On Tuesday 10th September 2024, about 25 students from Kingswood High School NSW visited the Adobe Sydney office for an ABCN Tech Careers Expo.

The ABCN Tech Careers Expo takes place over four weeks with about 20 ABCN member companies like Adobe from diverse industries to address the tech talent gap. Each company delivers a technology career showcase, designed to raise awareness and stimulate interest in the diversity of Tech careers and the different pathways into them.

The day involved an amazing panel of Adobe representatives, interaction with some wonderful Adobe mentors, a tour of the office and an Adobe Express workshop.

I would like to thank Olivia (Liv) Yeates for all her work behind the scenes as well as all the Adobe employees who made up the panel and took on the role of mentor for the day.

On Monday 2nd September 2024, I was invited to work with the entire teaching staff at Strathcona Girls Grammar School in Melbourne and guide them through the Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 course.

Strathcona holds a very special place in my heart. I taught there for 13 years prior to working at Adobe and was their Director of Learning Technologies. My wife & I also sent my daughter Talana to Strathcona for her secondary schooling, where she ended up as the Deputy School Captain in 2019. And my sister Lisa Mason (Kitchen) went their as a students and also taught there.

The Adobe Creative Educator (ACE) program is all about nurturing and celebrating education professionals in their work to guide the next generation to become life-long creators.

I would like to thank Kara Baxter (Strathcona’s Dean of Teaching and Learning) and her team for organising this opportunity for her colleagues.

On Monday 2nd Sept 2024, Strathcona Grammar School very kindly hosted the Melbourne book launch for my new book.

I had the pleasure of working at Strathcona for 13 years followed by being a Strathcona parent for 6 years. It is a very special school and I was very pleased when they opened their doors for this Melbourne book launch event.

My wonderful daughter Talana Bonello (a teacher in her first year) hosted the evening and did a great job introducing an esteemed set of presenters.

We were honoured to have the Strathcona Principal Lora Beegan welcome everyone and shared a bit about the school. I was impressed with the research she discovered about my history at the school and the passion she has for encouraging creativity within the school community that she leads.

Brett Salakas beamed in from Sydney for this event. Among many hats he wears professionally, Brett is the founder of Mammoth Learning and my publisher. Following many years as a teacher in Sydney, Brett has been working with HP & Intel on the Reinvent the classroom project around Australia & New Zealand. Earlier this year, Brett was the sole Aussie listed in the top 100 educators by illustrious international District Administration Leadership Institute and more recently he was named by Educator Magazine amongst the Most Influential Educators in Australia for 2024!

Ross Phillips is the Associate Head of Research, Innovation and Professional Practice at St Michael’s Grammar. With over 30 years of experience as an educator, Ross began his career in the same year as me and at the same school, Kingswood College. We also taught together for many years at Strathcona where Ross was Dean of Studies, and also Talana’s VCE Physics teacher. In 2022, Ross received ‘The Educator’ most Influential Educators Award. He is currently doing his PhD in the sociology of education and is a recognised Textbook author and conference presenter, with expertise in teaching Science and Mathematics.

Michelle Dennis is the Head of Digital at Haileybury, the largest independent school in Australia. She was formerly Head of Digital Learning and Innovation at Strathcona, where she was also a student. Michelle is an Adobe Creative Educator Innovator, the highest level of Adobe Edu Community program that I lead for the APAC region. She is recognised as a prominent thought leader in Australian education and shared her thoughts about where Gen AI is and is heading as a factor in the education system in Australian schools.

Rev Tim Costello is one of Australia’s most respected community leaders and a sought after voice on social justice issues, leadership and ethics.  But most significantly, in 1979 he married Merridie Kitchen and commenced a lifetime commitment to being my uncle and mentor in many aspects of life and faith.

Tim provided a number of references to the history & importance of education and the links to creativity. He also talked about God as the ultimate creator and the significance of all of us being made in the likeness of God and what that means in terms of how we creativity look after each other and our planet in a Gen AI world.

It was quite overwhelming hearing from all these amazing presenters sharing the value of my book and I really appreciated the time, energy and creativity they all displayed during this launch event.

It was such a joy to have people from all aspects of my life in the room sharing this event with me.

Images from Strathcona

A number of Year 9 students from Traneit P-9 College visited the Adobe Melbourne office on Thursday 29th August for a Tech Careers Expo event as part of the ABCN mentoring program.

The Tech Careers Expo takes place over four weeks. It brings together 20 ABCN member companies such as Adobe to help address the tech talent gap. Each company delivers a technology career showcase, designed to raise awareness and stimulate interest in the diversity of Tech careers and the different pathways into them.

The Adobe mentors included Helen Lacey, David Huynh, Jon Barrie, Zoran Nikolovski, Christina Fletcher and Tim Kitchen.

The students came with some great questions for the panel of experts and then worked through a series of activities involving the use of a range of Adobe applications.

I would like to thank Susan Short and Catherine Morris from ABCN, the Adobe mentors as well as the wonderful teachers and students from Tarneit P-9 College for making this such a success.

This week in Singapore, I was invited to work with a very special place called Northlight School, a specialised institution designed to cater to students who face academic challenges in the mainstream education system.

Established in 2006, NorthLight School provides a nurturing and supportive environment for students who do not perform well in the Singapore Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and are unable to progress to secondary school.

The school places a strong emphasis on vocational training, offering courses in areas such as hospitality, retail, facility services, and mechanical servicing. It has strong partnerships with a range of industries who employ their graduates because of the great training provided. I was given a tour of the purpose built classrooms that help provide the students with the best opportunity to develop practical skills, experience and future employment.

The sessions I ran for the students over two mornings introduced them to Adobe Express as a tool to help them develop video literacy skills as well as a tool to help them build a portfolio and resume skills for future employment. I found that most of the students picked up the application with ease and enjoyed what it could help them create. I was told by the teachers that they generally had a low attention span but we were all surprised at how engaged they were during each of the two hours sessions that I ran.

It goes to show that when you set high expectations as a teacher, often students will come to the party if they are given the opportunity and the resources.

NorthLight School serves as a crucial bridge for students who struggle academically, offering them a chance to succeed through a tailored educational experience that focuses on practical skills, character development, and holistic support.

Find out more about Adobe Express for education here.

Join us online or in-person at the 2024 Adobe Educators Conference events on Sept 30 and Oct 10.

The Adobe Singapore office was the venue for a series of engagements with students from a number of schools from the 20th – 22nd August, 2024. The focus of these sessions was on encouraging the students to brand themselves in creatives ways with the help of Adobe Express to help prepare them for future resume and portfolio building.

This was a unique opportunity for the students to interact with a number of Adobe staff and get an experience of what it can be like working for a large multi-national company like Adobe.

Just about all the students were new to Adobe Express. Some had experience with a number of other Adobe applications but many were entire new to what Adobe can offer them.

In total about 100 students from 5 different schools took part in this opportunity from Adobe.

I would like to thank Saravanan Vaithilingam from the Singapore Ministry of Education as well as Titu Minhas and Sue Ho from the Adobe Singapore for helping to make these sessions possible.

Click here to out more about Adobe Express in Education.

Get involved in the free online & in-person 2024 Adobe Educators’ Conference events on Sept 30 & Oct 10.

On Monday 19th August it was my pleasure to be invited to Victoria School, one of the oldest and most well respected boys school in Singapore.

Some of the boys new a lot about Adobe Creative Cloud applications and were using a number of them as part of their school work and leisure. Many of them didn’t realise they had access to Adobe applications and this session opened their eyes to what is possible.

They were all new to Adobe Character Animator and were pleasantly surprised at potential of creating quick video animation in real-time.

They were also new to Adobe Express and didn’t realise that they has access to such a useful and accessible tool to make graphics, videos, animation, web pages and much more.

I would like to thank Careers teacher Kho Yee Lin who helped to manage this engagement. I met Kho in April 2024 when I spoke at a Singapore Ministry of Educator Careers event and was very pleased to be able to spend some quality time at her school.

Singapore was just waking up as I was driven to the school.

Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School is one of the highest achieving schools in Victoria. The school’s ICT Captains Amna & Grace invited me to keynote their 2024 ICT Conference on Friday 16th August which was organised by a committee of students from Years 9 to 12.

The event commenced with an expo featuring displays from The University of Melbourne, RMIT and Monash. Then the students listened to my keynote which included a number of interactive activities involving a range of Adobe applications.

The Victorian government provide the Adobe Creative Cloud to all of their secondary schools.

I was invited to run a series of workshops at the Ivanhoe Grammar staff Professional Learning Day on August 9 titled “Transforming Learning: How to flourish in a digital world”.

The focus of my most of my workshops was introducing the teachers to Adobe Express and sharing how and why it is such an amazing creativity and productivity tool for any subject and year level.

Jacinta Patterson (Head of Pedagogy ‑ The Arts) also invited me to run a special ‘What’s new at Adobe’ session with the Arts teachers.

My resources can be found here.

Special thank you to Brayden Stone (Director of Ivanhoe Institute), Steve Brophy (Director of Digital Transformation) and Jacinta Patterson for inviting me to be involved.

About 10,000 registered for EduTECH AU 2024 in Melbourne which was held on 13th & 14th August. Sal Khan (CEO & founder of the Khan Academy) was the main keynote presenter which was a highlight for many.

A highlight for me personally was being invited as one of a number of authors to sell and sign my new book.

Here are some other highlights from day 1