Blog

The success story continues

25th May 2017

I have just returned from a week’s holiday – the only time I seem to get these days to curl up with a good book. Frequently upon finishing a good read, I often wonder what happened next?

We are very fortunate in our roles as honest broker between businesses and academics that we can indeed relive the sequel and hear what happened next….

In February 2012 my colleague Louise introduced Bright Red Publishing a multi-award winning independent publishing company to Edinburgh Napier University to explore the opportunity to co-create a unique on-line Digital Zone (www.brightredbooks.net ) to further support students and teachers during a time of immense educational change in Scotland.

Five years on in May 2017, we had the opportunity to hear in great detail what happened next when the team of Mr. John MacPherson, Director, Bright Red Publishing and Professor Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University met with Shirley-Anne Somerville, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science.

It was quite a risk for the business to offer free access to the Digital Zone but no other provider in this market offers in depth interactive tests designed specifically for the Scottish curriculum, which are both fun and educational with full explanations associated to each answer. The free offering of the online digital test materials has driven company growth and greatly enhanced sales of their study guides.

What’s more is that the next chapter is already being developed. In April 2017 Bright Red Publishing secured a Scottish Enterprise innovation grant of £83,351 as a contribution towards the overall project costs of £128,000 for a feasibility study, which will create the new Game of Active Learning (GoAL) platform. By developing the Digital Zone with gaming apps, they aim to further increase student engagement with the topics and questions and to also enable instant feedback to the on-line learners on their progression through levels of learning.

I personally was delighted to hear online materials helping children from all social backgrounds to get the most out of their learning – who knows through the support of the Digital Zone materials the next budding JK Rowling and Ian Rankin may be putting pen to paper or fingers to tablet! ..

I forecast lots more sequels to come for this partnership!