Adobe Success Story

When Moses Ojeda looks out over the classrooms and students he's responsible for bringing into the world of design technology, he's proud for many reasons. As the lead coordinator of Adobe Web Design programs, under the leadership of Cynthia Fowlkes, director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) for the New York City Department of Education, Ojeda is pleased with the high level of skill the students acquire in using graphic design and web software, and the rewards they achieve in college and subsequent professional careers.

By teaching students industry-standard products, Ojeda can give them a leg up on others who join the workforce. The integration and similar interface among the Adobe Creative Suite 3 software products taught at the school also makes life easier for teachers in the classroom, because students can grasp the software faster.

The New York City Department of Education wants students to be ready for entering professional fields. When students pursue their careers, it is ideal for them to know software that's integrated and allows for a seamless workflow and smooth exchange of files.

Benefits

• Integration of software streamlines workflow
• Similar interfaces help students learn easier
• Teachers keep students interested and engaged
• Students gain confidence and skills
• Skill in industry-standard software prepares students for careers and college

Project Details

Emran's story
Emran Jailall, in the 11th grade at Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn, is already experiencing the benefits of learning industry-leading graphics and web software. He studied computer design for two years and gained a high level of design and technical skill and wants to build websites when he graduates from high school. Learning graphics and web software has not only built a career option for the student, but has also provided him with new pathways and given him more confidence.

Jailall notes that he is good at creating art, but that other more technical subjects used to challenge him. Now, he is combining the creative and technical sides of his brain to excel at both, and there is no stopping him.

Math in a flash
Talia Rosenberg, a math teacher who also specializes in information technology at Franklin K. Lane, teaches her students math in an integrated way alongside industry-leading software. Students build websites using the Adobe software, complete with animations created in Adobe Flash that illustrate a topic. For one project, students showed rotating shapes to help demonstrate the concepts of transformation geometry. For another project, students built websites with their own online Sudoku puzzles, and filled in the squares appropriately.

Omar Thomas, an 11th grader in Rosenberg's class, used software to create an anti-smoking website that educates others about the affect of smoking on the body and includes numerous animations. He notes that he loves how to work in moving images and has created his own website and his own business cards. He plans to build websites for a living and become a computer programmer as well as an architect.

A glimpse of future careers
Some schools in the New York City Department of Education offer graphic design courses. Many students work with Evelyn Loveras, a graphic arts teacher at Thomas Edison High School in Queens. Her students will use a combination of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium software to create projects such as brochures, business cards, posters, invitations, postcards, and flyers. Loveras handpicks her most design-savvy students to become employees as part of the Learn Program where students create jobs for outside customers, mostly teachers and others within the school district. Starting with a rough sketch, students build the job for quality print output.

The students are responsible for all the steps from start to finish, as well as dealing with the customers. They not only learn how to use software and enhance their ability to design, but also to deal with people in the industry and become responsible as employees.

Rudra Melaram, one of Loveras' 12th grade students, began designing using graphics software when he was a young teenager. In Loveras' classroom he has used Adobe software to design and produce everything from perfume boxes to posters, including a CD booklet for one of his teachers as part of the Learn Program. He notes that the interface of the applications in the latest software is more organized and intuitive, and the palettes in all the applications are alike, so it's easier to concentrate on what he's creating.

Learning so much more
For students and teachers, the latest release of the industry's top design and web software is a boon. The software does everything from helping students and teachers keep files organized, to boosting everyone's creativity with the bottom line being that students learn more.