Creative Campus Collaboration event recap: How digital literacy affects the future of work, research and academic curriculum

As educators head into summer to rest and reset, Adobe welcomed faculty members and academic leaders to our latest Creative Campus Collaboration event, hosted by Todd Taylor, Adobe Pedagogical Evangelist and professor of English at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

The featured speakers and panelists from academic institutions across the country shared their stories about integrating digital literacy across the curriculum and fostering creative skills among faculty, staff and students. These Creative Campus collaborators reflected on how colleges are:

• Cultivating trans-disciplinary learning outcomes in their curricula and motivating students through digital literacy to become more versatile and knowledgeable
• Adapting traditional approaches to education to be more closely aligned with the demands of today’s world to prepare tomorrow’s workforce to become more agile thought leaders through digital technologies
• Bridging the digital divide by including essential literacy skills through universal access for all students

Importance of integrating digital literacy competencies across academia

Vincent Del Casino, Jr., Provost and SVP of Academic Affairs at San Jose State University (SJSU), kicked off the event by underscoring how higher education is under pressure to implement digital transformation not only to attract, but also to retain students. Universities in the California State system, like SJSU, face enrollment challenges as the incoming generation of students continue to evolve their perspectives on higher education. By creating learning spaces and adapting teaching strategies to the new, fast-paced digital landscape, students and teachers are able to explore different ways to engage and collaborate.

“More and more pressure is being brought to bear on higher education to not only train students, but then connect them out into the wider world with real experiences that allow them to do the networking that they’re going to need in order to not just to get a job but to build a career and a pathway toward that career,” said Del Casino. “Creativity has to be woven into the curriculum, and students need tools to interact in a multimedia world.”

According to Del Casino, students are looking for more — they want to attend an institution that drives social good and addresses challenges that they may face in the workforce, such as the need for interpreting data. In response, SJSU has launched initiatives like the Native American Student Success Center, which is committed to serving those with Native American and Indigenous ancestry, as well as the local community. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe that resides on the land surrounding SJSU has struggled to reclaim their federal recognition, but through the resource center, SJSU students, faculty, staff and community members have come together to help advance their acknowledgement goals. By leveraging multimedia tools and strategies to promote such initiatives, students are learning ways to tell their stories with real impact.

Brenda Kowalewski, associate provost for High Impact Educational Experiences and Faculty Excellence at Weber State University, noted the importance of recognizing the emergence of these digital cultures and how faculty must lead the way to help their students thrive. As institutions consider their digital transformation journey, Kowalewski underscored how it was essential for Weber State University to first develop a framework for faculty to adopt and implement the technology before building student confidence with these tools. The university’s digitally forward new writing center program is a great example where tutors were enrolled in a junior-level writing course that empowered them to become well-versed in not only digital rhetoric, but also specific tools like Adobe InDesign that could be used in writing courses with prompts for students to create magazines, editorials, and other interactive pieces.

Bridging the digital divide by serving diverse students and focusing on faculty

The digital divide in higher education is nuanced — it’s not limited to better access to technology and broadband alone but also applies to building digital confidence among students and faculty members. For Dr. Wanda White, director and faculty development specialist, Dr. Jeremiah Shipp, senior faculty development specialist, and Dr. Bart Ganzert, senior faculty development specialist — the team leading the digital transformation at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) — addressing digital inequities in learning and providing quality education for all students remains a top strategic focus.

“There’s a strong correlation between high impact, active-learning practices and student engagement,” White said. “Including these common elements in our instruction makes our students learn and want to learn more, especially in this high digital age.”

Shipp pointed to research by Cathy N. Davidson, an educational innovator, professor and distinguished scholar of the history of technology, on the importance of active ways of learning. According to Davidson, “Transforming higher education is not about throwing a lot of tech into a classroom. What we need instead is to rethink higher education so that our students are digitally literate. So that they understand, gain insight into, and maybe even exert more control over the technologies that have changed our lives and will do so even more in the future.”

To begin weaving digital literacy skills into curriculum, White emphasized the parallel focus on supporting WSSU staff with access and training as well. She described how in partnership with Adobe, WSSU has hosted faculty boot camps to help them learn how to use Adobe Creative Cloud and explore ways to develop an innovative environment that integrates digital tools into courses, such as promoting students to build digital portfolios that demonstrate the research and learning that they have developed throughout their academic and professional careers.

Enhancing learning and improving career prospects

The Creative Campus Collaboration event concluded with an engaging student spotlight and panel discussion that explored how to promote digital “ways of thinking” across diverse learning experiences, helping students to build essential cognitive and technical skills. The panel of thought leaders included Dr. Cheryl Ball, digital publishing editor and consultant, Dr. Eddie Webb, English professor and director of the New Media Lab at Mesa Community College, Dr. Shauna Chung, Incoming assistant professor of English at Clemson University, and Dr. John Beckman, assistant professor of Biotechnology at Auburn University. They noted that students are better equipped to digest and retain information as well as communicate what they’ve learned through the integration of digital literacy into their coursework.

Valentina Arismendi, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, shared how a project-based assignment requiring her to tell a story through five different modalities using digital tools like Adobe Creative Cloud would unlock extensive possibilities for her. Arismendi was able to apply and gain cross-disciplinary digital skills throughout college, which paved the way for her professionally. Now in a new role at Adobe, she creates content and digital literacy programs to help students achieve deeper learning outcomes.

Dr. Webb noted that professors “aren’t doing their students any service” if they are not weaving digital literacy into their curriculum. He described one way he reframed a history assignment by asking his students to create a digital version of a Native American basket, which encouraged more learning and engagement because the class was not limited by the physical proximity of the basket. Beckman agreed, noting how digital tools have helped those in the STEM field as well through applying their research and sharing their knowledge with others — effectively “changing the way that they do science.” He pointed to YouTube as an example — nowadays knowledge is only one video away.

Self-discovery enhances comprehension

Shauna Chung of Clemson University agreed that the more often students invent, make and create, the more they will discover about themselves. Their self-discovery enhances their understanding and fosters academic success, ultimately making students more hirable post-graduation. Cheryl Ball underscored that higher education institutions must impart upon students how broad-reaching and critical digital literacy will be for them as future employees — invaluable in any profession.

In fact, recent research from Adobe demonstrates the measurable impacts of creative skills and digital literacy on student outcomes and their careers. As more campuses drive a transformation by integrating these vital digital tools across subject matter and disciplines, they are preparing their students to join a more communicative, agile and collaborative modern workforce in an increasingly digital world.

We’re excited to share that the next Adobe Creative Campus Collaboration will convene in Los Angeles at the annual EduMAX conference in October of 2022. If you are interested in participating or would like to learn how your institution can join the coalition of more than 60 participating universities within the Adobe Creative Campus program, please contact your sales representative.

For more information on how to integrate digital skills across disciplines and throughout curricula, please visit the Digital Literacy resources page.