On 24th October, a group of students from Mitchell High School in Sydney’s west visited the Adobe office in Darling Harbour as part of an ABCNMy Career Rulesprogram.
The Australian Business Community Network (ABCN) collaborates with Aussie businesses to break down barriers for students from low socio-economic schools by offering structured, workplace-based mentoring programs. These programs are designed to raise aspirations, build essential skills, and expand students’ horizons.
The aim of My Career Rules is to provide students the opportunity to meet and engage with professionals from various industries, expanding their awareness of careers that align with today’s workforce. By bridging classroom learning with real-world work experiences, the program reinforces the importance of the skills and mindsets essential for a successful future career.
Katrina Thornton interacting with students from Mitchell High School
It was delight to have Adobe Vice President and Managing Director, ANZ Katrina Troughton involved in this program. Katrina’s involvement provided the students a rare opportunity to engage with a a senior company executive and ask her questions about her career path.
It was lovely to catch up with Michael Turner, the careers advisor at Michell High. Michael has been part of the Adobe Education Leaders program for many years. Last year, he invited me to run the Adobe Creative Educators Level 1 micro-credential course for all the teaching staff at Michell High – click here to see more.
It was also a delight to provide the students with a demonstration about the value of Adobe Express for Education and how it can be used to enhance learning in a range of curriculum areas.
Special thank you to Olivia Yeates from Adobe for coordinating this event, all the Adobe mentors, the ABCN staff, Michael and (most importantly) the students for making this such a successful day.
Kingswood High School in Sydney’s west hosted an Adobe Day on 23rd October 2024. The focus of the day was using Adobe Express to enhance the teaching of English.
Drawing inspiration from the magical worlds of Harry Potter and The Princess Bride, students were tasked with using the Text to Image Generation AI tool in Adobe Express to create an image of an animal. They then featured this creation in a short animated video.
Adobe Days are all about helping students and teachers become more aware of the Adobe tools that they have to help enhance engagement and creativity within the teaching and learning process. Adobe Express for Education is a premium version of Adobe Express that all K-12 schools globally can access at no cost. It is browser based as well as mobile-app based, very simple to use and a wonderful introduction to world of digital creativity and productivity that Adobe does so well.
Click here if you you would like to inquire about a potential Adobe Day at your school.
The first day was exclusively for members of the Adobe Creative Educators Community and involved connecting with the global Adobe Education Team based in the US, Adobe product managers, creative catalyst talks by Brett Kent and Chris Betcher and well as a range of workshop opportunities.
Day 2 was the main day with lots more teachers attending and highlights including keynote presenter Dr Catherine Ball, creative catalyst talks by Michelle Dennis & Brett Salakas, Teacher Feature session, a curly questions panel session feature students from Abbostleigh, lots of workshop options and lots more.
The 2024 Adobe Educators’ Conference involved four days of amazing professional learning focused on the safe and ethical use of Gen AI in any K-12 subject area with Adobe Express.
About 1000 teachers registered for either the in-person or online experience hosted at RMIT in Melbourne on Sept 30 & Oct 1 and at Abbostleigh Senior School in Sydney on Oct 9 & 10.
4 days
2 cities
2 keynotes
8 creative catalyst talks
over 60 workshop options
over 50 individual presenters
over 20 support crew
Close to 2000 teachers have accessed the recordings within 2 weeks of them being available.
The four days of the conferencing involved two amazing keynote sessions, eight creative catalyst talks, some Teacher Feature demo sessions, direct online links with the global Adobe Education Team and over 60 workshop options, including the opportunity for teachers to earn the ACE level 1 & 2 badges.
This the 10th year Adobe has been running this event but it was the first time it has been designed as for a large in-person audience.
The Oct 1 & 9 events were exclusively for the Adobe Creative Educators (ACE) Community and were lead by a number of representatives from the ACE-Innovators community around Australia. The ACE community is thriving in ANZ with about 900 new member since the start of 2024.
The Sept 1 & Oct 10 events were the main days of the conference in both cities and open to any teacher and pre-service teacher. The highlights at each of these main events were the keynote presenters, and Dr Catherine Ball (Sydney) and Pip Cleaves (Melbourne). They were both incredibly inspiring, each with a different looks at the influence AI is having on education and the importance of fostering creativity.
Dr Catherine BallPip Cleaves
The Creative Catalyst Talks by representatives of the ACE – Innovator community were also a highlight at each of the four events.
The ANZ Adobe Education team (Helen Lacey, Tim Kitchen, Molly Turner, Eric Drew, Kim Flowers, Jerry Wong and Kaitlyn Hartley) along with Anna Nakao and Chloe Encarnacion were instrumental in helping to make these conference events a success.
Connecting with the following global Adobe Education team members during the ACE days was also a highlight – Ben Forta, Brian Johnsrud, Mary Cherng, Will Hsiao, Tanya Avrith, Gail Hammler, Ann Kozma, Rebecca Hare & Claudio Zavala Jr.
Dr Brian Johnsrud
Recordings of key sessions session are starting to become available via the following links
The keynote speaker and hearing from the year 10 Photography and Digital Media students I teach present in the Curly Questions segment.
Prizes and interactive activities for the bingo were fun to accomplish!
The presenters were so friendly
Dr Ball’s presentation
Keynote speakers
Learning about the features of Express
Learning firefly from Craig, Keynotes were so inspirational
Hands on approach!
Dr Catherine Ball’s keynote was outstanding
Presentations by Catherine Ball and Michelle Dennis
Dr. Catherine Ball
Express was impressive
Dr Catherine Ball – guest speaker
Networking with others and learning new Adobe programs- Firefly, ADOBE Express, Podcast
The mix of the keynote presentations and how little snippets of using Adobe Express were integrated into the talks.
What was presented today was relevant, meaningful and easily applicable to my teaching practice.
Podcast with Brett
Future of tech. Thanks for a productive day!
The learning in the breakout sessions and having time to practise
Hands on opportunities
The accessibility of Adobe Express and being hands on in diving into it further.
Learning Adobe Express
It’s always great to see what the wider creative community are up to.
Catherine Ball and the workshops with Eric
Becoming level 1 educator
Getting new ideas for how to use these products in the classroom
Really enjoyed the podcast session with Brett Salakas
Connecting with highly motivated educators from across multiple sectors to enhance digital pedagogy.
Each workshop was authentic and relevant to various current practices that effectively equip students.
Mixture of presentations and workshops
The workshops were excellent. Dr Christine Ball was awesome
Amazing to see Adobes amazing developments with Express and AI
Seeing the capability of the software and applications in the classroom
Bingo Challenge
The interactive workshops
ACE Level 1 course and Dr Catherine Ball.
AI talk!
Dr Catherine Ball’s presentation was particularly eye opening – thank you!
The break out sessions were outstanding and I have so many ideas how to integrate Adobe Express in the classroom. I will be sharing this with my team!
Thank you for hands on practical sessions and paddlet
Dr Catherine’s presentation was amazing!
The keynote speakers
Getting my level 1
Opportunity to complete the badge
Dr Catherine Ball was amazing.
Creativity in the Round: Collaborative Student/Teacher Group Projects in Adobe Express.
Adobe Express
How easy it will be to use the Generative A.I. content in Adobe Express with my classes in the future, especially for Video Editing.\
The supportive presenters Erin Raethke and Ben Eyles in the breakout sessions
Feedback highlights from the Melbourne events
Learning about Adobe products and how to utilise them in multimodal assessment
The workshops
Pip Cleaves Keynote was extremely interesting and insightful
Discussion about AI use in schools
The keynote speaker Pip
Learning about Adobe beyond a PDF reader
Skills which were immediately actionable in the classroom
Liked the content and activities on AI and Adobe Express.
Pip Cleaves’ keynote and curly questions
The event was great with the workshops and q and a.
I gained a good overview of Adobe product and AI potential
Curly questions
The practical learning especially how to construct webpages
The demos by Drew and Molly were great.
A key highlight of the conference was its direct relevance to my professional development, particularly in keeping up with the latest AI technology trends. The sessions offered in-depth insights and practical knowledge that not only supported my upskilling but also provided actionable strategies to bring into the classroom, enhancing both personal growth and teaching practice. Similarly, Adobe Express shows great promise as a classroom tool, allowing students to easily create visually engaging projects such as presentations and social media content, fostering creativity, digital literacy, and multimedia storytelling.
Fantastic that the conference is both free and during holidays so it’s accessible
A good investment of my time
The conference was thoroughly engaging, featuring an impressive lineup of speakers who were not only experts in their respective fields but also skilled at delivering complex topics in an accessible and inspiring way. What I appreciated most was the flexibility of the conference format. Whether attending face-to-face or online, the hybrid model ensured that I could fully participate according to my preferences and schedule. This adaptability enhanced my experience, allowing me to connect with thought leaders and peers while gaining the cutting-edge knowledge I sought.
The 2024 Adobe Educators’ Conference kicked off at RMIT in Melbourne on 30th September and 1st October. This was the beginning of a four day conference event in Melbourne and Sydney registered by about 800 teachers for both the in-person and online experience with an aim to empower tomorrow’s creators with Adobe Express and ethically safe generative artificial intelligence.
Professor Simone White, Dean of the School of Education at RMIT officially opened the event prior to an introduction outlining all the conference presentation opportunities.
Tim Kitchen – sharing the range of presenters involved in the 2024 conference
The first of over 60 (in-person & online) workshop options took place including the following topics:
Intro to Express with Al Briggs
New Gen AI features in Photoshop & Illustrator with Craig Daalmeijer-Power
Adobe Express in the Primary Classroom with Craig Nicholls
Drawing when you can’t Draw – Engaging the Disengaged with Adobe Fresco with Joel Aarons
Editing images in Adobe Express – How far can you take it with Ben Eyles
Creativity in the Round: Collaborative Student/Teacher Group Projects in Adobe Express with Erin Raethke
Intro to Adobe Express (online) with Eden Carey
Teaching & learning prompt engineering with Adobe Firefly (online) with Ross Johnson
Your Voice is Your Superpower! Animate from Audio Projects in Adobe Express (online) with Jason Lane
Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 course with Eric Drew
Enhancing writing with Adobe Express with Juliette Bentley
Multi-modal assessments in Adobe Express with Molly Turner and Craig Daalmeijer-Power
Making as a teaching and learning methodology in curriculum with Clare Dyson & RMIT Coaches
Making animated gifs and stickers with Photoshop or Fresco with Kev Lavery
Create shareable editable branded video (youtube) intros and outros in Adobe Express with Mark Christie
Introduction to Adobe Express (online) with Jason Lane
What’s new in Adobe Express for Educators (online) with Rollan Bañez
Adobe Express Video production workflow (online) with Jason Eddie
Associate Professor Clare Dyson
The main plenary session commenced with a welcome from RMIT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education & VP, Professor Sherman Young.
Professor Sherman Young
Molly Turner & Eric Drew from the Adobe Education Team acted out the first of two sets of Teacher Features focused on a range of practical uses of Adobe Express for teachers and students.
Molly Turner & Eric Drew
The first of eight Creative Catalyst Talks over all four days of the conference commenced with Juliette Bentley presenting the topic Beyond the Classroom Walls: Global Collaboration with Adobe Express.
Juliette BentleyJuliette Bentley
The keynote presenter for the Melbourne conference was Pip Cleaves (Associate Principal – Global Village Learning) with the topic AI in Education – How I see it. How I use it.
Pip Cleaves
Following a break, Mark Christie (Director Digital Initiatives at Department of Education Northern Territory)did the next Creative Catalyst Talk titled Fair Smoothies.
Al Briggs (Adobe’s Strategy Development Manager for Higher Education) hosted a panel session titled Curly Questions involving:
Dr Timothy Wiley – Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies (RMIT)
Dr Thembi Mason – Lecturer, School of Education (RMIT)
Virginia McNab – Masters student at RMIT School of Education
Rob Flavell – President of VINE (Victorian ICT Network for Education) and Director of Digital Transformation at Loreto Toorak
Mark Christie – Director Digital Initiatives, Department of Education Northern Territory, Adobe Creative Educator – Innovator
The curly questions were:
Do you think relying on Gen AI for assignments compromises students’ ability to develop critical thinking and creativity?
In your opinion, what is the most important thing teachers need to know about the safe and ethical use of AI in the classroom?
Do you worry that Gen AI might replace teachers in the future?
How do you envision using Gen AI to enhance student learning and engagement in the future, and what challenges do you anticipate?
With AI already influencing many industries, what would you say to critics who argue that schools are lagging in preparing students for an AI-driven world?
How important do you think it is for students to learn about Gen AI, and how should schools incorporate this learning into the curriculum?
Day 2
The second of the conference was for members of the Adobe Creative Educator Community.
It commences with a welcome from Associate Professor Clare Dyson from RMIT
Then we connected with the Global Adobe Education team as well as Adobe Product managers in the USA including:
Ben Forta (Senior Director of Education Initiatives)
Will Hsiao (Director, Community Engagement)
Gail Hammer (Education Community Program Manager)
Mary Cherng (Director of Product, Creative Cloud Education)
Dr Brian Johnsrud (Director, Education Learning & Advocacy)
Tanya Avrith (Education Community Manager)
Claudio Zavala Jr. (Education Evangelist)
The third Creative Catalyst Talk for the conference was run by Craig Daalmeijer-Power (Head Teacher – Photography, Screen & Media / Games Development at TAFE NSW) titled Being creative with purpose.
Craig Daalmeijer-Power
Associate Professor Max Schleser conducted the next Creative Catalyst Talk titled ImaginAItion
Associate Professor Max Schleser
The next part of the day involved the ACEs partnering up for an Adobe Express Collaborative Activity that involved using Adobe Express to create a (no more than) 30 sec video clip that outlines an example of how Adobe Express has been or can be helpful for you and/or your students in the teaching & learning process.
We then had a discussion led by the following presenters and topics …
Drawing when you can’t Draw – Engaging the Disengaged with Adobe Fresco with Joel Aarons
New Gen AI features in Photoshop & Illustrator with Craig Daalmeijer-Power
Editing images in Adobe Express – How far can you take it? with Ben Eyles
Feedback comments
Highlights
Learning about Adobe products and how to utilise them in multimodal assessment
The workshops
Pip Cleaves Keynote was extremely interesting and insightful
Discussion about AI use in schools
The keynote speaker Pip
Learning about Adobe beyond a PDF reader
Skills which were immediately actionable in the classroom
Liked the content and activities on AI and Adobe Express.
Pip Cleaves’ keynote and curly questions
The event was great with the workshops and q and a.
I gained a good overview of Adobe product and AI potential
Curly questions
The practical learning especially how to construct webpages
The demos by Drew and Molly were great.
A key highlight of the conference was its direct relevance to my professional development, particularly in keeping up with the latest AI technology trends. The sessions offered in-depth insights and practical knowledge that not only supported my upskilling but also provided actionable strategies to bring into the classroom, enhancing both personal growth and teaching practice. Similarly, Adobe Express shows great promise as a classroom tool, allowing students to easily create visually engaging projects such as presentations and social media content, fostering creativity, digital literacy, and multimedia storytelling.
Fantastic that the conference is both free and during holidays so it’s accessible
A good investment of my time
The conference was thoroughly engaging, featuring an impressive lineup of speakers who were not only experts in their respective fields but also skilled at delivering complex topics in an accessible and inspiring way. What I appreciated most was the flexibility of the conference format. Whether attending face-to-face or online, the hybrid model ensured that I could fully participate according to my preferences and schedule. This adaptability enhanced my experience, allowing me to connect with thought leaders and peers while gaining the cutting-edge knowledge I sought.
Images from the amazing Ben Eyles
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I was invited to represent Adobe at the opening of the National Communication Museum (NCM) in Melbourne on 20th September. The first museum to open in Melbourne for the last 25 years, the NCM is based in a historic 1930s exchange building in Hawthorn adjacent Swinburne University.
NCM offers an inviting environment to explore and discuss complex issues in a rapidly changing technological world. It highlights both the history and the future of the technologies that enable us to communicate and connect with each other with a focus on inclusion and Australian inventors.
One of the highlights of the opening was listen to a keynote presentation by ‘Sophia’ the world’s first robot citizen and the first robot Innovation Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.
Here are some of the artifacts on display at NCM …
On Thursday 19th September, I was invited by the RMIT College of Busness & Law to present an Adobe Express workshop to help enhance students presentation skills for the RMIT Business Global Innovation Challenge. This was a hybrid event connecting with students from around Victoria and into Vietnam.
The RMIT Business Global Innovation Challenge is all about co-creating with industry to create innovation, sustainable , and scalable solutions that will have a positive impact on the world.
As an Adobe Creative Campus, RMIT has provided full premium access to Adobe Express for all students and teachers.
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.
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.
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.
Talana Bonello
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.
Strathcona Principal – Lorna Beegan
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!
Brett Salakas – live from Sydney
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.
Ross Phillips
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.
Michelle Dennis
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.
Rev Tim Costello
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.
Rev Merrill Kitchen – my MumDr Tim PatsonBronwen Bennett – Tim’s librarian when he was in Year 5-7 at Carey Grammar
Dr Tim Kitchen 