Mondadori Education

As the end of a more complex school year than ever comes closer, teachers at all levels and in all schools, are facing another big challenge: how to assess and grade students at a distance. A key moment in the teaching-learning process. Always a complex activity, in the current situation it is particularly difficult.

In fact, in distance learning, the grading process takes on a different aspect compared with what happens in the classroom. The moments for learning assessment (for example, individual or group activities, digital presentations prepared by pupils with feedback from teachers, the level of participation in lessons) go hand in hand and often replace traditional grading methods (tests and oral exams). The new context has heightened the need for support for the more fragile students and requires inclusive teaching tools and strategies.

Valid support for teachers about to engage in this delicate process is available from Mondadori Education that provides specific content, materials and tools for the certification of skills and the assessment of levels of learning, also remotely: a variety of tests on a range of topics and subjects, maps useful for revision, digital services for each subject and all levels, from primary to first and second level secondary schools. All, even in this emergency period, freely downloadable from the publisher’s web site.

The support path that the publisher offers to teachers will continue in the coming weeks also with a programme dedicated to preparation for the final year exams, as it will be structured this year and, from September, with a practical project for recovery activities in preparation for the new school year.

Of special relevance, regarding assessments, in the HUB Test platform, that is both intuitive and easy to use e semplice and allows teachers to easily manage tests: on the one hand with the possibility of accessing a complete and varied database, and, on the other, to create new personalised tests that can be easily shared with the class.

And then there are activities that focus on teacher training via webinars, with free participation, organised by experts from the publishing house, with explanations and ideas on how to assess, as well as the techniques for assessing both synchronous and asynchronous activities.

On the basis of what has already been done since the beginning of March, as an immediate response to the emergency, to make freely available the entire range digital content for distance learning – over 40 gigabytes of content and more than 12,000 gigabytes of video, audio, customisable maps, playlists, and facilitated texts for inclusion –  the commitment of Mondadori Education continues with the proposal of a complete path to support teachers in the three crucial phases of their work: revision and testing, final year state exams and September recovery programmes.

“The emergency that we have faced, and continue to live with,” underlined Aaron Buttarelli, editorial director of Mondadori Education, “has all of a sudden obliged Italian schools to reconsider, in a very short period of time and often without adequate tools, the entire teaching-learning process. We have always been on the side of teachers and students in the pursuit of innovation and the digitalisation of schools, with a range of services for day-to-day teaching which has now taken on enormous relevance. Including the evolution of the textbook, which is no longer a static printed support but thanks to digital has become both live and dynamic, for more personalised learning, with language and formats able to inform and stimulate interest in learning.”

A commitment that is rewarded by the success among teachers and demonstrated by the data traffic metrics on the platform which has recorded a user base of some 1.5 million active users,  to which have been added, in the last two months,  more than 400,000 new registered users, with an increase of 30 times in the use of  Virtual Classes, more than 15 times for Tests and 6 times for the use of reading Apps and traffic on the site that has grown by 8 times on a daily basis.

The HUB Test offer, is part of the services offered by HUB Scuola, Italy’s most extensive database for digital teaching, and which features a number of other tools, including: the Virtual Class, an environment for the management of teaching activities and courses, exchanging comments, setting assignments and homework and monitoring progress; reading Apps to use digital books; HUB Campus for more detail on different subjects; and the HUB Scuola channel on YouTube with over 1,700 videos, organised in playlists.

Camilla Boneschi, Francesco Bozzi, Susanna Ciucci, Valerio Fidenzi, Giulia Masci Ametta, Linda Poncetta, Luca Scolari and Anna Spinelli: these are the young talents selected by the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group as part of the Millennial Editors project.

Launched in February, the project offered a unique opportunity to 8 recent graduates  under-30 in order to gain work experience in the publishing world, after being chosen on the basis of an outstanding curriculum and a deep passion for books and reading.

All of the aspiring editor were subjected to a rigorous recruitment process and selected from over 4,200 applications, received by the Mondadori Group during the month the project was launched with an announcement on the Monster Italia web site.

Following an initial selection phase based on qualifications and experience, 81 candidates were given the possibility to participate in an Edithon: a full day at the Palazzo Mondadori, in which the candidates met the leading figures from each of the Group’s publishing houses and could demonstrate their skills through individual and group tests.

8 Millennial Editors stood out among them and, starting from this month, will start a two-year apprenticeship at Mondadori, Einaudi, Rizzoli, BUR, Sperling & Kupfer, Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education.

This will give them the chance to make their dream come true and to learn how to become an editor, by interacting and cooperating with all of the colleagues and other protagonists in the book production chain, starting from the authors.

The #MillennialEditors project has also offered an opportunity to discuss and share with young people on social media some of the fundamental aspects of what it means to be a professional editor: videos, photos, “stories” and special content that have recorded a total of over 280,000 views on the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles of the Mondadori Group.

The publishing houses of the Mondadori Group are launching the Millennial Editor project for talented under 30s who dream of becoming  book editors.
An innovative and unprecedented programme, aimed at graduates in the humanities and economics, through which the Mondadori Group offers millennials with a consuming passion for books and reading a unique opportunity to enter the publishing world.

Einaudi, Electa, Mondadori, Piemme, Rizzoli, Sperling & Kupfer, Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education, through a selection process in various stages, will identify eight young talents who will be guaranteed a period of two years of work and training as an editor with an apprenticeship contract.

The candidates selected will pursue a path during which they will be required to measure themselves against the activities of the various publishing areas and participate in training sessions with highly experienced professionals of the Group’s various publishing houses.
An all-round opportunity to learn the profession of editor, not only the specific aspects of publishing, but also the institutional, technical and managerial sides, interacting and collaborating with all of the protagonists involved in the book chain, starting from authors and senior editors. Each participant will develop the key skills necessary to face the challenges of a continuously evolving market.

The Millennial Editor project is developed in collaboration with Monster Italia, a highly specialised company in personnel research, and the technical partner in the recruitment phase.
You can submit your application from today, to this link.
After an initial selection based on qualifications and experience, in the second half of March suitable candidates will take part in an Edithon, a one-day event at Palazzo Mondadori during which they will meet the leading figures involved in the  project and, after being divided into work groups, will have the opportunity to put themselves to the test.
By the end of April, the eight young talents selected will be allocated, according to their characteristics and inclinations, to one of the areas, i.e. non-fiction, miscellaneous, fiction or educational of the publishing houses involved: Einaudi, Electa, Mondadori, Piemme, Rizzoli, Sperling & Kupfer, Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education.

In the Devoto-Oli Le Monnier dictionary you will find the Italian of Dante and digital natives, the latest jargon of economists and the most colourful expressions in dialect: from papello to green economy and from lungi to pescetariano. An Italian dictionary is a meeting point where all Italians ought to be able to recognise themselves, a place where the specialised terminology of the scientist can live with the neologism of journalists, the slang of youth, the formal language of literary tradition, the dialects of the different regions and loan words imported from around the world.

The Devoto-Oli is the ideal dictionary for all those who want to have an appropriate control over how they express themselves and use the language on a daily basis and who want to stand out without showing themselves up. A tool that, when used as necessary, makes all the difference.

This is the start of the promotional campaign for the 2012 edition of the ground-breaking Le Monnier dictionary.

The claim developed by the Turin-based advertising company INEDITHA is The 2012 Devoto-Oli: you can tell who uses it. The three “subjects” use a number of polished expressions (chiedo venia, calende greche, sollucchero), in contexts that are familiar to everyone, for example a jokey message between colleagues on an iPad during a meeting; a graffiti message on a wall to a girlfriend and a note left on a windscreen with apologies for damage caused (Chiedo venia per aver urtato la sua macchina).

The campaign will run at 125 Mondadori Franchising and Mondadori Retail outlets around the country and is aimed at the end-user with a view to encouraging purchase: to teens, students, families, to those who study, read and work with the language and not only professionals, teachers and intellectuals.

100 Mondadori bookstore franchises and 25 Retail outlets will have totems, double-sided flags, change machines and promo-card at cash desks and the windows of the outlets will be dressed featuring the three subjects. At both networks monitors will show the campaign video and inside the Mondadori Multicenter in Piazza Duomo in Milan, there will be a giant panel with one of the three subjects.

The campaign will also run in the specialised educational press (Tuttoscuola), in la Repubblica newspaper, the magazines of the two bookstore chains involved in the campaign and, with banners (leaderboards and skyscrapers) on the Ibs, Libraccio and Mondadori Education websites.

The 2012 Devoto-Oli
The 2012 edition of the Devoto-Oli Le Monnier dictionary includes 350 new words, 150,000 clear and exhaustive definitions; 40,000 locutions and clearly indicated expressions; 3,240 two-colour pages; constantly updated scientific terminology, with neologisms such as Evo-Devo (evolution of development), cisgenico, psicocorporeo and mineralogramma.

The selection of new words – that provides a clear indication of the evolution of the language, and that includes the expressions of digital natives, the jargon of economists and a range of current expressions – great importance is given to dialects and foreign loan words. Among the 350 new items included in the new edition are those related to ecology, from current affairs and politics, the world of business and finance, the jargon of TV and newspapers, and the world of youth, from new technologies, fashion and new trends, as well as advertising.

The dictionary is available with a multi-platform DVD-Rom (Windows, Mac and Linux) – that can also be used on an Interactive Multimedia Board, which as well as containing the entire up-dated version of the Devoto-Oli, also includes a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms – and with an annual licence for online consultation, that provides access to the dictionary from any computer in any location.

Finally, the mobile version is available from the Apple Store with the App universale of the 2012 Devoto-Oli for the iPhone and iPad.

Antonio Porro will be the Mondadori Group’s new General Manager Educational from June.
Porro will also be proposed to the respective boards of Mondadori Education and Mondadori Electa for the position of managing director.

Porro, who is from Milan, is 46 and has a degree in economics and business administration. Since January 2009 he has been in charge of Mergers & Acquisitions for the Mondadori Group, reporting directly to the deputy chairman and chief executive, Maurizio Costa.

Porro worked previously at Telecom Italia for a period of more than ten years; since 1995 with responsibilities in the Business Division, where he worked, among other things, on strategic marketing, and, from 2001 at the International Division, where he held a number of positions and focused on support and operations for subsidiaries.
He first worked at Mondadori in the early 1990 when he was responsible for development projects.

The Mondadori Group would like to thank Antonio Baravalle for his precious contribution and the seriousness and competence shown, and wishes him the very best in all his future professional endeavours.

With a new layout and look, the completely renewed Mondadori Education web site – a point of reference for teachers, students and parents – is now online.
The site www.mondadorieducation.it covers all levels and years, from primary to the first and second level secondary, and university, and offers easy and rapid consultation for both catalogues of published materials and training – textbooks, courses, teaching materials and multimedia content in the company’s 12 imprints – as well as new services for teaching:

• @pprendiscienza, is the most extensive database of interactive resources for the study of the sciences in levels I and II of secondary schools with 30,000 digital assets and 1200 virtual lessons. A huge platform that provides digital teaching content and multimedia tools for the creation, integration and extension of daily lessons and the simplification of the work of the teacher;
• Me-book, a new customizable interactive digital book featuring multimedia content. With me-book both teachers and students can have rapid access to the digital content of the book, underline, highlight, make notes, compare documents on different pages, create and personalise lessons using the “slideshow” function and adding text and links directly to slides;
• Libropiùweb, is a new book concept that integrates study with printed texts with technology. The textbook is enriched online with exercises, interactive activities, more detailed background, self-correcting tests MP3 files, film clips, crosswords, conceptual maps and a range of other content;
• LinkYou is a combination of personalised services, created by Mondadori Education for teachers, that includes: Il tuo consulente personale (Your personal consultant) a Mondadori Education contact to assist users in the use of digital teaching materials with LIM and other tools; Il tuo consulente tecnico (Your personal technical consultant) comes into play when teachers want to introduce a teaching activity using new technology; Il tuo consulente didattico e disciplinare (Your personal teaching and disciplinary consultant) available for teachers who have selected Libropiùweb or having difficulties in accessing digital content.

LinkYou is also multimedia teaching seminars: free personalised training courses; a valuable and concrete support to evaluate and make the best use of all of the digital content that accompanies the textbooks chosen by teachers.

The home page also features a dynamic and continuously updated product showcase – contained in a central banner in Flash – a captivating way of presenting to users the new titles in educational publishing for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Scrolling down the page, there are three boxes at the bottom dedicated to the abovementioned services LinkYou, Me-book and the Devoto-Oli, the authoritative Italian dictionary, now edited by well-known linguistic scholars such Luca Serianni and Maurizio Trifone. A complete version of the 2011 edition of the Devoto-Oli dictionary is also available for the iPhone and iPad. The iPad version also allows users to personalise items and to share them on the leading social networks such as Facebook e Twitter, as well as by email.

Other sections provide information concerning the world of education: from teaching films on the Canale video (video channel) to news in “ME&YOU” and Appuntamenti (meetings & events) of interest for teachers.