After an amazing week with the Global Adobe Education Team at the Adobe Creative Educator Innovator Summit in San Jose, my wife and I went on a 1,700km road-trip to explore California.

Day 1 – San Francisco

After exploring San Francisco for a few days prior to the Summit, we returned by CalTrain on Friday 19th July for 1 night. The next day we experienced a Waymo (self-driving car) on the way to picking up a hire-car for the week ahead. Can’t wait to see fully automated self-driving cars in Melbourne.

We were a bit hesitant after seeing a Waymo turn into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road while we were on a hop-on hop-off bus a week earlier.

Day 2 – San Francisco to Half Moon Bay

On Saturday 20th July, we picked up a lovely GMC Terrain for our week on the road and got use to driving on the wrong (Right) side of the road as we made our way to Half Moon Bay, about 40 min south of San Francisco.

One of the highlights was seeing humpback whales frolicking just off the coast.

Day 3 – Half Moon Bay to Yosemite National Park

On Sunday 21st July, we traveled inland towards Yosemite National Park. We made a stop on the way at the Apple World HQ in Cupertino but the visitor centre was closed. We did cross over the Adobe Creek on the highway at Los Altos – that is where Adobe got its name.

We stayed the night at Mariposa, about 45min from the National Park.

Day 4 – Yosemite to Sequoia

On Monday 22nd July, we made the lengthy trip through lots of dry farming land to Sequoia National Park to explore some very big trees.

Day 5 – Sequoia to Santa Barbara

On Tuesday 23rd July, we drove from Sequoia to the spectacular coastal town of Santa Barbara.

Day 6 – Santa Barbara to Venice Beach (Los Angeles)

Wednesday 24th July involved a drive to Venice Beach & Santa Monica in Los Angeles.

Day 7 – Los Angeles

Thursday 25th July was meant to be our final day before heading back home but due to a Qantas cancellation we enjoyed an extra day in LA so we made the most of our rental and explored the main city tourist areas.

Our final night was at a beautiful hotel in Santa Monica before heading home.

All up we drove about 1,700 km (1,053 miles) and saw some of the best that California can offer.

The amazing Adobe Head Office in San Jose California was the venue for the 2024 Adobe Creative Educator Innovator Summit from July 16 to 18. Over 70 passionate teachers from the USA, Australia & Japan made the trip for three days of intense professional learning and fun with a focus on K-12 and Adobe Express.

This Summit was an opportunity for ACE Innovators connect, inspire, and be inspired by your fellow Innovators. It was also an opportunity for you to connect with Adobe. We involved sharing upcoming product enhancements; seeking feedback on products and programming; and building a community that ignites creativity inside and beyond the classroom.

Key presenters:

• Scott Belsky – Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Design & Emerging Products
• Mala Sharma – VP & GM, Creators + Digital Media Education at Adobe
• Dr Brian Johnsrud – Adobe’s Director of Education Learning & Advocacy
• Emily Chesbrough – Manager of Product Marketing for Adobe Express for Education
• Mary Cherng – Adobe’s Director of Product Management

Have a look at the day 1 video …

Have a look at day 2

Day 3

Check out where it all happened

Some of my favouite images

On Monday 8th July, Orminston College near Brisbane, QLD invited me to do a book launch event. Fortunately, my book The Best Way to Learn is to Make became available via Amazon the day prior.

Brett Salakas, the founder of Mammoth Learning and the Education Ambassador for HP, helped me with the launch as did my friend (and former Adobe Colleague) Richard Turner-Jones.

What wasn’t expected is when Brett Salakas announced that the book hit best seller status for the Computers & Technology in Education category within Amazon just prior to this event.

Part of the launch involved doing a word cloud activity based on what are the most important skills that we should foster in the young people in our care. This is looked at in chapter 3 titled Why Creativity is Important in Education.

Then we did a poll based on this statement – The recent Gen AI evolution is one of the best things to happen to education since the invention of the Internet. 1 = strongly disagree, 2 disagree, 3 not sure, 4 agree, 5 strongly agree.

This lead to a session from Brett focused on the current Gen AI evolution and how it relates to education.

Richard shared how he has been using the AI & Gen AI tools within Adobe Express to link his PhD research at Griffith University with a project he is doing with school students in Far North Queensland. He showed how simple it was for him to build a short animated video and a webpage using Adobe Express. The teachers were then asked to play with various aspects of Adobe Express and challenged how they could use it in their classrooms.

The launch event was completed with a look at Chapter 7 of my book which is focused on the work of Professor Seymour Papert and his Constructionist learning theory.

I would like to thank Craig Askin​​​​ the Head of Learning & Innovation at Orminston for organising this special event for his staff on their first day of Term 3, 2024.

Click here for the resource guild created for this launch event.

If you are interested in organising a similar event for your school, contact me via LinkedIn.

It was an honour to be invited back this weekend to run some online digital workshops for a number of Vietnamese students who have been part of the 2024 Virtual CampConnect by the Pacific Links Foundation.

Focusing on young people affected by trafficking, the Virtual CampConnect program transforms lives by enhancing life skills, boosting self-awareness, imparting new knowledge, opening up opportunities, and providing supportive networks.

I’ve been running these workshops annually since 2020 and always feel thrilled to teach the participants new digital skills. This year, the workshops centered on using Gen AI tools within Adobe Express to create short video stories.

In broken English, a comments in the chat by a participant was …

This is the first time I have known Adobe with so many experiences. Adobe will greatly assist me in my life. Thank you very much.

Available via Amazon from July 7, 2024

Creativity in Education, Generative AI, and the Future of Education stand as crucial subjects for both educational leaders and classroom teachers. This book delves into these vital topics, offering a conversational and easily accessible style of writing, while bolstering its points with references and real-world anecdotes from prominent academics and seasoned educators.

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This book draws together Tim’s understanding of future directions in technology as well as his deep understanding of what students need in our classrooms. It is essential reading for all teachers (Dr Helen Hughes, Executive Coach and former Principal).

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mammothlearning.co

As we venture into the era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), his book raises excellent questions that educators at the cutting edge need to consider. What roles should creativity, AI and alternative forms of assessment play in a system traditionally resistant to change? Tim’s insights offer a timely contribution to this pivotal discussion. His work is a rich resource, balancing theory and practical examples for any educator interested in the future of education (Peter Hutton Director & Co-Founder Future Schools).

I am sure ‘The Best Way to Learn is to Make’ will be a book that is worth having in the hands of teachers – new and old. It is full of Tim’s experience and insights. It is so good that some of his solid gold ideas and advice are now in print (Rev. Tim Costello AO Executive Director of Micah Australia, former CEO of World Vision Australia).

Click here for more information.

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