhibition in Prague, the Czech Republic; Bibliotéka - Pedagogika in Bratislava, Slovakia; and Interpädagogica Wien in Vienna, Austria.

In other, even more exciting news, we also got word last week that we have been shortlisted in 2 categories as a finalist for the BETT Awards 2017. This year, Mozaik is running for the title of both ‘International Digital Education Resource’ and ‘Primary Digital Content’! The BETT Awards, much like the BETT Show - which is currently the largest education technology exhibition in the world - are held in London every year, with the most prominent players in education participating. All the most modern and innovative equipment and content are presented, so you can imagine how thrilled we were when we got the notification we had been shortlisted for this accolade.

First of all, congratulations and a giant virtual round of applause to our team of developers, designers, education specialists and innovators. This nomination reflects all their hard work and all the energy they have invested into making the imaginative and powerful tool that is mozaBook. Even though there are always adjustments to be made or fine-tuning to be done, this only goes to show how important mozaBook is to us.

Secondly, let us express how grateful and proud we are that our software is acknowledged as groundbreaking not only by its users, that is teachers and student, but that we receive recognition from our peers in the education community at the same time. It is always an honor to be up for an award, but to be hand-picked by a panel of judges and named as one of the best in our field is truly extraordinary. We hope that thanks to this wonderful opportunity, more people will get to know Mozaik Education and what it stands for.

Finally, thank you to you, our user and subscriber. You have helped us make mozaBook better with your feedback, which is essential in tailoring our product to your needs. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and your enthusiasm when we meet at exhibitions or training events; it makes our job so much easier - and obviously makes us very happy - when we get incredibly positive reactions (in Vienna, this was usually expressed by: “So cool!”) and supportive remarks from people encountering mozaBook for the first time. This is when we honestly feel like all our efforts have paid off.

How have you been doing? Are you also on the road? We would love to hear from you, too. Please leave a comment, or feel free to get in touch with us on any of our contact channels.

Happy Olympics to you all!

The Olympics are a time of tremendous pride for us at Mozaik Education.  Not only are we proud of all the athletes representing Hungary in the games, but we are also reminded of how proud we are to have your support.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for supporting us with your likes, comments, shares, and just for reading.
 

Linking History to Today
...Did you know?

Practice makes perfect

On the surface, it would seem that a single moment in time defines “greatness” for Olympic athletes. However, the truth is, that this moment of truth is not a single moment, but the culmination of years of practicing and perfecting skills. This is precisely why we say people achieve greatness. We don’t say people are born into greatness or are given greatness.  In the Olympics, people don’t strike gold. They earn it.
 

Let’s Get Motivated!  

Training for the Olympics is a lot like preparing for a high school leaving exam, when you think about it.  Here is a list of 8 similarities that I’ve compiled to emphasize this point:
 

The only real difference between the two is that during the Olympics, millions of screaming fans, from all over the world, are watching athletes compete and cheering them on. Whereas, in a leaving exam it will most likely be so quiet you can hear the clock ticking and your thoughts tormenting you.

Let mozaWeb get your students in shape during the off-season

How to build mozaMuscle:  

• Work the core...curriculum! mozaWeb is like hiring your very own personal trainer, who never sleeps, and is available anywhere there is internet connection.

• Competition is the fuel for greatness:  Not enough people to get a game started?  mozaWeb brings the court/field home to you so you can compete against your personal best, your classmates, or both!

• With access to over 1,100 3D models, 700+ educational videos, and more than 75 thematic tools and games, mental pushups have never been this fun.  

• mozaWeb makes practice simple - just login, lace up your shoes and get moving

• It is absolutely free to try. (My mozaTrainer has just informed me that excuses are unacceptable… So you better just get to it.)

We hope to see you on the court!  

What does the average day at the office look like for you?  

At Mozaik Education, testing is a big part of our days. Our team of programmers work tirelessly to ensure that the end user experience is smooth and functional. They are constantly responding to user feedback and improving upon the system. As a part of our employee training, our business development team creates unique information sessions on the new features available in mozaBook and presents them to our colleagues. Not only are we allowing each individual the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and show us some innovative ways to use mozaBook, but we are also testing the software in real time (just as a teacher would present a lesson to the class). And of course, we have fun while doing it, because mozaBook is not only fun for students!

Our mozaBook testing sessions

We are constantly thinking about things from many different angles - testing, updating, developing new content, and re-creating situations - in order to continually improve upon the solutions we offer. We think about things from the teacher’s perspective (i.e., is it easy to use and does it save time?), the student’s perspective (i.e., is it interactive, interesting, engaging and fun?)... We think about things from inside the box, then outside the box, then we open our 3D model of a cube on mozaBook for still another perspective! Let me introduce to you, the third way to think about about a box...

Using mozaBook to demonstrate the third way to think about a box.

Our ultimate goal is to make teachers more effective by giving them the tools and solutions they need. The mozaBook interface is intuitive and anyone with a basic understanding of computers can begin creating lessons on mozaBook almost immediately. The icons are designed simply making them easy to navigate. However, the software also has tremendous depth and, for those who want to dive deeper, we also provide numerous training sessions. These sessions give participants the opportunity to see how the software can best suit their needs, and provide answers to their specific questions. They also build teacher confidence prior to using the software in the classroom. In other words, teachers also may need to do a little bit of homework (a huge understatement). However, these training sessions are always interactive, fun and informative for everyone involved.  We hope to see you at the next one!

Would you like to join our next partner training? Want to visit sunny Szeged in the summertime? There are still spaces available for August 23 - 25 in Szeged. If you would like more information, visit our Facebook page.    

Want to see more 3Ds? Not a mozaMember yet? Let’s register a free account now.

Peter Torok, our deputy CEO and certified mozaWizard, was recently invited by Uchebnik Center ("Textbook" Center), Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to the international scientific-practical conference in Astana, Kazakhstan. This year’s conference was titled “Modern educational resources and the effectiveness of the educational system”, and took place over three days beginning June 28th. During his stay in this beautiful capital city, Peter presented the unique features, design and capabilities of mozaBook and offered some mozaWisdom in his presentation titled: “The 5 Pillars of Successful Educational Systems: The Essentials to Graduating Competitive Specialists.” Peter also held a master class titled: “The efficient application and use of digital education content and tools as an extra to the existing educational materials in the 21st century classroom.”

Pictured above are conference members, notably: Beybitkul Karimova (third from left), CEO of Uchebnik, Peter Torok (center), deputy CEO of Mozaik, and Duysebek Adilhan Telegenuli (center, right), deputy CEO of Uchebnik.

The purpose of this conference was to assess the role of educational technology in the overall educational environment. It was also a great opportunity to showcase new and developing educational solutions to the Kazakh people. Along with our partners at Interactiv Kazakhstan, Mozaik presented mozaBook as well as our companies’ educational philosophy and forecast for future educational environments.

From all of us at Mozaik Education, we would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to our partners in Kazakhstan for their kindness and hospitality, and for helping Mozaik to shape the future of education.  We look forward to hosting you in Hungary soon!

Mozaweb is now available in China!  In January 2014, our Mozaik team attended the BETT expo in London England where we encountered a great producer of educational content in China, Yuanlai. This was the beginning of Mozaik’s presence in the world of Chinese education.

Chinese students enjoy a Mozaik 3D model of the Globe Theatre in London.

At a recent expo, Yuanlai presented one of Mozaik’s 3D models about the Globe Theatre in London, England to students in Wuhan - Jiang’an District.  If you would like to watch the Globe Theatre video, and see just how much information we can cram into a 2 minute lesson, you can check out the 3D model here.  Before you can gain access to our library of free content, you will need to register an account at mozaweb.com.  It is free, easy and takes only seconds to complete.  After registering, you will be able to sample our 3D scenes, videos, and other online content.  Also, we promise there will be no spam associated with your registering, so no worries there.

Various young learners enjoyed exploring the interactive digital components of the “Secrets of our Environment” series

Wuhan Yuanlai Education Distribution Company Ltd. produces and distributes educational videos and other content, and even has their own educational television channel!  For two years, we have enjoyed a great working relationship with Yuanlai and are proud to announce that mozaWeb is now available in China!

Outdoor big screen displaying mozaBook at Shandong Book City, China.

Mozaik Education has licensed the use of 12 of our books to be used by the children in China, including the complete “Secrets of our Environment” series.  This is a printed book series which includes an activation code which can be entered on mozaWeb and the students are given complete access to the books in the form of online digital content, via our educational platform. In other words, the book is also made available to them, in its entirety, online. Since this time we have been proud to offer our printed books and mozaWeb to the people of China and salute our partners at Yuanlai for their dedication to excellence in education.

After almost two years of successful and mutually beneficial collaboration, there are plans to license new books in the near future and Mozaik’s books are also available now from a variety of bookstores, online distributors and retailers.

Academics' Choice Awards™ aims to help teachers and parents search for the best educational software, toys and books. Highly qualified academics, parents, homeschoolers and teachers evaluate the product on its ability to develop cognitive skills of students. The products are examined on their success of building higher order thinking skills, ability to engage students, positive influence on character building of the students etc. Only the true “mind-building” products can survive the rigorous scrutiny of the Academic’s Choice Awards team.

We feel honoured to receive this award and are very thankful for the positive feedback we received from the reviewers. One of the teachers on the committee said: “My students loved watching the 3D panoramic images and presentations on our whiteboard. I loved that they were actually paying attention! Not only can I assign homework and design new lessons using the powerful tools, mozaBook even has a built in browser so I can point students to more content that loads right in mozaBook! It's much more than a presentation software program, it's a make-me-look-good as a teacher program that's actually effective!”. It makes all the numerous people who put effort into creating mozaBook extremely happy to see that teachers love our software.

To see more quotes from the Academic’s Choice Awards committee about mozaBook or to check out the list of all the winners please visit the website of Academic’s Choice Awards.

If you haven’t tried mozaBook yet, you can download the free demo version here and build your own interactive lesson plans enriched with spectacular 3D and video content.