NEW Adobe Express Classrooms!
by Tracey Brown, Academic Specialist, Instructional Technology
Adobe Express is one of our favorite digital tools for both creation of instructional materials and student projects. This fall (2024) it got even better with the addition of Classrooms.
As educators, we love it when a tool makes a process easier! That's exactly what Adobe Express has done with the implementation of their new Classrooms feature!
With Classrooms, teachers can give students an assignment with or without templates and additional attachments, see the students working in real time, collect all assignment submissions in one place with no need to download and upload, and even provide feedback for students before returning an assignment for revision and resubmission if needed. It can streamline the process of giving students projects in Adobe Express and reduce the turn-around time for feedback.
You can find Classrooms on your menu on your Adobe Express dashboard. Setting up a class takes just a few seconds, and students enroll themselves with a class code or link shared by their teacher, just like other digital tools with a Classroom feature.
My favorite feature in the new Classrooms tool is that students can attach a project, even if started outside of the Assignments tool and submit it to their teacher. This can prevent an over-eager student from getting frustrated after they jump into their Adobe account and start a project, only to find that they can't turn it into their teacher; there is always a Turn-it-in button in the upper right of any project that allows the student to search for a class, an assignment, and attach it. And just because two is better than one... my second favorite feature is that projects can be collaborative or independent. If students want to work together, one student only needs to open the assignment to get started and invite their classmate as an editor and they can work together in real-time to complete and then submit their project. Because the submission will be turned in by Student A, with only their name on it, it is important that the teacher knows when students are working together so they both get credit for the project. One additional point to note is that there is no version history, or other way to tell what was contributed by Student A vs Student B in a collaborative project.
Want to learn more about Adobe Express' new Classrooms feature? Check out the Instructional Technology Adobe Express YouTube Playlist and look for Classroom videos. Also, look for our self-paced Adobe Express course that is scheduled to go live second semester of the 24-25 school year. Finally, reach out to your Instructional Technology Academic Specialist or eCoach Champ with any specific questions.
