What would you do to land your dream job? Study the relevant courses? Done. Gain experience through work? Nailed it. Travel across the world to pursue said one of the relevant courses? A tad excessive, but yes, done! To have a plaque with the title of Editor-in-chief on it has always been my dream. From studying English and Journalism courses to working as a teacher and later as a language editor/sub editor, I did anything to set me on the path to get that name plate in the future. Studying MSc Publishing is the most relevant and important step to enter the publishing industry. One question remained. How can I tie up all of my varied experiences to highlight my skills?

Cue BrightRED Publishing. As an educational publishing company, BrightRED offers accessible and engaging Course Books and Study Guides along with the BrightRED Digital Zone that offers free supporting tests, activities and links online to more than 100,000 registered users.1

Placement experience

During my interview with Founder John Macpherson, I found the answer to the one burning question I had – my varied experiences were in my favour. You can imagine the relief that spread throughout my body at that moment. During the course of my placement with BrightRED, I was required to update the music shop catalogue, make a checklist for the videos on the BrightRED Digital Zone, proofread and insert relevant images for S1 Radio Station Enterprise Project and most importantly, proofread and making a list of errors and research areas where N5 Modern Studies text requires to be updated. By the end of the placement, I came out confident about my learned skills and a step closer to getting achieving my goal.

BrightRED Digital Zone

Remember when the world was forced indoors with the worldwide spread of Covid-19? One of the sectors that was impacted was the education sector, with 191 countries shutting down all their primary and secondary schools, which affected 1.6 billion children.2 I still vividly remember long hours spent creating an entire curriculum for online classes in a matter of days and preparing questionnaires and activities to engage with students virtually. As a former teacher, to say that the BrightRED Digital Zone would be a relief to teachers and students alike would be a massive understatement. The interactive online resource has been developed with the latest technology to help students learn in the most rewarding way.3

For 600 years, publishing has delivered product to market and connected authors to readers by means of the physical book.4 However, the digital age has driven the growth of the educational publishing industry with the emergence of new technologies and a rise in the usage of various electronic textbooks and digital educational services by educational institutions.5 Due to which, publishers have changed their attitude towards digital services from a ‘nice-to-have’ additions to an essential and often strategic part of their business.6 With the Digital Zone, BrightRED is doing just that and is already working towards the future of educational publishing.

References:

  1. Publishing Scotland (no date). Bright Red Publishing [online]. Available at: https://www.publishingscotland.org/ps-member/bright-red-publishing/ [Accessed: 18 April 2024]. ↩︎
  2. Bryant, J. et al. (2020). School-system priorities in the age of coronavirus, McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/school-system-priorities-in-the-age-of-coronavirus [Accessed: 18 April 2024].
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  3. BrightRed Publishing (no date). Digital Zone [online]. Available at: https://www.brightredbooks.net/subjects/ [Accessed: 18 April 2024].
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  4. Taylor, G. (2023). Educational Publishing in the Digital Era, International Publishers Association. Available at: https://internationalpublishers.org/educational-publishing-in-the-digital-era-by-graham-taylor/ [Accessed: 18 April 2024].
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  5. Sun, C. (2022) The future of educational publishing industry: Exploration based on existing business models, Frontiers in Educational Research, 5(15), pp. 46–50.
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  6. Learnetic (2023) The Future of Educational Publishers: New Technology, Learnetic. Available at: https://www.learnetic.com/future-of-educational-publishers/ [Accessed: 18 April 2024].

    Image from Publishers Association. Available at: https://www.publishers.org.uk/about-publishing/studying-training-and-upskilling/ [Accessed: 18 April 2024]
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