"Laugher" Curve
Our campus information technology strategy has moved from "What did we do last year?" to "How does this decision impact students?"
Steve Hess, CIO University of Utah
Access and Equity
Engagement and Retention
Career Readiness and Branding
Institutional Innovation and Differentiation
All students in all areas of study need to become critical, ethical, and agile users of emerging information technologies.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Student Standards.
. . . and the most effective way to achieve that learning outcome, is for students to creatively problem-solve using emerging information technologies -- in a variety of contexts, across the curriculum, at all levels.
When students move beyond consuming other people's content to circulating their own ideas, fundamental learning outcomes are much more likely to "stick" or "transfer" to contexts beyond the campus.
In other words, what the world needs now are digital storytellers who address the "wicked problems" of our time.
Stories that Matter
ADDRESSING THE WORLD'S WICKED PROBLEMS THROUGH AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
"Our Lives Together" by Carrie Lewis
to move students away from being passive, disconnected, consumers of other people's content toward them becoming active, connected, producers of their own ideas.
to enable students to become critical, ethical, and agile users of emerging technologies.
Authentic Assessment as an ideal pedagogical practice that values the personal, cultural, and human "capital" that every student brings to campus.
Transforming and Differentiating the College Experience for All Students
What I believe is that most universities in this country educate the top ten percent. If you're a great student, if you're an 'A' student, then you get catered to. You get to work with the best professors. You get opportunities to engage in undergraduate research. . . . What would it look like at a higher education institution if we treated every single student like that? -- Elwood L. Robinson, Chancellor, Winston-Salem State University
Adobe Creative Cloud is a Platform for Developing and Sharing Ideas
Ten years ago, media production software like Photoshop, Acrobat, and InDesign was used primarily by specialists in communication and creativity. Since then, the Adobe Creative Suite of applications has dramatically evolved alongside and within the digital transformation revolution. Today, Adobe Creative Cloud is a digital ecosystem, a platform, for everyone to create and share ideas. Within higher education, this means that every student, every faculty member, every class, every major, and every discipline can now use the breadth of solutions within Adobe Creative Cloud to solve problems and share knowledge, both traditional and emerging.
In other words, the dozens of applications and services within Creative Cloud are equally relevant across the curriculum. Consider, for example, the four most fundamental student learning outcomes shared by all courses, disciplines, and academic programs -- the famous four Cs of education:
- to communicate effectively
- to think critically
- to work collaboratively
- to solve problems creatively
Cultivating these outcomes to prepare students for the world of today and the workplace of tomorrow hinges increasingly on digital, information, and networked technologies. Such preparation aims to moves students away from being passive consumers of other people's content toward becoming active creators of their own ideas. This is why creativity tools such as Photoshop, InDesign, Spark, Premiere Rush, Acrobat, and Illustrator are equally relevant in every course and discipline.
Matt Acevedo, Ph.D. • Executive Director, Learning Innovation and Faculty Engagement • University of Miami
STEM AND ENGINEERING
Hillary Andales tells her award-winning science education story about Reference Frames and Relativity.
Environmental, automotive, and electrical engineering students combined as team to submit a winning proposal to an international competition that used:
- Adobe XD to design a mobile application prototype to regulate emissions
- Adobe Illustrator to design graphics and infographics in their proposal
- Adobe Premiere Pro to produce and edit a video that illustrates and narrates their project
- Adobe AfterEffects to animate key aspects of their video
BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In 2018, Valentina Arismendi and her friends used Adobe XD to create a mobile app prototype called "GateMate" for ordering and delivering food to airport terminal gates. Within a year, other entrepreneurs create "AtYourGate" at the San Diego and Newark airports, among others.
HUMAN SERVICES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Students in Professor Jack Monell's criminal justice courses use Creative Cloud Express, Premiere Rush, and Adobe Portfolio to engage in social and criminal justice work.
Carrie Lewis tells the story of a loving family taking care of a father and husband suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease.
Faculty Development as the Limiting Reagent
Novice digital storytellers need a one-stop, cloud-based, entry point that works wherever, whenever, and on whatever device they have: Adobe Express
Adobe 2015: Photoshop and Acrobat
Adobe 2025: Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly
- Adobe Express is the future of all digital content creation because it enables everyone, design novices and experts alike, to produce and share ideas quickly and creatively.
- Adobe Express has almost no learning curve.
- Adobe Express is easier to use than a word processor or presentation software.
- Adobe Express is more accessible because it is online, cloud-based, and works on the widest range of devices.
- Adobe Express now includes two-click "Quick Actions" for the most widely used editing functions for images, videos, and PDF.
- Adobe Express continues to leap-frog itself almost monthly with new features, such as the just announced roadmap to integrate Adobe's new AI engine, Adobe Firefly, directly into Adobe Express workflows.
- Adobe Express enables students to learn and demonstrate competencies wherever, whenever, and on whatever devices they choose.
- Adobe Express, as an integral part of Adobe Creative Cloud, enables students to seamlessly grow into more powerful, professional content creator applications such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, and InDesign -- paving the way for them to earn industry recognized credentials through the Adobe Certified Professional Certification Program.
- Adobe Express is ideal for higher education because it makes it easy to author long-form, detailed, evidence-based, and data-driven academic work and research.
For this assignment, learners have the option to create and share their work as an Adobe Express web page instead of using a word processor or slide deck. Go to https://www.adobe.com/express/ to get your free account. When you are ready to share your work from Adobe Express: (1) click the "Share" button, (2) copy the URL of your project, and (3) paste the URL anywhere you want to share.
Creativity, Access, and Innovation for All
Discover how Adobe supports student success in the Age of AI.
Get ahead of the curve.
Higher education was already changing dramatically in 2019 to focus increasingly on student success. Then learning and teaching were forever reimagined during the pandemic. In 2022, students everywhere started using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to complete academic work. That’s a lot of change in a very short time. Adobe, as the worldwide leader in digital creativity for over 30 years, can help. Let’s have a conversation about the ways Adobe can serve as your partner in innovation.
Students learn best when they create.
The impact of emerging technologies on education can be both exhilarating and daunting, inspiring and disorienting. AI tools are writing cogent essays and solving science and mathematical problems, and this revolution is just beginning.
The current consensus is that knowledge workers won’t necessarily be replaced by AI Bots, but these workers will be replaced by those who understand how to use tools such as AI to create, produce, and shape ideas productively and ethically. Adobe’s thought leaders in education believe that student success today hinges on becoming critical, agile, life-long learners of transformative technologies – and that the best way to do so across every discipline and career path is for students to have access to these tools to enable them to learn by application and creative problem solving – to learn by making and creating solutions to pressing problems. Studies show that most students express keen interest in AI-integrated courses and learning experiences, which illustrates the growing impact of AI-powered solutions in higher education [source].
Faculty work is also being transformed by AI. A typical educator works around 50 hours a week, while only half of that time is usually devoted to teaching students directly [source]. Many say that, if they could spend less time on administrative work, they would have more time for individual connection, empathy, and mentoring with their students. Automated systems can be used as an assistant to reduce some repetitive aspects of grading papers, generating lesson plans, launching early drafts of reports and letters, and providing basic feedback -- so that educators can spend more time on advanced, nuanced, individual feedback and exchanges. Like their students who are entering the digitally transformed workforce, the educators of the near future won’t be replaced by AI Bots, but those who learn how to use these technologies productively and ethically will lead the way.
Make more time for human connection and authentic assessment.
Human connection is irreplaceable in any learning process. The role of the educator extends beyond the mere transmission of knowledge; it involves fostering curiosity, critical thinking, and emotional well-being. The need to strike a balance between technology and human interaction is critical and ongoing. It’s therefore essential to involve college faculty in the integration of AI tools, ensuring that these technologies align with their needs and empower them to create engaging and inclusive learning environments.
Adobe’s campus partners around the globe are increasingly interested in authentic assessment as a forward-thinking and future-facing approach to the integration of AI technologies across the curriculum. The term authentic assessment is sometimes also called experiential learning, active learning, project-based learning, and the like – and what these approaches have in common is the principle that students learn best when they are asked to produce and share their own ideas, rather than merely consume other people’s content.
Ensuring curricula can support authentic assessments reduces the chances of students cheating and violating academic integrity, which is a problem that Generative AI has made worse in education at present. Adobe tools enable authentic assessments for every student, everywhere along the learning curve from novice to expert. Asking students to create a video, a podcast, an infographic, or a website to circulate their knowledge are all possibilities for authentic ways to assess students. Changing the way that students are assessed is not a new discussion, but, the advent of AI in higher education will ideally accelerate authentic assessment as a best practice.
Unleash your students’ full potential through responsible approaches to creative and AI tools.
Building creative and digital confidence
While it’s essential to acknowledge the disruptions and challenges surrounding AI in higher education, it’s equally critical to explore the advantages it offers. To prepare students for the digitally and AI-transformed workforce they will enter, these future leaders need multiple opportunities across the curriculum to develop as critical, ethical, productive users of emerging technologies.
Many of Adobe’s creative tools for education are powered by trusted Adobe AI technologies, enabling creativity for all students. For example, Adobe Sensei AI technology has made creative processes more accessible. By powering features like automated video captions in Adobe Premiere Pro, accurate sketch tracing in Adobe Illustrator, neural filters and Content-Aware tools in Adobe Photoshop, and body- and emotion-tracking in Adobe Animate, Adobe Sensei takes care of complex and time-consuming tasks so students can focus more on creative expression, ideation, and outcomes. Adobe Firefly, a new family of generative AI models, is designed to jump-start creativity and accelerate workflows in products like Photoshop and Adobe Express.
A trusted solution
Faculty can trust Adobe to provide AI functionality that delivers seamless integration for an easy user experience, superior visual output so students can express themselves in compelling ways, and ethical content management that models and promotes responsible use.
Creativity made easier and more accessible
Adobe’s AI technologies help students spark the creative process with inspirational starting points that reduce the anxiety of staring at a blank page or canvas. AI-powered tools can also streamline the creative process, supporting more efficient and productive ideation and iteration.
Improving engagement and building skills
AI can also democratize creativity, inspiring students to engage more deeply and develop essential skills for future success. When they have an easier time creating things like images, graphics, videos, and websites, they’ll build their holistic communication skills as they explore new ways to share their thinking. They’ll build their critical analysis skills as they reflect on their choices and process, especially when integrating data, evidence, and research in their work.
Responsible innovation in the age of generative AI.
Adobe is leading the way toward responsible, ethical use of AI. Generative AI tools like Adobe Firefly are transforming creativity even more. With these tools, if you can describe something, you can begin to create it. However, responsible development and use of generative AI require companies to adhere to an AI ethics framework, that includes training and testing on safe and inclusive datasets, addressing biases, and fostering a two-way dialogue with the public to improve the technology continually.
Transparency and attribution are also crucial, especially regarding research. Adobe has implemented credential measures through the Content Authenticity Initiative [source] that allow students to attach, and educators to proof, information such as names, dates, and creation tools to their visual content. These credentials travel with the content, ensuring that faculty and everyone else can review and understand its origin and history. The initiative collaborates with over 900 members to make this solution accessible for all.
Navigating the AI landscape together.
Given that over 47% of learning management [source] tools will be powered by AI in the next three years, the need to talk about AI is clear. By carefully evaluating AI’s advantages and potential challenges, we can harness its power to unlock the full potential of our institutions, fostering a generation of lifelong learners who are prepared for the demands of the digital-first world. Adobe is eager to join you in these ongoing conversations as your partner in innovation.
Resources and Links
- 10 Simple Steps for Getting Started in Adobe Express for Higher Education: https://express.adobe.com/page/idnBxNwG8fQMk/
- Student Success Metrics for Adobe Creative Campus Schools: https://express.adobe.com/page/lvGtmfkYjlZp5/
- Valentina Arismendi Adobe Portfolio: https://valenar.myportfolio.com/
- Valentina Rivera future GCU transcript/portfolio: https://studentjourney.myportfolio.com/
- Greg Burton's "Our Stories" BLM project using Adobe Express: https://our-stories.myportfolio.com/
- Creativity and Digital Literacy in STEM: https://spark.adobe.com/page/DE6La50HHV7m9/