Adobe Education Technologies

Learning with a Reason

Jim Babbage — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:53:15 +0000

Like many students, I learn best when I understand the reason for what I’m learning, or am really engaged and curious about how I can achieve a vision of my own. This goes back as far as I can remember, but one example has always stuck in my mind, is my grade 10 math class.

I’ve never been a math whiz. Yes, when Charles Babbage passed away, he took the math gene with him, I think. So generally my math grades were average and my commitment to learning more about math was average. In previous math classes, it seemed every time I asked WHY, a teacher’s answer came in one of two flavors:

a) Because that’s how it’s done

b) Because that’s the answer at the back of the book

Neither were satisfactory responses to me then – or now. In retrospect, I think that’s one of the things that made me a good teacher later in life. I wouldn’t settle for those lame responses. I wouldn’t give them to students.

Then one day in Grade 10 math, we were doing a lesson on statistics. I didn’t see much use for them or the lesson and was probably getting ready to tune out. Something however, made me ask my teacher (Mr. Geoff Kavanaugh. Yes I still remember his name), “What’s the point? How will this be useful to me? Why are we learning this?”

And a magical thing happened.

He answered my question.

Not with “because” or by pointing to the answer section of the text book. He answered it by telling me what could be done with statistics, the kinds of jobs and information and understanding that could be gained by using statistics. And he did this without being defensive, or preachy, or talking down to me, or by being vaguely dismissive (as many math teachers had been to me in the past).

Now I’ll be honest; I did not suddenly become a math whiz. To this day, I still struggle with higher math concepts. But I certainly retained more about statistics than I would have. The fact that this teacher took the time to explain the why, made a huge impact to my attentiveness in class. I respected him for truly taking the time to respond intelligently to my questions. I wanted to listen more closely, even if I didn’t “get it” at the time. And I knew that if I had an honest beef with the topic, I could ask him a question and get a solid, useful answer. He is one of a select few teachers that made a difference to me as a life-long learner, and as a teacher.

As teachers, we’re often tasked with trying to communicate intricate or complex concepts to novices. This is just as true in Higher Ed as it is in K-12. And it’s more pervasive now than it was back when I was in Grade 10, or even when I was in college!

Another technique I would use in class is what I call the “Ripple Effect”. In an attempt to keep students on task, open-minded and motivated to learn, I’d tell them a couple short anecdotes about my life, and how I got to where I was, professionally. I would use this in my first year photojournalism courses a couple times. There’s nothing more challenging than trying to teach photography to a room full of prospective “writers”. They didn’t sign on to be photogs; they enrolled so they could be writers, after all.

Well, the route to being a writer, or reporter, (or author or teacher or photographer or pick a career) can be a pretty twisty path. And I take a few minutes and explain the chain of events that led me to becoming a professional photographer – a career I loved but never planned on. Without that career as a commercial photographer, I would never have been asked by my former college photography instructor to be a guest speaker in his classes. This later led to a part time teaching position at Centennial, which lasted for 20+ years.

Later in the semester, when the topic of social media came up, I’d give an example of the importance of online branding, using myself as the case study. I am 100% positive that had I not started writing online articles, for example, I would never have been approached by Lynda.com or Peachpit Press or Adobe to do work for them.

In short, you often can’t predict what skill you will need, and hence what niche you can fill to get yourself in the door. My layout skills from J-School led me to my first job in a photo studio. And I never actually did any layout work in that job. I became one of the company’s staff photographers! But that skill in layout was what got me the job interview.

I’m sure that many teachers do this already, but in case you’re not, take those few minutes early in a lesson to explain the why. Do your best (as tempting as it is sometimes, considering the massive amount of material we are expected to teach), to avoid the “because” answer. Students will respect the time you take to do so.

It doesn’t take long and it doesn’t have to happen with every lesson, but take it from me, it can truly be life-changing, when we know “why” we’re learning something.

Digital literacy = employment readiness

Jim Babbage — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:35:11 +0000

In mid-December, just before I headed out to the Adobe World Wide Sales Conference, I was invited by my ad students and the coordinator of the Centennial College Advertising program to their portfolio review day. I accepted right away; I really wanted to see how much they had grown as digital professionals.

Back Story

Two and a half years ago this same group of students was sitting in my first year imaging class. In short, the base technical skill set was generally at the novice level. I was their first “geek” course of their 3-year program.

Some had computer experience, mostly limited to Windows-based systems, many had little or no experience with computers. Common computer skills included Microsoft Office tools and of course social networking through FaceBook. Likewise, there was a handful of the group who had worked with imaging software such as Photoshop.

Over 15 weeks, I taught this group of funny, intelligent, young adults the basics of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. We talked about social media, working in the industry as a web designer and commercial photographer (past life careers of mine). Together we created event posters, banner ads, learned about image optimization, digital photography, green screen photography, web site workflows and the importance of good quality imagery. And we had fun along the way too.

I had the pleasure of teaching – and learning from them – again in their fourth semester, where they studied and put into practice newmedia development workflows for web and mobile projects, using Fireworks and Dreamweaver. Understand that these students were heading into careers in advertising, not interactive design. But I felt it was hugely important they understand this world; interactive media, social media, mobile devices would all become a very important part of their advertising jobs.

At the time, I didn’t realize that winter semester of 2011 would be my final one as a professor at Centennial College. In May of this year, coinciding with the end of the semester, I accepted my exciting new full time position with Adobe as a Solutions Consultant. I have many fond memories of my 21 years at Centennial. This is one of them.

Back to the Future

Fast forward to the recent present, I spent a morning viewing and critiquing the creative portfolios of these very same students. And honestly, looking at the work, its quality and maturity and creativity, well, it just gave me goosebumps. Not only did I see depth and talent in the work of these young people, I saw that they were getting it. Every campaign project had a social networking component. In some cases, right down to a Facebook page mock up. One student even designed a golf caddy mobile app prototype and overall he nailed it. Any client looking at his mock up would instantly understand the functionality of the app.

In those students whose strengths leaned more towards copy writing than design, it was obvious they had a handle on how to communicate in the cyber world. Insightful, witty and brief copy designed to work well in a mobile space.

These are students who are seeing beyond the grades, towards their professional futures in advertising. They are demonstrating skills beyond the basics, showing a visual and digital acuity that is sought after in their industry, regardless of whether they will be copy writers, account reps or creatives. These skills are transferable and in this day and age, necessary for personal and professional success, in my opinion as an educator and creative professional.

What I found truly impressive though, is that the work they exhibited was not work they had done for me in class. This was all new, fresh content to me. And it demonstrated that this group was on the right path to life-long learning. They understand that skills must not only be gained, but also tested, honed and sometimes even re-invented. They are open to learning new things, to experimenting with technology.

As this group of advertising students begin their final semester placements in real world ad agencies, I see them building on those skills even more. These portfolios show employers that the technology is being embraced and used intelligently. By demonstrating their awareness of social networking, proficiency with software and the ability to tell a story, these students are making themselves very employable.

I’m so very honoured to have been part of that skill-building process.

The Story Continues

This story is not singular. It’s playing out in other colleges and universities, across Canada, the US and globally. The story rewrites itself as younger learners in the K-12 range grasp new and deeper aspects of technology that may have been part of their lives before they even started school.

It may not occur at the same level everywhere, but students need to be encouraged to learn about technology and how it can be used to tell a story in more immersive, interactive ways, in and out of the classroom. Many will learn in spite of limited educational budgets, poor bandwidth access or even personal family budgets. As teachers, parents, friends or family, we can help facilitate that learning through encouragement and engagement.

Surface-level use of technology is more a part of a young person’s life than ever before, from FaceBook to online gaming to making and sharing videos and photos from a cell phone. It’s just part of their lives.

But I think it’s important they delve deeper than the surface.

To go from being a consumer to a producer of content.

To tell their own stories.

Student Documentary Competition – $50,000 in Student and Teacher Prizes

Scott Trudeau — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:11:43 +0000

Middle School and High School students can win some nice prize money while learning about the U.S. Constitution. So kids, get out your cameras and start-up your copies of Premiere Elements and/or Premiere Pro and start editing your videos!

C-SPAN’s StudentCam is an annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think about issues that affect our communities and our nation. Students are asked to create a short (5-8 minute) video documentary related to the following topic: “The Constitution and You: Select any provision of the U.S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why it’s important to you.”

Kids Media Centre engages kids in the technology conversation

Jim Babbage — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:34:40 +0000

I dropped by my former stomping (er, teaching) grounds last week to say hi to my many friends at Centennial College’s School of Communication, Media and Design. And while chatting with the Dean, Nate Horowitz, about my role here at Adobe, he suggested I call on Debbie Gordon, the Director of the KidsMediaCentre at Centennial College. Debbie and I had a great chat about digital readiness in public schools and she shared with me the KMC’s new blog, just hot off the digital press last week.

The kidsmediacentre is an industry and creative content think tank at Centennial College’s Centre for Creative Communications. Working alongside Centennial’s Children’s Entertainment Program, they research kids’ relationships with 21st century media and connect their students with industry partners to help incubate and produce the next generation of children’s entertainment and media. Their hope is to engage kids in assessing the worth and contribution of a media product or idea: what works for kids and what constitutes a good idea and value proposition for the industry. One of the kidsmediacentre’s main goals is to help bridge that gap.

Based on what I read on their site, it’s working.

The kids aren’t just listening and learning; they’re involved in the conversation. You’ll see some of their contributions on the KMC site, in a section called the Kid’s Panel. Broken into three age categories, 4-8, 9-15 and 16-19, these kids test out a review a wide variety of media and technology, from games to music, books to eBook readers, iPhone Apps to software reviews on products like Adobe Photoshop. And the reviews are remarkably on point, honest and act as a window into how kids see certain aspects of the world. I found the Kids Panel blog posts refreshing.

For example, the review on Photoshop (Bella checks out Photoshop) examines some pretty savvy points about self image and our culture – from a 15 year old!

In the 4-8 category, 6 year old Salmah checks out the book, The Missing Piece, which was read to her class by her teacher (Gosh, I still remember those days…), and summarizes that “… it is good to keep going. When you keep going, you can learn more things.”

There are reviews of music and politics, among other things, in the 16 – 19 category. 16 year old Ian gives a very knowledgeable review of the Miles Davis album, On Green Dolphin Street.

I was impressed by the insight provided by these young people. And I think you will be, too. These are not kids who are just blindly using technology; they’re engaged, aware and see technology for what it is – a tool to help extend creativity or productivity or personal growth, not a replacement for the passion that makes those things possible in each of us.

Amazing Photoshop Touch Technique

Scott Trudeau — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:02:41 +0000

Russell Brown thought up a great Photoshop Touch hack that is just too darn cool! Check out this short video on how to use Photoshop Touch and a flashlight to create some AMAZING lighting effects.

Now Available: New eBook on Fireworks’ CSS and jQuery Mobile features

Jim Babbage — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:30:58 +0000

Using the CSS3 Mobile Pack for Adobe Fireworks CS5

If you’ve found yourself wondering how Adobe Fireworks can fit into your web and mobile design workflows, or how you can introduce students to a visual method of designing for mobile, I may have just the thing for you.

Today, my new eBook, Using the CSS3 Mobile Pack for Adobe Fireworks CS5, went live at http://www.peachpit.com/.

While there are already a couple good how-to tutorials available at the Fireworks Developer Center, I wanted to take a deeper, more practical approach to this new extension. I wanted to go beyond the how and hopefully address the why. I walk you through the basics, but then I move you to a realistic application of the extension. You will learn about both parts of the CSS3 Mobile Pack:

CSS Properties Panel
jQuery Mobile Theme Builder

CSS Properties Panel

In the chapter on the CSS Properties panel, for example, you’ll be doing more than simply exporting a rounded corner rectangle as CSS3 mark up; you will be taking a completed web page design and – using Fireworks and a Dreamweaver HTML5 starter page layout – building a standards-based web page, complete with navigation, semi-transparent content areas and stylized text.

Final web page design that matches the original Fireworks mock up

The only bitmap in the page is the background image. And it was all done with a minimum of coding. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’s pretty cool.

jQuery Mobile design, mocked up in Fireworks, then exported to Dreamweaver and previewed in Device Central.

jQuery Mobile Theme builder

In the chapter on the jQuery Mobile Skinning, you will study and work with the jQuery Mobile template file, also part of the CSS3 Mobile Pack, and learn how to customize an existing skin and export that new mark up over to Dreamweaver to quickly create a simple, customized mobile web site.

Time-saver in production and in the classroom

Whether you are comfortable with code or not, the new tools in this extension can be a creative and time-saving boon.

A designer can export out standards based mark up, which can be further edited and tweaked by a developer in their preferred web page editing environment. Or if the designer wears both hat, he or she can move quickly from a visual design to realizing that design in HTML and CSS. I think this is a great example of Fireworks bridging the gap between designers and developers.

And for students learning the craft of web and mobile design, it gives them the opportunity to create their design first, and then see how that design becomes converted to code. Or, depending on the design itself, learn about the limitations to be aware of when building a standards-based design that targets multiple devices.

Either way, it’s a win-win.

Final thoughts

The fact that the extension is also FREE is another bonus. I think it’s pretty cool that Adobe released this extension now, rather than making anyone wait for the next version of Fireworks.

If you’re interested in the ebook, it’s available for less than $6.50 USD at http://www.peachpit.com/. Feel free to follow me on twitter @JimBabbage. If you’ve got questions, that’s a great place to find me.

Tutorial Magic – Adobe Tutorial Builder

Scott Trudeau — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:19:19 +0000

Adobe “Tutorial Builder” is like the “Harry Potter” of tutorial applications! This amazing application from Adobe Labs magically records your Photoshop knowledge into slick tutorials that can be shared via iPad. So…what’s so magical about it? Press the instructional link on the iPad and it will demonstrate the referenced step in Photoshop. This instructional hocus-pocus creates a communication channel between your tablet and a computer running Photoshop using the TouchSDK.

Tutorial Builder looks like a great application to add to your instructional “charm bag”!

Try it out…

Adobe MAX 2011: an education perspective

Jim Babbage — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:55:19 +0000

MAX 2011 and pre-MAX sessions such as the full-day Education Summit gave educators many opportunities to learn from the industry, from Adobe and from each other.

The room fills up quickly as doors open for the first keynote

Having been a teacher in Higher Ed for 20+ years, it’s natural for me to look at events like MAX with an educator’s eye. This is a perspective I hope I never lose, to be honest.

While MAX is a great networking occasion for professional designers and developers, it also gives teachers a chance to some important networking as well. They have the opportunity not only to learn new tips and techniques, but to talk to the people working in the industry, learning what skills are used, and what ones may be lacking. I think this is invaluable information; gaining this knowledge can help immensely when planning new courses, or updating existing ones to be more relevant.

The keynotes and sessions revolved around a major theme of Change, in my opinion. In the keynotes, Adobe continued to remind the industry that they are aware of – and actively involved in - changes in the marketplace and user trends.

Touch Apps

Adobe Touch apps were prominently featured in the MAX Day 1 keynote

Several new touch apps were announced, including Adobe Proto – a tablet-based wireframing tool which helps you create interactive wireframes using gestures, then writes native HTML and CSS which can then be ported directly over to Dreamweaver for additional editing. Three other touch apps that caught my attention are Adobe Collage, Photoshop Touch and Adobe Debut.

The beauty of theses apps is that they are firmly entrenched in the cloud, meaning that you can create on your tablet, then sync these files with your desktop based apps such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop Illustrator or InDesign, via the Adobe Creative Cloud. You can create, share, and critique virtually anywhere. Online collaboration is one of the new workflows, and students need to be aware of where things are heading and how to take advantage of these changes in technology.

Proto - a tablet-based wireframing app, produced a lot of interest from the audience

As well as being apps that professionals can use (think Proto, Collage, Debut and Ideas) apps such as Photoshop Touch, Kuler and Carousel (Carousel was announced prior to MAX) are also tied into social networking and sharing. Kuler – a color-theming/color-scheming application – has always been a community-based service residing online and with the Kuler touch app, you can still share and borrow from that community, or upload your files to the Creative Cloud for use later in Creative Suite applications. Photoshop touch brings community right into the app by connecting right with Facebook from with the app itself. Carousel lets you store, edit and share your images from the cloud to your iOS devices and Mac computers.

The apps themselves are very competitively priced at under $10/app. Note: The Carousel app itself is free, but you do need to purchase a subscription to the sharing service.

Creative Services

Digital Publishing Suite - Single Edition allows single purchase, one-off publishing using the DPS cloud service

Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition was also announced. Now anyone can truly be their own publisher, using InDesign and the online Digital Publishing Suite, small to medium sized business, even individuals, can purchase a single publishing license and place a single, unique, one time annual magazine, book, annual report, interactive graphic novel (you’re only limited by your own creativity) on the AppStore, no monthly or yearly subscription required. Cost-wise, this is likely out of reach for individual students, but I can see educational marketing departments taking advantage of this, or perhaps even programs such Journalism, producing a compendium of students’ best work over a year.

Adobe Edge

Unveiled at MAX 2010, Adobe Edge was reintroduced this year in the keynote, and supported by several Edge-dedicated sessions and labs. This tool allows for the creation of interactive, animated elements for web sites in a visual manner. I think one of its real strengths is the ability of Edge to read existing HTML documents and enable the user to animate a selected div right inside that HTML page. If you haven’t given it a test-drive, be sure to visit labs.adobe.com to download the preview version.

Adobe Fireworks CS5/5.1 updates

Even if I take off my shiny new Adobe hat, I have to hand it to Adobe for releasing a CS5 extension that supports CSS3 object export and jQuery Mobile theming. Available on Adobe labs, you can download the CSS3 Mobile Pack for Fireworks CS5/5.1. From a learning perspective – and production perspective – it means that students can visually design elements in Fireworks, then export them as pure CSS3 markup, rather than bitmap graphics. And because you’re just dealing with code, the effects can be further tweaked within an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver. Below are grabs from a tutorial I’m writing, showing both the Fireworks design and the final HTML page.

Web page design residing in Fireworks. Note the selected rounded rectangle

The web page as seen in Safari. The ONLY bitmap in the page is the background tree image. Note also the opacity and gradient fill of the main text container. Currently, Fireworks supports gradient translucency using the Opacity declaration, but this can quickly be converted to RGBA within Dreamweaver.

This is a great learning and pre-visualization feature and I’m very pleased that Adobe has rolled this out for the existing version of Fireworks, rather than holding off till the next release.

Note that the extension is not backward compatible with earlier versions of Fireworks. For more information about the extension, be sure to visit http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/css3-mobile-pack-extracting.html.

New Adobe Acquisitions

The acquisitions of both Typekit and PhoneGap were also announced during the keynotes, again demonstrating that Adobe is paying attention to changing trends.

TypeKit (https://typekit.com/) is a subscription-based service, empowering web designers with a wide array of web-ready fonts under one license.

PhoneGap (http://www.phonegap.com) is an HTML5 app platform that allows you to author native applications with web technologies and get access to APIs and app stores, using HTML and JavaScript. PhoneGap was initially made available in Dreamweaver CS5.5 to help test, emulate and create mobile applications.

Wrap up

This is just a sampling of my experiences at Adobe MAX this year. Great Keynotes, top-notch sessions, labs and pre-MAX events, and the opportunity to schmooze with colleagues and friends. There is so much to learn and see, all packed into a few days. The teacher side of me loves seeing where companies like Adobe are headed, what course they are charting for the future, whether its in the companies and technologies they are adopting, or whether it’s the almost sci-fi wish list of potential features and applications demonstrated at the Adobe Sneaks. I was surrounded by people who were happy to share their knowledge and experiences (as well as a laugh or two) and to me, that is what teaching is all about.

For other teacher perspectives, be sure to check out these links:

Mark DuBois’ blog posts about the Education Summit and Adobe MAX:

http://www.markdubois.info/weblog/2011/10/adobemax-2011/

http://www.markdubois.info/weblog/2011/10/adobe-education-summit/

David Egbert’s post on the Education Summit:

http://davidegbert.net/adobe/adobe-education-summit/

Joseph Labrecque’s thoughts on Adobe MAX:

http://inflagrantedelicto.memoryspiral.com/2011/10/adobe-max-2011-reflections/

If you’re a teacher and you wrote a blog post about MAX 2011 or the Education Summit, contact me at jbabbage@adobe.com and I’ll be happy to link to your posts from this article.

Publish Photoshop 3D layers to PDF

Scott Trudeau — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:32:08 +0000

In my last tutorial I showed you how to take an image and apply that image to a 3D object in Photoshop. In this tutorial I will show you how to publish a 3D layer to PDF. Anybody with Acrobat Reader will then be able to interact with your 3D object.

Create a 3D object in Photoshop (tutorial here)
Right click on the 3D layer
Select Export 3D layer
Name the file and select U3D from the Format dropdown menu
Click the Save button
The 3D Export Options dialogue box will open.
Make sure that JPEG is selected from the Texture Format dropdown
Use ECMA1 for the U3D Options

The steps above exported the Photoshop layer to a U3D file. The U3D file can now be published to PDF.

Open Adobe Acrobat X
Select File>Created PDF>From File
Browse to the U3D file you saved earlier
An Insert 3D dialogue box will open. Select OK (You may want to check out the “Advanced” options by clicking on the Show Advanced Options check box. There are some neat options to play around with).
Click on your 3D object to interact with it. Also notice the 3D tool bar that appears.

Cool! Now anybody with Acrobat Reader can view your 3D content!

Use Your Imagination and Win $10,000!

Scott Trudeau — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:20:11 +0000

Adobe has launched Adobe & Imagination Challenge, a new contest for students 15 years of age and older, encouraging them to show off their creative abilities with Adobe Creative Suite® 5.5 software products. Individual students who submit their creative pieces will have a chance to win $10,000. First prize winners in each of the four weekly judging sessions, and the grand prize winner, receive a $10,000 prize and will have their work showcased on Adobe.com!

Work must be submitted online, where it will be featured for fellow students to vote on. The pieces will also be reviewed by a panel of professionals — including DeadMau5, Jake & Amir, Rivers Cuomo, and Scott Dadich — who will select the top 10 finalists for each of the weekly judging periods. Students in North America can submit entries from August 21 to October 15, 2011, for weekly judging.

Let your students know about this rewarding opportunity to express themselves and show off their talents with CS5.5 tools.