I love seeing examples of Adobe products being used to enhance creativity and IT skills in the classroom. Here are a couple of grabs from a March edition of the Northam Senior High School (Western Australia) newsletter where Angela Bartels (Adobe Education Leader) is working with Year 7 & 8 students using Adobe Fireworks and Photoshop.

Angela Bartels Adobe Education Leader (Western Australia) Level 3 Classroom Teacher Northam Senior High School

Email me (kitchen@adobe.com) if you have other examples of student work involving Adobe products that you are happy (and able) to share.

• Check out CreateEDU TV    
• Have you considered becoming an Adobe Campus Leader?    

Have you joined the Adobe Education Exchange?

Below are four short video updates (as seen on CreateEDU TV) outlining some of the highlights of the Adobe in Education active use program so far in 2015 throughout Australasia.

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/125757583%5D

Part 1 is the introduction

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/125758189%5D

Part 2 features  an update on the following events:
– Swinburne University Staff Workshop in Melbourne
– CreateWorld Conference in Brisbane
– The Adobe Design Achievement Awards
– Ashdale SC workshop in Perth, and
– The Adobe in WA Classrooms events in Perth

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/125761170%5D

Part 3 features  an update on :

– Student workshops at Grimwade House in Melbourne
– Big Day In events in Sydney, Wagga & Ballarat
– Adobe in QLD Classrooms events
– Workshop at Caloundra State High in QLD

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/125767353%5D

Part 4 features an update on:

– ICTENSW Conference in Sydney
– ECAWA Conference in Perth
– The AEL/ACL Boot Camps in Sydney & Melbourne
– The Adobe Education Leadership Forum in Bali

as well as
– A promotion for the new APAC focused Live Events, and
– A promotion for the Adobe Campus Leader program

• Check out CreateEDU TV    
• Have you considered becoming an Adobe Campus Leader?        
• Tim’s Website

• Click here to see the latest Adobe Professional Learning offerings for teachers

I had the pleasure of presenting a range of workshops and a keynote session at the 2015 ECAWA (Education Computing Association of Western Australia) conference this week at Scotch College in Perth.

It was great working with Dr Michael Henderson from Monash University (and fellow committee member of DLTV) and Tom March, an international legend in the ICT in Education world and a mentor of mine who encouraged me as a young teacher to enhance my ICT skills.

Throughout the two days, there were about 100 teachers from a wide range of WA schools and universities who attended and shared their passion for ICT use in the classroom.

There was a strong focus on the use of Adobe tools to enhance creativity in classroom. I ran the following workshops:

• Flipped learning with Adobe Presenter, Adobe Voice & Premier Pro
• Mastering multimodal text with a range of Adobe solutions
• Video editing made simple with Adobe Clip & Premier Pro
• Having fun with Adobe Photoshop
• Simple web sites with Adobe Slate, Adobe Muse & Edge Animate

My keynote session was based on the topic Bridging the Disconnects where we looked at a range of ICT in Education issues, discussed some of the long term thinking about why the effective use of ICT and Creativity in teaching & learning is so important and looked at some of the popular Adobe solutions.

All of my slides and resources are available as a resource of the Adobe Education Exchange via – http://bit.ly/ecawa-adobe15

On online poll on ICT issues is education was conducted as part of the keynote session where the teachers were asked to rate their top 3 ICT in education issues (disconnects) from their experience.

It’s interesting that the concern with the most hits is the perceived conflict between curriculum demands and creativity. Closely followed by teacher ICT skills compared to students ICT skills. Both of these finding led to some very interesting discussion.

Here are some images of the conference …

Another highlight was seeing my first ever WA sunset over the Indian Ocean

• Have you join the Adobe Education Exchange? 
• Check out CreateEDU TV    
• Have you considered becoming an Adobe Campus Leader?        
• Tim’s Website

Brendan Hogan is the Principal and science teachers of Wahgunyah Primary School, a small school in north-east country Victoria. Despite being isolated in country Victoria, Brendan recently guided a group of students through a series of shows titled Scaredy-Cat at the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

This is an outstanding achievement from a teacher who balances the demands of being a school principal along side his passion for giving students a voice and self-confidence through the art of drama.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjv7elCqVso%5D

In his spare time, Brendon runs a drama school called the Yackandandah Young Players. While I was queuing with my daughter outside the famous Spiegeltent (which is now an established Comedy Festival venue outside the Melbourne Arts Centre) I listened to some of the parents of these students talk about how much this experience had boosted their child’s confidence, resilience, team work, problem solving and collaboration skills.  All 21st Century skills that as educators we should be focusing on for our students.

Having students this young involved in the Comedy Festival generated considerable interest from local media.

Herald Sun

ABC Melbourne Radio with John Faine

ABC Goulburn Murray

I first met Brendan a few years ago when he was collaborating with my sister Lisa Mason on a series of comical videos that I filmed about a farmer and his wife called The Beef.

The Beef Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3.

Brendan and Lisa also stared in the 2013 Yakandandah Theatre Company production of ‘Secret Bridesmaids’ Business’ by Elizabeth Coleman.

Congratulations to Brendan Hogan and all the students for putting on such an entertaining production and becoming quite a feature at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This is an experience that the students will remember and may well be the kick start for some promising stage careers.

This is another example of how a teacher can make a positive difference in students lives by going outside the traditional boundaries of education, focusing on creativity and going the extra mile.

• Click here to see the latest Adobe PL offerings
• Have you join the Adobe Education Exchange?
• Check out CreateEDU TV    

St Kevin’s College in Melbourne was the venue for the historic first ever Victorian Adobe Education Community workshop on Friday April 10, 2015.

Introducing Victoria’s first group of AELs (Adobe Education Leaders) & ACLs (Adobe Campus Leaders) other than Leigh Howser on my right who is a QLD ACL who flew in for this event.

The AELs & ACLs shared their expertise and passion for creativity. Each of them with a unique story to tell and much to share.

Here are some samples of what was achieved…

Stuart Murdoch (ACL) working with Phil Feain (AEL) on their first Adobe Clip which promotes the Adobe Education Exchange.

Margaret Young (AEL) working with Leigh Howser (ACL) on their first Adobe Clip production promoting the Adobe Education Exchange.

Leigh Howser’s slate about the boot camp

Philip Feain’s Slate about the day

Kev Lavery’s Slate about the day

Stuart Murdoch’s first Adobe Slate

Stuart Murdoch’s first Adobe Voice.

Joel Aaron’s Voice of choice

Margaret & Leigh’s amazing Voice about Angel Gowns

Phil’s Voice about the event

Here are some of the feedback comments about the day …

Very worthwhile and a great opportunity to meet other ACLs and AELs. Tim is always a great presenter and has you walking away with a lot of new information and resources. Very worthwhile.

I really liked hearing what other Educators were doing with Adobe tools in the classroom.

There were many highlights. The opportunity to network with other like-minded educators was very valuable.

Spending quality time with some quality products

Having an opportunity to learn from Tim and the other AELs and ACLs was really valuable. It was nice to find some common problems and new solutions. Slate looks pretty awesome too. I might have to buy an iPad.

• Have you join the Adobe Education Exchange?
• Check out CreateEDU TV    
• Have you considered becoming an Adobe Campus Leader?        
• Tim’s Website

A group of AELs and ACLs hard at work during their boot camp in Sydney.

It was great getting together with the NSW Adobe Education Leaders and (for the first time) some of the NSW Adobe Campus Leaders for the NSW AEL/ACL Boot Camp at the Adobe office in Sydney.

This was a gathering of talented, passionate & inspirational educators, all willing and keen to share their expertise and experience.

It was great to have Lisa McIntosh (Graphic Designer) and Konrad Skirlis (Audio Engineer) sharing their expertise in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Audition. Having these links with industry was appreciated by the AELs & ACLs.

Lisa McIntosh – design expert, teaching about Adobe Illustrator

Konrad Skirlis, sharing his skills with Adobe Audition

One of the activities was to spend about 45 minutes building a reflection presentation on the day using one of Adobe’s new touch apps. Below are some links to Adobe Voice & Slate resources shared by some of the AELs/ACLs.

A Voice about the boot camp event by Grant & Konrad

A voice about why teachers should join the Adobe Campus Leader program by Pip Cleaves

A Slate about the day by Megan Townes

A Slate about the day by Gary & Henrietta

A Slate about Adobe Slate by Henrietta

A Slate about why teachers should apply to be an Adobe Campus Leader

Great dinner together in Darling Harbour

Check out CreateEDU TV                 Tim’s Website

The Adobe in Queensland Classrooms roadshow moved to the Sunshine Coast on April 1 & 2, 2015 with student and teacher events held at Caloundra State High School.

On April 1, Richard Turner-Jones & I put a group of Year 9 to 11 students through workshops on Adobe Muse, Edge Animate, InDesign and Photoshop.

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/124071165%5D

On April 2, about 35 teachers from the Sunshine Coast area were show how a wide range of Adobe solutions can be used to enhance creativity in education.

Here is an Adobe Slate site relating to these events

https://slate.adobe.com/a/74ENm

The feedback from the event was very pleasing:

Great Apps …just wish our school had more ipads!

A well run event and I can only hope that my school can find it in their budget to obtain the latest Adobe software.

You don’t always know what’s out there, I was surprised to find that some of the apps and features we were shown have been around for at least two years or so. Life could have been so much easier if I’d known earlier!

Check out CreateEDU TV

The Adobe Education Leadership Forum at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua, Bali – Indonesia (March 25-27) was an amazing networking opportunity for education leaders throughout Asia Pacifc.

In total, 164 education leaders, thought leaders, education administrators and Adobe staff were involved in this event that aimed to improve education outcomes with advances in the latest digital media, digital marketing technologies and educational thought leadership.

Here is a 60 sec summary of the event on CreateEDU TV:

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/123471421%5D

Here is a more detailed video, featuring interviews with presenters and delegates.

[vimeo:https://vimeo.com/123374861%5D

A live feed & recording of the main presentations was filmed by Wilkar Productions via:

http://bit.ly/EduForum15Live.

During the first full day of the event, we attracted nearly 1.5 million impressions on social media. Over 2,000 educators have accessed the Adobe Education Exchange resource established for this event…

https://edex.adobe.com/resource/557516f4/

During the actual event, 100s accessed the live feed from all over the globe including over 100 from El Salvador.

Locations viewing the live stream/recording from March 26 to 31

Here is an image gallery of the main events …

The official Forum photos can be found here

It was a pleasure to work with Wayne Weisse, Prabhjeet Singh and the rest of the Adobe APAC Education team as well as Priscilla Goh and her team from Rhapsody Concept.

Feedback about the event

“In the next level of digital literary, Adobe cemented its leadership role in unlocking the art and science of digital creativity to promote idea diversity and flexibility while valuing in discussion.”
University of Santo Tomas

“Adobe is our creative Education Partner”
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok

“A very informative & useful session. The opportunity to learn, share & connect with other professionals / Educators in the region is priceless.”
Institute of Technical Education

“Yet again, Adobe you’ve put on a highly engaging and motivating event. The speakers are of very high quality and cause me to change the way I view aspects of education and creativity.”
Independent Schools Queensland

“This conference provided thought leadership; relationship building that was all about opportunity for our learners in the 21st century! Outstanding event!”
NT Department of Education

Check out CreateEDU TV

The Adobe Education Leadership Forum in Bali (March 26 & 27) will have some of Australia & Asia’s top education thought leaders, education leaders and Adobe experts looking deeply into the theme Sparking Creative Catalyst: Fueling the Future and it will be streamed live (and recorded) via:

http://bit.ly/EduForum15Live

Use Twitter to contribute to discussions and add your comments via #EduForum15

The program guide with local time conversion is available via the Adobe Education Exchange via:

https://edex.adobe.com/resource/557516f4/

More information on this event can be found via:

http://www.adobe-eduforum.com/2015/?TEMPLATEID=SC_HOME

Highlights of watch out for include…

Trevor Bailey (Senior Director Adobe, Worldwide Education & Government) talking about Transforming Education for the future.

Dan Haesler (Educator, Writer & Consultant, Australia) talking about connected learning, the future of education

Paul Burnett (Adobe’s Creative Cloud Evangelist for APAC) showing the new mobile aspects of the Creative Cloud

A great K-12 & Higher Ed Panel discussing how education is empowering students for the future?

A focus on whether education is encouraging entrepreneurship?

Tacy Trowbriodge (Adobe’s worldwide Education Programs Lead) and Dr Tim Kitchen (Adobe’s Senior Education Advocate for APAC) talking about the Adobe education programs around the globe.

And much more …

Check out CreateEDU TV

After many year’s of presenting and helping organise the various Victorian state ICT in Education conferences, it was a pleasure to be involved with the NSW conference run by ICTENSW.

There were many familiar faces there from various ACEC events over the years and a number of NSW Adobe Education Leaders. However most of the delegates were made up of educators who I had not been in contact with before and were new to resources such as the Adobe Education Exchange.

I particularly enjoyed hearing again from Dan Bowen, Microsoft Education Partner Development Manager. He is a very entertaining presenter and as usual git everyone thinking.

I also enjoyed meeting Matt Richards, one of Australia’s leaders in the Maker Movement in schools.

I’d like to congratulate Leanne Cameron (President of ICTENSW) and her team for putting on a great conference and I look forward to being involved again in the future.