As most people know I am an Apple education enthusiast. But there has always been one suite of applications which are first to be installed on my Macs, and that is the Adobe Creative Suite. Ever since CS2 was launched I have been forking out (quite a lot of cash!) to ensure that I have the latest Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver installed. The design functionality and creativity that the software allows are unique, their existence in the corporate sector and the importance of their presence in the Education sector cannot be underestimated.
Recently I had the honour of being invited to join the Adobe Education Leader program. The program was completely new to me, but it seems it has been going strong in the US since 2007. The presence of Adobe Education Leaders in Australia has been around since 2009 but now it seems Adobe are stepping things up in Australia and for good reason.
I wrote a few months ago here about creativity in schools and the vital role which Adobe play in this field. I would actually go as fas as to say that now Adobe have a responsibility to nurture creativity in education. Adobe have established themselves as the standard in digital creative tools for the corporate sector, they (Adobe Education Leaders, thats us!) now have a responsibility to ensure students are up-skilled and well informed about design standards through to analytic tools, and global collaboration platforms.
Take a look at my profile here
The AEL program The program promotes excellence in education through the integration of Adobe tools. The program also offers a wealth of PD opportunities for members (and non-members) all for free. The AEL online community is extremely vibrant, it is a place where educators share their lesson plans and success stories with each other. I am also pleased to say that the community focus on the importance of pedagogy, the Adobe tools simply enhance the learning space.
Resources for teachers If you have not already discovered the following online resources I cannot stress enough how amazing they are:
Adobe Education Exchange - Access thousands of teaching ideas and lesson ideas. Need a lesson plan quickly? its all here!
Adobe TVÂ - Just in time learning? If you would like to learn how to use any part of the Adobe suite, from Acrobat Reader through to Photoshop there are hundreds of video guides here, all created by knowledgable professionals.
Adobe Educators Blog - Thoughts, challenges and solutions as written by other educators integrating Adobe tools. Well worth a read.
The Future Never before have I been so excited at the prospect of learning how to use new tools. Mastering an Adobe application is hard and I consider myself to be a "jack of all trades". This year a priority of mine will be to further my skill-set, I will be focusing on Adobe Muse, Adobe Edge and Adobe Touch applications.
I am certain that Adobe will fit well into mobile devices, and I am still a supporter of mobile devices for schools. As ever I will continue to publish my findings on my blog, so stay tuned.
Finally a big thank you to the Adobe education team, both in Australia and the US. It is an honour to be involved, and I can't wait to get to the summit this September in Sydney. See you there!