Mozaik Education has always aimed to create software and content that makes current hardware in schools more beneficial for education. Consider the following situation: if teachers have interactive boards, but don’t have any education-specific tools to use on that board, that interactive board is nothing more than very expensive wall decoration which teachers use to write notes on - exactly in the same way they used their traditional whiteboard. Plus maybe they will open one or two photographs from the Internet, helping them skip some trips to the printer. There’s no mistaking that the hardware has a lot of potential, but it’s our development team’s job to think about what we can create to enable that technology to make teachers’ jobs easier, make learning more exciting for students, and actually increase the effectiveness of the digital classroom.
First there were interactive whiteboards. Many schools worldwide received funding to purchase the boards, but there was really no effect on education, in fact it was confusing for many teachers to have the hardware with no clear use or benefit. Now interactive panels are being seen more and more in schools, which is a more versatile technology. Now we are experiencing the rise of the tablet. Back in 2014, it was already reported that nearly 70% of schools in the UK had tablets for students to use, some schools even went as far as starting programs that would ensure one tablet per student. Besides tablet use in schools, one BBC article stated that 70% of students also had access to tablets at home.
As tablet use in education started increasing, we began to hear more questions about what our mozaBook software and mozaWeb platform could do for students with tablets. Our team immediately responded to this feedback by beginning to develop tablet applications for mozaBook. Tablets running the Windows operating system can actually run the fully-functional mozaBook software, in the very same way that it works on a PC. In fact, in Austria there is already a great education hardware/software package on the market called eduTab, an impressive combination the Microsoft tablet, Lemberger publications and the mozaBook platform.
Our latest release of the mozaBook application for tablets is for Android. mozaBook is already available on Google Play and this application allows students to use their teachers' presentations and digital textbooks right on their tablet, as well as run all of the interactive educational tools and game applications, interactive 3D scenes and videos within.
Along with this rise in tablet use for education comes a larger need for good classroom management functionality. mozaBook CLASSROOM includes a classroom management menu which allows teachers to start a virtual classroom. Once teachers start their classroom connection, they receive a code. The students simply open mozaBook and enter that code on their tablet to join the virtual classroom environment. Teachers can always see who is connected and who isn’t, as well as get screenshots any time, to make sure everyone is on track. Teachers can also share pages of a textbook or Exercise books (presentations) directly to students’ devices. In addition, teachers can send tools, games, tests, assignments, videos or images to students. Students can use that digital content and make basic notations.
mozaBook is a unique software that brings content together for teachers. Why is it unique, you ask? The edtech industry has created a lot of useful programs for digital classrooms over the last decade, but this has resulted in many tools made by many different developers, made for use on various platforms. This makes it rather difficult to navigate for teachers who already have very little time for lesson planning. mozaBook brings a large range of tools, games and content into one presentation software, allowing teachers to use our huge library of content, their own files, elements from the Internet and textbooks all into one program. It's a great way of tying all the elements of digital learning together.
One final note for all edtech and Android fans: several individual 3D models are available for download on the Google Play Store, so feel free to try our interactive content for free!
We’re pleased to announce that mozaBook has been selected as a winner as Cool Tool in the Presentation Solution category of the 2016 EdTech Awards. mozaBook was also chosen as a finalist for two other categories of the competition: e-Learning, Blended Learning or Flipped Solution and Content Provider Solution.
The EdTech Awards are put on annually by edtech digest, an online publication with a U.S.-based team who has been writing stories and publishing information about the latest in education technology since 2010. Their mission is to “tell the story of 21st-century education transformation.” Among their work, they share interesting edtech products, interviews with influencers in education, compile special reports and resources all in the name of working to “reshape the education culture and to create a new and better future for students.”
The EdTech Awards highlights interesting edtech products, leaders in education technology, as well as products and companies setting trends in the industry.
Victor Rivero, Editor-in-Chief of EdTech Digest and the man who oversees the EdTech Awards, has the following to say about this year’s competition: "This year's program had some very stiff competition, hard decisions were made in selecting winners. The honorees here are among the best and brightest in the edtech space. Finalists and winners both represent an achievement. We're proud to honor these cool tools, leaders and trendsetters in education technology.”
To follow those kind words we’d just like to say that, here at Mozaik Education, we’re proud to be a part of the movement to help improve what edtech can do for learning, changing both how edtech is being used in schools and helping students learn more effectively...and of course while having some fun with technology at the same time!
Elementary Technology is a distributor of mozaBook and mozaWeb in the UK. Based in Telford, Elementary sells educational products directly to schools, including interactive whiteboards, projectors and visualizers. When we met the folks at Elementary, we knew the combination of their hardware offering with the mozaBook software and interactive content would make a great solution for teachers!
The staff at Elementary are very active in their sales strategy, traveling all around the country, making presentations in primary and secondary schools, as well as attending workshops, conferences and exhibitions, such as the Bett Show. They also organize their own exhibition, inviting many schools and showing off a range of digital education products alongside their commercial partners.
Last year several Elementary employees came to our headquarters in Szeged to participate in one of our partner training sessions. During that time, they learned about the mozaLearn solutions and the ins and outs of using mozaBook. As enthusiastic participants, they even began planning and creating presentations that they could use on their sales tours while they were still here at training.
If you’d like to find out where Elementary Technology is going next, check out their social media pages. They regularly share information and photos from their presentations and workshops on their Twitter, YouTube channel and blog.
We’re proud to introduce one of our latest projects: Mozaik Education has teamed up with Microsoft and Lemberger Bildung to bring students in Austria the eduTab, a functional tablet including mozaBook and mozaWeb access. The idea behind eduTab is that students should be able to buy one product which already contains just what they need, without searching for the hardware, apps, learning content, insurance and accessories separately.
That’s why eduTab was designed as an all-in-one solution, ideal for students to use in the classroom and for homework and independent learning at home. EduTab was officially announced at Microsoft’s Education Summit Austria in Vienna in November 2015. If you would like to read more about the event and eduTab, please have a look at the Microsoft Austria website (in German).
EduTab includes the mozaBook software and interactive digital content pre-installed, and also comes with a protective cover and insurance to provide an well-rounded learning experience that is both innovative and practical. For more details about the eduTab, including specifications and the option to purchase are all available on Lemberger Bildung’s website. We hope the eduTab enriched with mozaBook and mozaWeb will give Austrian students a great learning experience!
One of our partners, Prosveta Publishing House in Bulgaria, has been filming and publishing webinars about their digital books on mozaBook and mozaWeb. The webinars show how the digital books can be accessed and used in classroom and how teachers can incorporate the interactive content into their lessons. After the live broadcasts, the webinars can be found on their YouTube channel.
To date Prosveta has recorded webinars for their digital textbooks in subjects such as art, geography, natural sciences, music, mathematics, economics and others. In addition to covering features and functions of the digital textbooks, many of the webinars also show how teachers can create additional content for the books in mozaBook.
Our Bulgarian partners Keisiem and Prosveta have translated Mozaik’s digital content into the Bulgarian language and, with the help of our mozaBook Editor platform for publishers, Prosveta has already uploaded over 100 interactive textbooks for teachers in Bulgaria to use in their digital clasrooms and have plans to add more.
Prosveta introduced mozaWeb back in September, where students can use the digital books online and now they are introducing mozaBook for teachers to make the digital textbooks a part of their class presentations.
Webinars are a great way to show off the features and uses of mozaBook for a wide range of subjects and grade levels. We wish Prosveta much success with the webinar series and hope many teachers and students will benefit from using mozaBook and mozaWeb in Bulgarian schools and classrooms this year.
One of the services we provide is training and certifications for our international partners in the mozaLearn system to independently hold training sessions for clients in their local market. This is an important part of our business and our partners' business, because we believe that training teachers to use technology is an integral part to the success of digital education and we encourage our partners to hold training sessions for the teachers in their market. One great example of this is a recent training session held by our partners in Egypt, GIMPEX at their office in Cairo.
The training participants came from Exzellenz Zentrum, an institute for language education which hosts a joint post-graduate program between Ain Shams University in Egypt and Leipzig University in Germany. Students who participate in this program of study have already completed a college degree and would like to continue their studies in the German language, with the goal of earning a master's degree in teaching German or Arabic as a foreign language.
GIMPEX held a 2-day training on the effective use of mozaBook in teacher training for the lecturers who conduct the joint degree program. The trainees will eventually use mozaBook as a part of their pedagogy in training Exzellenz Zentrum students who are working towards their teaching degrees. During the training session certified mozaLearn ICT expert trainers from GIMPEX gave the trainees overview of many of the features in mozaBook, focusing on the basic features of the software and many of the tools available in the system.
The group will meet again for a third day of training during which the course participants will make their own presentations using mozaBook. The trainees will also continue to learn about and practice using more features in mozaBook. We bet the training participants will create some great presentations!
GIMPEX is planning additional training programs for later this year. If you'd like to follow the latest developments and news about mozaBook in Egypt, please visit the Mozaik Egypt page on Facebook. If your company is ready to offer a comprehensive digital presentation and content solution for K-12 education and provide training in your region, please contact us for more information.