Adobe has selected two associate professors from The University of New Mexico to serve as master teachers in its Education Exchange program which reaches educators and students across the globe.
“They’re asking people who teach with Adobe products to develop lesson plans, strategies, on how to use certain Adobe products and how to use them creatively to enhance the learning experience,” UNM Associate Professor Amaris Ketcham said.
The cohort consists of 35 teachers from K-12 to higher education – each tasked with developing 10 strategies – with the help of Adobe and Better Lessons, the organization that helps “educators connect and share high-quality lesson plans.”
“This has been a great opportunity to create lessons to assist educators to foster creativity through the use of Adobe products,” UNM Associate Professor Megan Jacobs said.
UNM became an Adobe Creative Campus last summer; Ketcham and Jacobs say they’ve been using the technology for years now and see what a difference it makes when students have access to professional technologies.
“It’s such an advantage to teach our students on industry-standard technology,” Jacobs said. “They can work on projects from home; this was especially important when the pandemic hit, and we had limited access to our classrooms.”
Ketcham and Jacobs, who teach within Honors College, have submitted all of their strategies to Adobe. One of Ketcham’s strategies includes using Adobe InDesign to design a resume for a historical figure.
“This combines a real-life skill, resume building, with research skills by looking at primary and secondary sources to learn more about a historical figure,” Ketcham said.
Strategies are available for free to educators and students with an Adobe account on the Adobe Education Exchange.
“We’re seeing the ‘reaches’ of these creative technologies. The ability to communicate visually, creatively, and critically is an essential skill,” Jacobs said. “I am proud that UNM is supportive of that mission. In our classrooms, we see first-hand how meaningful creative thinking is to students across disciplines and we hope to share our knowledge through these strategies with educators globally.”