For the last two years, Maramedia has been addressing some of South Africa’s education challenges, such the lack of preparation material for teachers and the disjointedness of teaching from numerous textbooks from different publishers. Having identified the need for the integration of quality content and a standardised teaching solution, it launched its manuals, a combination of textbooks, study guides and workbooks, to support but also extend beyond the Curriculum Assessments Policy Statement (CAPS).

Recognising that the convergence of technology and content is an extremely powerful educational tool, Maramedia decided to take an already excellent product to another level and re-engineered its printed manuals into digital manuals, to offer for the first time, a fully interactive learning experience. This was announced at both the media launches, attended by educators, school representatives and corporates, as well as Google SA and Samsung.

Available across a variety of platforms, the fully interactive digital manuals can be downloaded on Android- and Apple-enabled tablets or obtained on pre-loaded external memory cards, meaning that learning can still take place even where there is no internet or WiFi access. “This solution therefore addresses the South African context and bypasses some major challenges,” explained Maramedia CEO, Gideon van Niekerk.

Through the use of a cross-platform digital application, the tablets can be used by teachers to project the content onto whiteboards or smartboards in the classroom. The digital content mirrors the learners’ printed manuals, however Maramedia’s goal is for each learner to one day work off their own tablet. Van Niekerk points out that the printed manuals could augment a transitional period to the digital format. “We have catered for different solutions for the needs of different schools,” he says.

Learners will be transformed from passive recipients of information in the static format of textbooks to active participants. The interactive digital manuals allow learners to immerse themselves in viewing multiple photo galleries, swiping across animated diagrams and using the touch screen to open pop-up windows with explanations and additional content.