Fostering future-facing learning in higher education – Key takeaways from the Digital Literacy Café webinar

Adobe recently hosted its first Digital Literacy Café Webinar of the year, Todd Taylor, Adobe Pedagogical Evangelist and Professor of English at UNC Chapel Hill, led an hour-long conversation with Melissa Vito, Vice Provost for Academic Innovation at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), and Jonathan Eaton, Academic Registrar at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, United Kingdom on how they are reshaping these institutions to better support the modern and evolving workforce students are entering today and in the future.

Vito and Eaton underscored the need for universities to expand their degree programs and training resources for all individuals — to be accessible for students at every stage — whether they are starting their career path, looking to hone their skills to advance or acquire a new set of skills for a fresh start. They acknowledged education leaders are prioritizing ways to support a critical group of talent who are also in need of professional development: the current workforce.

Vito and Eaton shared some of the pivotal strategies they employed during the COVID-19 era that will continue to help all students — especially older, non-traditional students enrolled at UTSA and Teesside — stay engaged and see value in their continued learning.

Below are key takeaways and reflections from the discussion:

Rethink assignments to maintain student engagement

The accelerated shift to remote learning required faculty members to transform their curricula to improve student engagement with virtual learning. When it came to students demonstrating their understanding of course materials, faculty at UTSA and Teesside quickly learned that traditional written assignments no longer resulted in the same success outcomes. This ultimately spurred more action among education leaders to help faculty leverage digital tools, such as Adobe Creative Cloud, to develop assignments that would help students immerse themselves in the course materials, get excited about what they learned and ultimately build digital literacy skills. Vito and Eaton explained that faculty members who adopted digital tools in remote learning environments should continue applying these strategies when returning to in-person classes, as they are proven to help drive greater academic and career outcomes.

Adopting hybrid learning environments to meet the needs of all students

Vito and Eaton discussed the common challenges that their respective institutions also faced during the transition to remote learning. Whether it meant addressing students’ limited access to broadband and devices to helping faculty members quickly overcome learning curves as they used online tools for the first time, these hurdles illuminated a greater need to adapt learning programs that ensured students could learn whenever and from wherever. Additionally, Vito and Eaton shared how leveraging data to show what learning experiences are most impactful for students is among one of the best ways to determine which modality to use. As the importance of higher education comes into question, future-facing learning has encouraged universities to take a hybrid approach and work across all learning modalities to make higher education more accessible — for traditional and non-traditional student populations.

Honoring university advancements from the COVID-19 era

The past two years included a broad swath of changes that took place in higher education. Vito and Eaton wrapped the webinar by recognizing the great strides made during this period that could be implemented hereafter. UTSA and Teesside saw more active use of digital tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud among students, faculty and staff than before with the shift to remote learning. Vito and Eaton were able to create a framework of teaching methods from academic departments that had successfully integrated these tools in the classroom, to broadly implement within their respective institutions across other academic areas.

Outside of the classroom, both universities also inspired students and staff to use digital tools to communicate and engage. The widespread access and adoption of tools fostered better dialogue about the mental health resources offered on campus and provided more opportunities for staff to support students. Vito and Eaton noted the invaluable role that digital tools can have on improving the evolving education landscape when it comes to learning and wellbeing.

Adobe tools can help transform how institutions engage students and prepare them for their future careers by offering state of the art tools that enhance skillsets and creative aptitude.

For more information on how to integrate digital and creative skills across disciplines and throughout curricula, please visit Adobe’s Digital Literacy resource page. Be sure to also keep an eye out for details from Adobe on our next Digital Literacy Café Webinar. In the meantime, tune into the on-demand webinars.