“Mireya’s 15 Highlight” by Luis Gutierrez. Adobe Photoshop CC was used to touch up and color correct the photograph.

Integrated career and technical education

Davis School District in Utah is not only one of the 100 largest school districts in the United States, but it is also a district that boasts academic excellence with one of the nation’s top graduation rates. The district’s 62 elementary schools, 17 junior high schools, and 9 high schools serve 70,000 students with a motto of putting learning first.

While many school districts relegate career and technical education (CTE) such as nursing, programming, design, and automotive repair to specialized high schools, Davis School District believes in integrating these classes into standard high schools as it gives more students a chance to take classes and find the right educational path.

Davis School District aims to prepare its students for future education or careers through strong professional skills. This means teaching students using professional-standard technologies and solutions. Davis School District uses Adobe Creative Cloud in the classroom to prepare students for a digital future.\

Valuable experience across disciplines

Students at Davis School District high schools use Adobe Creative Cloud apps for all media classes. In Rachel Mattison’s Digital Media I course at Syracuse High School, students learn to work with a full range of Adobe Creative Cloud apps during the year.

Students start out with Adobe Photoshop learning to edit and manipulate images. They then move on to drawing their own graphics and illustrations with Adobe Illustrator, which sets the stage for motion graphics and animation with Adobe Animate. Finally, students work with Adobe Premiere Pro to edit their own videos. Students who advance to the Digital Media II course learn to work with Adobe After Effects to bring even greater depth and visual effects to video.

“Adobe is at the top of the industry, so it’s very valuable for students to gain experience on such a well-known platform,” says Mattison. “At the same time, Adobe Creative Cloud is very user-friendly and there’s a wealth of resources available. Teachers wanting to learn new features to teach in a class or students looking to take their project a step further can find tutorials and community online.”

While Adobe Creative Cloud is used primarily in CTE courses, teachers from across disciplines, including English and social sciences, are increasingly using Adobe Creative Cloud in the classroom for videos and presentations.

“One of the best parts about working with Adobe Creative Cloud is that the lessons on how to communicate make it useful for any student, no matter where they’re headed in life,” says Mattison. “Whether they want to become a professional animator or just create a graphic for a term paper, they can use their experience with Adobe Creative Cloud.”

Real-world lessons

With industry-standard Adobe Creative Cloud software in the classroom, teachers take the opportunity to engage students with real-life experiences. Eric Scholer teaches Digital Media, Video Production, Game Development, and other courses that combine technology and art at Layton High School.

For one assignment, Scholer challenged students to create a commercial for a local soda and cookie shop. Anthony Lee, a 2017 graduate now working as an advertisement creator, worked with his team to create a professional-quality commercial ready for the air. After creating storyboards in Adobe Photoshop, the team filmed and edited footage together using Adobe Premiere Pro. Lee used Photoshop to modify the logo and added a small ripple effect using Adobe After Effects. With Adobe Audition, Lee adjusted the audio to remove background noise and create a professional finish.

“Once I started working with Adobe Creative Cloud, I couldn’t stop making things,” says Lee. “Adobe Creative Cloud apps allow me to let my creativity loose and turn my ideas into reality.”

“Having students create a commercial was a great way to give them real-world experience using Adobe Creative Cloud apps,” says Scholer. “These are programs used in the industry, and the skills that they learn translate directly into the workplace. But just as importantly, students learn how to plan a project, meet requirements, and solve any issues that may arise.”

For the past three years, Davis School District has further boosted students’ prospects by encouraging them to earn Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) certification. Students can present ACA certification to help them demonstrate commitment to communication and education as they apply for internships and jobs, no matter what field they work in. Last year, students passed more than 300 tests across the district.

Inspiring future careers

Luis Gutierrez, a senior at Layton High School, always enjoyed taking photographs and shooting video in his spare time, even when he was limited to his flip phone. But that hobby took a serious turn when he was introduced to Adobe Creative Cloud apps, particularly Adobe Premiere Pro CC. With Adobe Premiere Pro, Gutierrez fell in love with the art of videography. He created music videos and short films for class that have already led to professional, paid opportunities in the local community.

“Working with Adobe helps me bring out more of my creative side because it gives me so many diverse options for how I can create artwork and effects that look exactly how I want them,” says Gutierrez. “I’m always learning something new, both at school and from tutorials on YouTube, and it’s fun because the learning curve is so easy. I now want to pursue a career as a full-time filmmaker when I graduate. I believe that if I put in the hard work, it will come!”

One former student, Megan Robinson, is now majoring in Communication with an emphasis in Video Production at Brigham Young University—Idaho with hopes of joining the creative arm of a marketing or advertising agency. Once a member of Lancer TV, which produced Layton High School’s weekly video announcements, Robinson continues to use Adobe Creative Cloud apps daily, from Adobe InDesign for work on her college newspaper to Adobe Premiere Pro for her video projects.

“I grew up with my dad filming our family trips, so it was no surprise when I picked up the camera for myself at the age of nine,” says Robinson. “I started telling stories and even editing my own videos in Windows Movie Maker. But working with Adobe Creative Cloud changed my direction. I still work on family videos, but I’ve also worked on documentaries and short films. Adobe Creative Cloud apps are easy to use and I can seamlessly move between them. I’m also really inspired by the design and creative possibilities that come with Adobe Creative Cloud. I’m using video to show life, joy, and creativity in a way that pushes you to live a new way.”

Streamlined licensing across the district

Davis School District purchased 2,000 seats of Adobe Creative Cloud for its schools. While most licenses are used in high school classrooms, there are also some used in junior high programs and administrative offices across 26 schools in the district.

For the district’s IT team, migrating to Adobe Creative Cloud has made distributing and managing licenses much easier. Previously, schools would often buy individual licenses for Adobe creative software as needed. As a result, it could be difficult to keep track of licenses at the district level, leading to duplication and unnecessary costs. For example, one school might invest in Adobe Premiere Pro licenses for a new video class, not knowing that another school in the district had unused licenses.

Davis School District now centralizes Adobe Creative Cloud purchases at the district level. The Admin Console allows the IT team to see licenses at a glance and redistribute unused licenses, reducing unnecessary costs.

Working with Adobe Creative Cloud also allows schools to keep up with the latest Adobe updates without large capital investments every few years. “All students get the latest and greatest software at a price much less than trying to purchase all new software updates every few years,” says Michael Parker, Supervisor for Information Technology at Davis School District. “Adobe Creative Cloud is extremely beneficial to students’ education because we can teach students to use the full power of Adobe creative apps.”\

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