Using Adobe Spark in the Classroom

The mission of the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) at Fairfield University is to support innovation and scholarship in teaching and learning. I like to attend their workshops because it is a great opportunity to pick up teaching tips or learn about new tools. I learned about a resource at a workshop last summer called Adobe Spark. Spark is a great presentation tool. I’ve used it in classes for Getting To Know You activities and for presenting at professional development workshops. I have also suggested it to students as a presentation tool. Adobe Spark is essentially three tools in one: Page, Post, and Video.

Adobe Page allows a user to make a visually appealing webpage that can be used to deliver information. Here is an example of an Adobe Page I created for a professional development workshop in addition to the Getting To Know You activity linked above: Using Technology for Student Centered Learning.

Adobe Post enables users to create custom images that can be formatted for specific social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Templates and examples are provided, but they can be finicky so you may need to mess around with projects a bit if you plan to shift between format sizes for posting on multiple social media outlets. Here is an example of a holiday break post created for the Fairfield University Graduate School of Education & Allied Professions Facebook page: Happy Holidays from The Graduate School of Education & Allied Professions

Adobe Video can be used to create narrated videos using pictures or video clips. These pictures and videos can be inserted into individual slides. The narration and music can be added over the individual slides or the entire presentation.

I definitely recommend trying out Adobe Spark in your classes or offering it to students as a presentation tool. Here is a Spark Tutorial created by my grad assistant, Mitch Peterson, to help get you started. Also, check out my blog post Presentation Resources and Options for the Classroom for more presentation ideas.

I hope you find this useful. If you do, please share with others who may also benefit. Don’t forget to also follow me on Twitter @JoshuaElliott3 for more tips and ideas.