Mazer Creative Services

Technology

National Geographic/The JASON Project

Operation: Monster Storms
Web site and print editions for students and teachers, grades 5–8

Mazer’s Role

Mazer’s technology and design teams constructed a learning community site and a lesson builder and search interface for this online science program, using HTML pages with Cascading Style Sheets. Mazer’s technology group enhanced the site’s content by researching, writing, and delivering several video scripts. When the site was feature- and content-complete, our quality assurance team ran the pages through a gauntlet of tests to ensure that each site met the client's stated goals.

Houghton Mifflin

Mazer’s Role

This dictionary was a coordinated effort with our internal Technology group to create XML tags. Mazer’s design team designed the book from cover to cover. Styles were assigned to text so that when it flowed into pages, it included the correct fonts, colors, and style attributes. The presentation was designed to appeal to children while simultaneously accommodating heavy text formatting.

Prentice Hall

Mazer’s Role

World History Interactive Textbook is one of dozens of interactive texts Mazer has developed for Prentice Hall. For this iteration, Mazer provided a detailed analysis of the program’s structure to assist the client’s conversion vendor in rendering this hard-copy text into an interactive XML-based version. In addition, we augmented the program imagery with alt tags and long descriptions to ensure accessible online delivery. Our technology team revised section and chapter assessment items to ensure compliance with the Interactive Textbook online format. Finally, Mazer subjected the Alpha, Beta, and RC content releases to rigorous testing to ensure that it met Prentice Hall’s quality expectations.

Riverdeep

Destination Teach

Mazer’s Role

Mazer partnered with Riverdeep to produce the Teacher Resources Guide to the client’s Destination Reading software, a comprehensive, electronically-based reading curriculum. Employing Microsoft Word templates to promote consistency in formatting across all components, our technology editors delivered level-appropriate reading lists, classroom enhancement exercises for multiple levels of development, and cross-curricular connections of student-focused content to promote effective teaching practices.

AGS Globe

Mazer’s Role

Mazer joined forces with AGS and more than ten other vendors to create AMP QReads, an innovative reading intervention program aimed at struggling middle and high school students who read at significantly lower grade levels. Mazer’s contribution included the authoring of detailed alt tags and long descriptions for all program imagery, as well as the creation of testing materials and glossary, definition, index, and TOC content. As the site neared completion, Mazer’s technology team performed extensive Alpha and Beta testing, including link testing, bug regression, content accuracy checks, and detailed analysis of program audio to ensure that the text-to-speech conversion accurately captured the nuances of spoken English.

Internal Revenue Service

Understanding Taxes Web site

Mazer’s Role

Mazer developed the Understanding Taxes Web site, designed to supplement core social studies and economics content in an interactive format. The content, ranging from interactive activities to printable worksheets and quizzes, is structured to meet state guidelines. The Web site is fully compliant with Section 508, which requires that electronic materials must be fully accessible to users with disabilities. Achieving Section 508 compliance required creating content with accessibility issues in mind, designing appropriate navigation tools, implementing screen reader options, and testing in several different environments to mirror the experiences of the target audiences.

Houghton Mifflin

Florida St. Lucie Science Lesson Plans © 2004
Grades K–6 electronic lesson plans

Mazer’s Role

Within one month’s time, Mazer created approximately 200 electronic lesson plans drawn from every lesson in the teacher editions for all seven grades of Houghton Mifflin Science. Working from a basic template supplied by the client, Mazer editors conceptualized a plan for how and where elements from the teacher edition lessons would be represented in the electronic platform, adapted each element for the electronic format, and then built the electronic lesson plan. Because of the demanding schedule, many Mazer editors specializing in content areas other than science were cross-trained to work effectively on the project. This successful training endeavor deepened the knowledge base and enhanced the versatility of the editorial department.

Learning Resources

Mazer’s Role

In its first collaboration with Learning Resources, Mazer developed sets of two-sided interactive cards covering a wide range of topics related to the solar system, the human body, and plants and animals. The front of each card contains a brief description of the card topic and related art, and the back features four or five associated questions. Cards are interactive when used with the publisher’s electronic reading device. In the interactive state, students’ answers to a card’s questions elicit audio responses. Correct answers garner praise; incorrect answers initiate reteaching opportunities. The accompanying teacher edition includes teaching tips and blackline masters. In addition to creating the student and teacher materials, Mazer partnered with Learning Resources to help define the scope of the project and determine the most effective way to adapt science content to the client’s new technology.

Glencoe

TechCONNECT
Online pupil and teacher technology instruction for grades 6–8

Mazer’s Role

From initial market research to product conceptualization and prototyping, Mazer played a dynamic role in the development of this online program. Offering technology instruction partnered with academic content-area activities, this innovative program features projects, writing tutorials, and teacher materials developed by Mazer editors. Mazer also captured screen shots and procured colorful, appealing images to make the program engaging for students and teachers alike.

LeapFrog SchoolHouse

Phonemic Awareness © 2003
Pre-K–Grade 1 series of six interactive picture books to be used with the LeapPad platform, and the associated Teacher’s Manual

Mazer’s Role

Pedagogical challenges with this project included developing stories to be delivered only through pictures and audio scripts, logically interweaving phonemic awareness activities into entertaining story lines, and minimizing the cognitive demand for following directions so that children are free to focus on the curricular dimension of the series. By means of verbo-visual conferences, Mazer’s editorial and design departments worked together to create a set of characters and appealing visuals for the series that correlated to the stories and provided “clickables” for the associated phonemic awareness activities. The technological aspect of the project required the writing/editing team to develop engaging content and varied exercises while attending to data set tables, concatenation, layered audio features, implementation notes, and other technological elements.