Our event offered a valuable opportunity for peers across the sector to connect, exchange insights, and share best practices. Adobe is committed to fostering these spaces throughout our Adobe Creative Campus network, helping members build their network, strengthen relationships and learn from one another.
We were delighted to welcome 17 participants from six different UK universities: Manchester Metropolitan, Aston, Leeds Trinity, Bradford, York St John, and Wrexham.
We were also pleased to welcome five participants from Australian & New Zealand universities visiting the UK. It was a fantastic opportunity to not only strengthen regional connections but also to engage with and learn from international institutions.
Our speakers on the day
Nigel Hayes | Digital Media Technician at Leeds Trinity University
Jason Taylor | Senior Lecturer Architectural Digital Design (ADD) Lead, AI Lead & DELTA Lead at Manchester Metropolitan University
We kicked off the morning with Nigel, who provided an insightful overview of the Leeds Trinity Digital Media Skills Pathway.
He shared that the initiative was developed to equip staff with the digital skills needed to better support their students. The pathway was designed to be centred around teaching, offering flexibility, tracking engagement, and hosting the resources on their VLE to ensure it felt tailored and accessible for Leeds Trinity staff.
Initially, engagement was strong, and in January of this year, the pathway was also made available to students. The response from students has been outstanding. Looking ahead, Nigel highlighted an exciting new series, 'I Don’t Have Time for That!,' aimed at encouraging staff participation. These 30-minute, quick-fire workshops will focus on 'rapid teaching hacks for busy academics' to further support engagement and professional development.
This is an excellent example of a comprehensive, institution-wide initiative designed to promote digital literacy.
Next, Jason shared how Manchester Met’s designation as an Adobe Creative Campus has had a particularly positive impact on the School of Architecture (MSA). It has supported digital equality among students and sparked curiosity and creativity among staff.
As a DELTA lead, Jason discussed the MSA DELTA project, in which he and his colleagues redesigned hundreds of Moodle pages to make them more engaging and easier for students to navigate. By using Adobe Express, staff were able to quickly create visually appealing graphics to guide students through their coursework. The DELTA team also developed templates to ensure a consistent look and feel across modules.
Jason highlighted additional ways Adobe Express has been used by students — from ideation and creating comic strips to developing content for innovative events. He also introduced the MSA Live 2025 initiative, where students collaborate with industry partners on student-led projects. This year, Adobe Express has elevated the quality of student design work, with many students expressing pride in seeing their creativity brought to life.
Jason’s examples showcased practical and inspiring ways to embed Adobe Express into teaching and learning.
Panel Discussion
We wrapped up the morning with a panel discussion on approaches to curriculum transformation, hosted by Adobe's UK Education Evangelist, Mark Andrews, featuring a group of colleagues who generously shared their insights and experiences:
- Prof. Janet Lord (Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for the faculty of Health and Education, Man Met)
- Erica Bellamy (Director of Digital Health & Social Care Education, The University of Bradford)
- Sharna Spittle (Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching, La Trobe University)
- Travis Cox (Director, Learning Enhancement and Innovation, University of Adelaide)
Our panellists shared how their institutions are approaching curriculum integration, highlighting strategies for engaging both academic staff and students. We learned how they are working to ensure that curriculum transformation remains inclusive, adaptable, and responsive to the diverse needs of their student communities.
Key Takeaway:
Good enough is good enough, don't let perfection slow us down or stop us from trying something new.
Afternoon - Adobe Session
For our last hour, we took the learnings from the panel discussion and used this as a prompt for our final exercise. We asked the group to communicate three learnings, ideas or affordances to nurturing a culture of learning innovation.
We used the panel discussion as our stimulus, we gathered ideas, crafted an artefact and then shared this with each other.
The Adobe team introduced a practical tool to support participants through the exercise and spark inspiration for their artefact creation. This marked the pilot run of newly developed activity cards, which were well received by the group. Based on participant feedback, we’ll be making a few adjustments—but stay tuned, there’s more to come soon!"
Some key comments from LinkedIn posts from our participants:
Really enjoyed the event and it was great to make some new connections
Feeling inspired to 1) Use Adobe more in my own work 2) See how we can support students in their use of this powerful tool.