EPISODE 11: THE CASE FOR CREATIVITY + EDUCATION
JOIN US FOR A ROUND TABLE WITH with guests Al Thomas and Tacy Trowbridge AS WE DISCUSS THE CASE FOR CREATIVITY + EDUCATION.
THE ROUND TABLE EXPLORES
Together we discuss with guests, Al Thomas and Tacy Trowbridge, Adobe's Global Education Lead, the impact that creativity and technology have had on the education space, how education has evolved, and where creativity and technology will take education in the future.
“As we seek to solve some of these really large challenges that are in front of us. We've also done some research to quantify how much do creative skills matter.
And what we saw was an increase in their mastery. We saw more A and B grades in classes where students had learned creative expression. We also saw that students did better in their classes overall, not just in this particular class, but in general, we saw grade point averages go up. In one institution, at the University of Texas San Antonio, we saw retention rates go up 8% for students who had this creative opportunity. That speaks really powerfully to me. There's obviously more research to be done, but we were trying to quantify, do these skills matter while students are in school, and they absolutely do.
We also worked with LinkedIn to understand how these skills matter in careers - in any career - whether you're a creative with a capital C or not. And what we saw was that absolutely. They earned up to 16% more and their starting salary, then people who did not include creative skills. We saw that the increase in terms of salary and also speed of career growth continued throughout a career trajectory.” - Trowbridge
Join us for a thoughtful conversation built around passion, longstanding career experience, and data!
“And I think we’ve long known that creative skills matter. It helps engage and creativity matters. It helps students engage. It helps students express things that are really challenging for them.It makes them curious learners, but we can quantify that this actually has an impact. That’s exciting. It’s not the be-all and end-all, but it gives us more information about just how critical these creative skills and these digital literacy skills are in preparing students for a future and then helping them be effective learners.”
MEET THE GUESTS
AL THOMAS. An educational leader with a passion for creativity and the opportunities it can provide for students. Al has more than twenty years in the field of education as a teacher, principal, district-level director, and consultant. His passion is to develop and curate unique and innovative solutions that improve learning for all, and he believes that if we are to prepare students for future success, we must equip them with creative problem-solving skills that harness their talents and abilities. He is continually a sought after leader and presents with Adobe for Education, Google for Education, among other leading educational and technology conferences across the country.
TACY TROWBRIDGE. A leader in the education and technology space across the public and private sectors. Known for her thought leadership and public speaking, Tacy Trowbridge leads Adobe’s Global Education Programs team to inspire and empower the next generation to be lifelong creators. Central to this work is the Adobe Education Exchange, an online community where 450,000+ educators find and share resources, connect with each other, pursue free professional development and seek inspiration. Prior to joining Adobe, Tacy led global programs and organizations to provide professional development, to develop curriculum, to design online learning, and to conduct research. She worked for the University of California, Teachscape, Stanford University, and San Francisco-area schools as a classroom teacher and technology lead. Tacy earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and her M.A. from Stanford’s School of Education in Learning, Design and Technology.