building schoolwide literacy Share

TeachersFirst - Getting Started with Adobe Creative Cloud Express

Adobe Creative Cloud Express is a unified task-based product the makes online multimedia posters which can include images, videos, audio files, text, graphics, links to web sites, and more.

LITERACY GOALS:

  • persuasive communication skills
  • creative writing
  • presenting information effectively
  • vocabulary development
  • oral expression of complex concepts
  • critical thinking
  • research

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Review the key ideas expressed and explain ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

GETTING STARTED:

  1. Start here: https://www.adobe.com/express/
  2. Create an account.
  3. Once you have an account and are signed in select the “Create a project” button.
  4. From the pop-up menu, select “Video.”
  5. Now begin by setting up the title of your project.
  6. Next, select a template to start or your project or start from scratch.
  7. Once your project has been set up, you will land on the workspace page for your project.
  8. At this point, you are able to invite your team members to your project. To invite team members, left-click the invite button at the top of the project window. (Alternatively, you can select the “Share” button and then select Invite.)
  9. After selecting Invite, a menu will pop up that allows you to add people to your project through email. (Add as many team members as your project requires.)
  10. Adobe Spark features a number of themes to help you design the basic layout of your project.
  11. To view and select a theme, left-click the Theme menu in the upper right of your project window.
  12. The Theme menu should now show you a variety of different designs for your project.
  13. Each design comes with a few different color choices and the ability to shuffle the color pallet.
  14. Now you will create a slide. Spark gives you a few options for creating your slide. First, create a new slide by clicking the blank plus slide box in the bottom right. The Layout menu allows you to select some basic slide designs. Once you are satisfied with your slide layout, you can add text and multimedia to your presentation.
  15. On the slide work page, you can add content by clicking the circle with a plus to see the options for different media uploads. A submenu will appear that allows you to select the type of media you want to add to your slide. You can easily add text to your slide by left-clicking the circle plus symbol on the slide work area.
  16. Spark offers the opportunity for users to upload their own prerecorded audio in .mp3 format or to record directly to the presentation. To upload your own .mp3, select the “Music” menu in the top left. Within the new music menu, select “Add my Music.”
  17. Recording narration is a simple as pressing and holding the mic icon at the bottom of your slide. (Each slide is limited to a 30-second duration. To record for longer than 30 seconds, duplicate the slide and continue your recording on the next slide.)
  18. To export your video simply select the download option at the top of your work area. Alternatively, you can get a sharable link by selecting the “Share” menu. This will allow users to share and embed their video files around the web.

TIPS:

  • Students create online posters, that contain text, images, and various multimedia elements. Learners can upload their own images or use images and elements provided on the site.
  • Use this resource to present information they've learned on a specific topic.
  • Multimedia posters can be created individually or through group collaboration work.
  • These digital posters can be shared with classmates and teachers via email, posted on class blogs, or accessed through the URL address.
  • Students can use this tool to show what they know, what they can do, and to tell others about their interests.
  • Learners enjoy making their own meaning through this interactive tool.
  • Its format promotes the construction of new knowledge and the mastery of skills.
  • Students can create timelines with photos, videos, interviews, sound, and digital artifacts.
  • After reading a novel, students can share the fiction features including the characters, setting, problem, solution, and create a multimedia poster to present and then share their book report with peers.
  • Take a bit of time to experiment with the features that are available and after you feel comfortable and ready to introduce it, allow students to do the same.

PROJECT IDEAS:

Fourth Grade:

  • Turn book reports into video presentations. Students can utilize the interactive tools and include narration to summarize a book.
  • Learners can create social studies infographics that focus on key concepts in the curriculum. For example, when learning about a particular state, students can include facts, photos, and historical content in an interactive way.
  • Make interactive science fair posters that can include audio and video to highlight the research, project how-to, experiment, and its results.

Fifth Grade:

  • Use this interactive tool for presentations during literature units, science, health, and social studies lessons, and for presentations as a supplement to student writing pieces.
  • Transform essays into multimedia presentations that can be easily shared with teachers and classmates.
  • Students can turn field trip journals into web stories, highlighting key findings from their experiences while relating their new knowledge back to important concepts in the unit or class.