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The State of Create Report: Is creativity the key to economic growth in the UK?

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Liz Wilkins

Today we’ve released a new research report ahead of the UK’s first ever Creative Week, which reveals the high value people in the UK place on creativity. It shows that two-thirds (66%) feel that the younger generation are more creative than those over 35, suggesting it is important that their inherent creativity is given room to grow in formal education and early careers. However, 61% of respondents feel that creativity is ‘stifled’ by the current education system and that more needs to be done to foster it.

Check out the full report here, which also includes different perspectives from leading creatives including Wayne Hemingway MBE, Brendan Dawes, Dan Jones and Joel Gethin-Lewis, as well as Chris Thompson from Ravensbourne.

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Adobe Generation – there’s still time to sign up!

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Liz Wilkins

As we head into week 4 of Adobe Generation, I’d like to share how the course is going so far.

Just as a recap for anyone who missed this when we announced it, Adobe Generation is a series of online courses (each lasting ten weeks) designed to help teach UK students (age 14-19) the key skills needed to succeed in a range of creative careers.

We kicked off the Adobe Generation with a games design course on 10th May and have already had a fantastic response with lots of people signing up taking part. What’s great to see is that it’s not just students who have registered; we’ve also had a number of teachers join the sessions.  One teacher who’s joined the course told me he thought it was great free CPD, and because it’s all online he can dip into it when he can.

Each weekly session run online over Adobe Connect (every Thursday from 7:00pm to 8:15pm) are led by experienced educators, Roxana Hadad and Bournemouth Media School lecturer Mark Shufflebottom, with a guest speaker from the creative industries. 

As the Games Design course is run on a virtual learning environment and the weekly online sessions are recorded and available on demand you can still sign up, catch up, and enjoy the fun.  Visit www.adobegeneration.com for more information.

 

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Virtual planning for school trips

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Liz Wilkins

 This morning, as I was about to leave the house my Year 2 son reminded me he was going on a school trip to learn more about Mary Seacombe and Florence Nightingale.  Sadly I had forgotten to put his packed lunch in a plastic carrier bag, but once that situation was remedied we were on our way.  

As I was driving to the office I was reflecting on how schools manage the communication with parents about school trips, and was reminded of an excellent example of how one school engages with parents using Adobe Connect.

At Chalfonts Community College they use Adobe Connect to set up online meetings for parents to log into from wherever they are – be that at home or at work. The teacher leading that trip then runs through a presentation (sometimes with video) which covers everything parents need to know about the trip.  Parents can even ask any questions they have throughout the session via the chat facility available with the software. 

For more information on how Chalfonts is using Adobe Connect to plan for school trips, check out this SecEd article which was published last year: http://bit.ly/lGvp8F.

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Free support resources now available for CS6

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Liz Wilkins

Following the exciting release of Adobe® Creative Cloud™ Student and Teacher Edition, and Adobe Creative Suite® 6 last month, I wanted to let you know about some fab new support resources we’ve made available for free to help you make the most out of the new software.

 We’ve launched a brand new portal within the Adobe Education Exchange which hosts a raft of free resources and support to enable schools and colleges to enhance their classes and help prepare students for the workforce. Ranging from video tutorials and technical guides, to tried-and-tested curriculum plans, they are each designed to help you deliver rich learning experiences.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s available…

 CS6 tutorials on Adobe TV

  • These give you the means to learn at your own pace and showcase how Adobe software is being used in education. There are hundreds of videos to browse through, including tutorials which supplement the CS6 teaching resources

 Curriculum guides

  • These are free, year long, project-based curriculum plans, great for anyone teaching visual design, web design, and video production – and all newly updated for Adobe Creative Suite 6

 Technical guides

  • Quickly get up to speed on how to use CS6 by downloading these product technical guides

 Tutorials from our Adobe Education Leaders

  • These CS6 tutorials are developed by our very own Adobe Education Leaders around topics including digital imagery, graphic design & digital publishing, animation and rich media and web design

 You can check these out for yourself by visiting: http://adobe.ly/J5g9I9 .

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Unleash student creativity with Adobe Generation

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Liz Wilkins

 We’ve launched an exciting new initiative this week called Adobe Generation. In a nutshell, this is a series of four online courses (each lasting ten weeks), designed to teach UK students (age 14-19) key skills they will need to succeed in a range of creative careers. Games Design is the first course we are running, which we kicked off last night, and it’s developed by a fab team of teachers and industry experts from across the world.

 As well as getting an insight into all the ins and outs of games design, students get to learn from some of the brightest creative talent around at the moment. Sessions are taught over Adobe Connect by different creative experts, including US games designer and educator Roxana Hadad, who teach a specific element of games design and give insights into their working lives. They also set weekly tasks for students to complete ahead of the next session, which are reviewed and commented on on a student forum.

 For students looking to brush up on their skills in between sessions, we’ve made a bunch of web-based learning resources available, including video tutorials, ‘how to’ guides and a recording of each session. And if that wasn’t enough, we’re also giving a certificate to each student who completes the course – which will look great on their CVs and UCAS applications!

 The Games Design course is running every Thursday from 7-8:15pm until July 12th– check out www.adobegeneration.com to sign up or to get more information.

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