- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
This popped up in my Facebook feed this morning:
One year ago today I submitted the first of what would end up being many assignments for lessons I learned from taking Adobe Generation Professional courses.
At that time, I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler, the only layers I knew about were in triple chocolate cake, and every time I opened Photoshop I would run screaming for the hills.
Now, I can make a straight line walk across the screen, I can manipulate layers to add dimensionality to illustrations, and I can make a never ending glass of beer (which, I admit, is still what I want after using Photoshop). Oh, yea, and the pen tool is my bitch.
The AdobeGenPro courses are very well designed. They don't try to teach you everything about the software. They set up a progression of assignments that let you build on skills, so by the end of the course, you can create a useful product. The instructional videos are great; the ones done by Joseph Labrecque for the Animation course were some of best I have ever seen. But most importantly, they teach you how to learn what else you need to know about the software on your own.
I won't say they are without their hiccups. There are occasions when I am in a live class thinking WTF are you talking about. My favorite was when the lecturer was talking about the direct selection tool vs. the selection tool. I said in chat I had no idea what he was talking about, and a fellow student told me it was the white arrow vs. the black arrow. As my frustration rose, I said I didn't know what SHE was talking about, since I had never opened the software before. She patiently explained to me where the black arrow and white arrow were, and what they did. And now I can use them to draw my own HR diagrams to illustrate the Main Sequence turn off point for star clusters.
Why did I take those courses? Because I wanted to redesign my online astronomy course to be more interactive, more visual, and more effective, to bring it into the 21st century. I wanted to teach my online students, I didn't want them to teach themselves. I knew I needed new skills to do that, so I started my MOOC journey which eventually led me to the Adobe Education Exchange site and the Adobe Generation Professional courses.
Now, when I describe the frost line and why different materials in the protoplanetary disk coalesce at different distances from the protosun, I can create an diagram in Illustrator to go along with it.
When I try to explain conservation of angular momentum in that protoplanetary disk and how it leads to all of the planets orbiting the Sun in the same direction, I can create a video in Animate to demonstrate that - and I can record the soundtrack to go along with it in Audition.
Using Premiere Pro, I can even edit videos and visualizations created by NASA that are in the public domain. I have spliced videos together, changes timings, and recorded narrations (again, in Audition) so they meet the instructional needs of my students.
And, of course, I use my old friend, the first Adobe product I learned, Spark Video, to create introductory videos for units in my online courses.
There is still a lot I want to do, primarily using Animate to do things like show the proton-proton chain and CNO cycle nuclear fusion reactions or the path of stars on the HR diagram as they evolve, but I haven't made the time to do those yet. But, that's the beauty of teaching - you are never done. This semester I'm improving on the work I did last semester, and next semester I will do things better than I did this semester.
The only thing holding me back is making the time, because there are only so many hours in the day. That's one reason I haven't blogged (at least on this blog) for over a year, even though there are things I want to blog about. I have had the same sweater on the needles for over a year now. And if only I could teach my cats how to do housework...but hey, how often do you really need to dust or vacuum...
I know many of you who read this far are saying, "Well, sure, you can do it, Karen, you know how to use technology." I know that, because many of you have said that to my face when I show you some of the things I created.
Frankly, it's a little insulting. I'm just not that special. I don't have a magic "knows everything about every software product ever made" gene. What I do have is a willingness to try something new and the determination not to give up at the first sign of trouble. If I did, I would have given up halfway through that first course, when I ran into problems with layers in Adobe Mix and Fix.
What I am is willing to put in a lot of time and effort to make this change. Anyone can take the same courses I took and create the tools your students need to learn, if you are willing to put in the same time and effort, because I won't sugarcoat it. Creativity is hard work. I just think the pay off is worth it. There is also something very satisfying when you can update your skills on your AdobeEdEx profile.
Because now, a year later, I have the skills and experience to be able to, with some level of confidence, open up After Effects for the first time and create a simple opening title sequence for videos I am working on for our Distance Education web site.
So please, look into the AdobeGenPro courses. The next one up is digital video starting on May 1 and running through the middle of June. Nothing bad happens to you if you don't finish the course (*cough*UX to UI*cough*)(*cough*twice*cough*). But it you are willing to take a chance and put in some hard work - the same thing you ask your students to do - something good might happen.
