On Tuesday 29th July, I had the great pleasure to spend the day with Kororoit Creek Primary School (KCPS) Year 6 classes as well as a number of the teaching staff for an Adobe Day.

With over 1,300 students from Prep to Year 6, KCPS is one of Victoria’s largest primary schools. The school is a fully authorised International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) school, delivering inquiry‑driven learning framed through the Victorian Curriculum and designed to develop internationally minded, creative, and engaged young learners.

With a strong focus on evidence-based teaching, moderation of assessments, personalised feedback, and whole-school approaches to wellbeing, inclusion, and engagement, the school has earned a positive reputation for delivering high-quality, holistic education in a supportive environment.

The PYP is a globally recognised curriculum framework designed for students aged 3 to 12. It focuses on developing the whole child—academically, socially, emotionally, and physically—through inquiry-based learning and international-mindedness.

The PYP encourages students to explore big ideas across subject areas, ask questions, and take ownership of their learning. It promotes key skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and reflection, while nurturing values like respect, empathy, and responsibility.

The aim of this Adobe Day was to give the students an introduction to Adobe Express as a tool for the exhibition stage of of the PYP where students are required to present their learnings.

After school I worked about 25 teachers from KCPS and helped them to achieve the internationally recognised Adobe Creative Educator micro-credential.

I would like to thank Assistant Principal Leesa Cilia and Acting Learning Specialist Clayton Bonello for making this day a possibility.

Gallery

The 2025 Adobe Creative Educator (ACE) Innovator Summit was held in San Francisco from July 16 to 18. It involved about 100 ACE Innovators (in-person) from the US & Japan as well as members of the Adobe Education Team and also included about 30 other ACE-Innovators from around the globe live online.

The 2025 ACE Innovators are members of the wider Adobe Creative Educator community who are prominent influences in K-12 education within their district, state and country. Find out more about the ACE-Innovators here.

This clip was filmed when everyone gathered together for the open reception event with many of the ACE-Innovators sharing what they were most looking forward to at the Summit.

This clip was filmed during the first full day of the Summit with the ACE-Innovators sharing some of their highlights.

Quotes from the Innovators …

… it was so heartwarming and fantastic to see all of the things that Adobe is doing to make sure that their products are meeting the needs of teachers.

One of my favorite highlights of today was getting to do the updates with the product developers and actually having them listen to real teachers and letting us voice our opinions–that is really great.

This conference has the heart. Other conference events do not have that feel.

The way we’ve been treated so well and been elevated– and this is making me think of how I can use my library ambassadors as teenage evangelists and showcase their amazing work.

So for me today listening to Charlie Miller and specifically when he said ‘lowering the floor while raising the ceiling,’ was very impactful as an ESL learner. I work with a lot of English language students and to be able to use these tools to lower the floor so that they can actually succeed to be able to raise the ceiling for them.

Have a look at the images taken by Claudio Zavala Jr.

An absolute highlight for me was working with amazing global Adobe Education Team …

On Saturday 5th July I had the pleasure of running three Adobe Express workshops for teens at risk in Vietnam involving about 125 participants. This is the 6th year I’ve been involved with this program called Camp Connect, organised by the Pacific Links Foundation.

With the assistance of Ann, a fantastic translator and a previous participant in my workshops, the participants were encouraged to use the free version of Adobe Express. Together, we explored the process of animating a character and creating a video story about how we can make the world a better place for everyone.

Comments from participants

Through this workshop, I discovered Adobe — an incredibly useful and exciting tool
where I can freely express my creativity and create amazing products. I’ll definitely
share this app with my friends and those around me. A big thank you to Mr. Tim!

A memorable moment was when I asked the instructor to create a cat character for
me, and he made an incredibly cute one. I felt so happy and surprised.

I remember most how to create animated characters and add voiceovers for them. It
was super fun and cute, and I really want to try making more videos like that in the
future.

One of the goals of Camp Connect is to inspire and up-skill the participants, providing them with opportunities to apply and further develop their skills, potentially leading to future employment opportunities.

The Pacific Links Foundation (PALS) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization founded in 2001, dedicated to combating human trafficking and supporting vulnerable youth and women in Vietnam. It focuses on prevention, protection, and reintegration efforts to address the root causes of trafficking.

A cornerstone of PALS’s work is its education and scholarship programs, which provide at-risk girls aged 11–18 with the resources to stay in school. By covering costs such as tuition, supplies, and uniforms, these programs aim to reduce the likelihood of girls dropping out and becoming vulnerable to trafficking. Vocational training and job placement services further equip young women with skills for stable employment, enhancing their economic independence.

The Camp Connect program by the Pacific Links Foundation is a transformative initiative aimed at empowering disadvantaged youth in Vietnam, particularly girls aged 14 to 18. These participants are often scholarship recipients from the foundation’s GEMS and SEEDS programs, residing in areas vulnerable to human trafficking. Held virtually, Camp Connect provides a safe and supportive environment where over 1,200 students engage in workshops led by more than 150 volunteer professionals from diverse fields and time zones. The program focuses on developing life skills, self-awareness, and career exploration, equipping participants with the tools to thrive academically and professionally.

In essence, Camp Connect is more than just a summer camp; it’s a pivotal step in the Pacific Links Foundation’s mission to break the cycle of exploitation by investing in the potential of Vietnam’s youth.

On Tue 1st July I visited Roxburgh College in Melbourne’s north for an Adobe Day with four classes of Year 7 students. None of the 100 students had ever used Adobe Express before, nor did they know it was available for them. So, it was a great opportunity to share the value of Adobe Express to the school.

It was late in 2024 when the Victorian Department of Education opened up Adobe Express via their single sign-on system (Edupass) to all of their students and teachers.

Established in 2003 through the merger of Upfield Secondary College and Roxburgh Park Secondary College, Roxburgh College offers a diverse range of educational pathways, including the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Vocational Education and Training (VET), and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), catering to various student interests and career aspirations.

I was given a tour of their engineering classrooms including an area to learn about motor mechanics.

I would like to thank Allan Barnes (Learning Specialist – VET & RTO) for organising this event for his school.

On Wednesday 25th June 2025 I was invited by AISSA (Association of Independent Schools of South Australia) & Data#3 to share the value of Adobe in Education to a group of school ICT Managers and leaders in-person and online.

Ben Beaton from Data#3 hosted this event which included a warm welcome from Glen Shipley the CFO of AISSA.

The first speaker was Amir Bukan from Snapdragon who shared the value of their new laptop technologies.

I was the second speaker covering the following topics:

• Overview of the Adobe Creative Cloud
• AI at Adobe
• Why Adobe is safe
• Recent study “Creativity with AI in Education”
• Adobe Express
• AI Assistant in Acrobat
• Helping Teachers & Students

Click here to access my slides

One of the highlights was a demonstration of some of capabilities of Adobe Express for Education which involved a participant (Darren) who has never used the tool before but was guided by me through the process of making a video/animation.

Eastern Fleurieu R-12 School is a multi-campus government school located in the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia, approximately 50 km southeast of Adelaide. On Tuesday 24th June, I was invited to run an Adobe Express workshop with their Year 7 English classes.

During the night prior to this event, Adobe Express for Education changed the look and feel of it’s homepage dashboard.

Together, we explored this new exciting layout and the students all made short video animations both individually and in small groups with the collaboration feature.

I would like to thank Adobe Creation Educator David Fawcett for inviting me to be part of his school community.

On Monday 23rd June, I had the pleasure of running an Adobe Express workshop with all about 150 Year 7 & Year 9 students from St Mary’s College in Adelaide.

It was lovely to be back at this very special school since my last visit in 2017. Adobe Creative Educator – Leader Giovanna Iannicelli organised this opportunity to work with these students while I was visiting Adelaide for a number of events. Most of the students were new to Adobe Express so this was an introduction as I encouraged them all to create an animated video.

I was so impressed with how quickly they took to the software. Many of them shared how excited they are to explore Adobe Express further and use it in a range of subject areas.

On Thursday 19th June, over 25 lecturers from TAFE SA in Adelaide took part in the Adobe Creative Educators (ACE) level 1 micro-credential.

The ACE course offers a balanced blend of theory and practice. The theoretical part includes insights from various experts on the significance of fostering creativity across all aspects and levels of education. The practical component involves using Adobe Express to create a digital portfolio and a poster.

Click here to find out more about the Adobe Creative Educator program which now involves well over 2000 ANZ teachers.

These lecturers come from a diverse range of faculties within TAFE SA. Each of them left with practical examples of how to integrate Adobe Express into teaching and learning across all areas of TAFE.

I would like to thank Viviana Nunez (Principal Consultant – People and Culture – TAFE SA) for organising this event for her colleagues.

The Big Day In – Adelaide was held on Thursday 19th June at the University of Adelaide with about 400 students in Years 9 to 12 from around South Australia.

I was the opening keynote presenter speaking on the topic – Skills required to thrive in an AI wold.

Professor Abelardo PardoProfessor Abelardo Pardo, Head of School of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide opened the event my encouraging the students to consider IT as future career. Other presenters were from:

• Wisetech Global
• Tata Consultancy Services
• Westpac Group
• Australian Defence Force
• The Australian Signals Directorate
• Catalyst Games

On Wednesday 18th June 2025, I was invited to run an Adobe Day at the new Findon Technical College in Adelaide.

Opened in January 2024 and co-located with Findon High School, Findon Technical College is South Australia’s first purpose-built government technical college. Offering a unique blend of SACE completion and vocational education, it serves students in Years 10 to 12 who are looking for a fast track to industry or university within modern, industry-style facilities. This is the first of five similar colleges across the state and part of a $208.8 million investment aimed at bridging education and workforce needs.

This Adobe Day began with many of the teachers completing the Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 micro-credential. The plan was then to work with groups of students on podcasting with Adobe Podcast, introducing Adobe Express and then running a video editing masterclass on Premiere Pro. However, once the teachers saw the value of Adobe Express, that then became the focus for most of the other sessions with a number of classes taking coming in at the last minute to take advantage of my visit.

I would like to thank Eric Drew (former colleague of mine who now workers with the SA Department for Education) as well as Luke Northcote (Head of Findon Technical College) for organnising this day.