Engaging Students with Adobe Express: A Creative Edge in Higher Ed
In today’s tech-driven world, digital literacy is an important skill to sharpen. Adobe Express gives students an accessible, hands-on way to develop these skills while creating visually engaging content. Whether designing infographics, producing video presentations, or building dynamic web pages, students can communicate ideas innovatively—no advanced design experience is required.
Overview:
Using multimodal forms of communication in your course allows your students to be creative while improving their digital literacy. By integrating Adobe Express into coursework, instructors can help students enhance their storytelling, critical thinking, and visual communication skills while preparing them for the digital demands of the modern workforce. Here are a few creative ways students at the University of Arizona use Adobe Express to level up their learning and digital literacy.
Examples:
- Digital portfolios are a great way for students to showcase their growth and achievements through their coursework. Adobe Express is a simple way for students to practice sharing their voice using a combination of text, images, and video. These examples are from SBS 350, a course introducing students to multimodal communication and the creative process.
Adriana Frost's Portfolio
Sarah Chambers' Portfolio
- In SPAN 350, students are asked to write short stories in Spanish. Students then use Adobe Express to publish their work and use Adobe Firefly to generate images to add to the richness and interest of their stories.
SPAN 350 students' short stories
- If students are already submitting a report or essay in your course, why not use Adobe Express to give students a chance to incorporate multimedia into their assignments? In English 109, genre conventions and the effective use of rhetoric across different genres are integral topics. For this two-part assignment, students first choose a genre they are interested in and analyze its rhetorical situation, conventions, etc. Then, they will produce their own imitation of the genre in a text about a topic of their choice.
This website is an expository site recreating a tech blog focus on innovations in transportation: Transport Tech Site
Instructions:
If you would like to incorporate Adobe Express into your classroom, here are some things that you need to consider:
- All University of Arizona students, faculty, and staff have access to Adobe Express through their netID. Students login with their netid@arizona.edu and select “company or school account” if prompted to access Express and its premium features.
- Adobe Express is impressively simple to use, but a great team of people is ready to help you right here at UCATT! Browse our asynchronous resources or contact adobecc@arizona.edu for a consultation to help you get your project started.
- Just like any assignment, providing students with clear expectations and a grading rubric will set them up for success and prevent late-night emails to you! If you would like assistance creating the assignment guidelines, check out our Instructional Designer Services.
Other things to note:
The examples shared here used the webpage tool through Adobe Express, but Adobe Express also has tools to create graphics, social media posts, infographics, videos, animations, podcasts, and presentations.
