Employability and skills are central to the government’s agenda for tertiary education. The goal is clear: to ensure that educational programmes are closely aligned with the evolving needs of employers¹. Digital skills are a crucial tool in that drive for employability. Within 20 years, it’s predicted that 90% of all jobs will require some level of digital proficiency².
The first step: access to Adobe Express ETLA
Jisc and Adobe are collaborating to support universities in their digital transformation and to boost student employability. Negotiations between Jisc, Adobe and UCISA, led to the new Adobe Express option for the Jisc Adobe enterprise term licence agreement (ETLA) available via Chest.ac.uk.
Making the most of the agreement
You subscribe to the agreement, but how do you ensure you make the most of your investment? The ‘transforming together: learning and leading’ programme, was devised to bring together universities with the new Adobe Express option, to achieve just that: to collaborate on how best to roll out Adobe across campuses. Through workshops and online collaboration, participants have access to Jisc and Adobe’s experts who also facilitate peer-support from universities on a similar journey.
Jonathan Hofgartner, Jisc’s head of learning and teaching, licensing, summed up the aspirations of the programme:
“Participating universities can leverage our combined expertise and draw on the experiences of participating universities embarking on the same digital transformation journey to make the most of their Adobe Express investment. ‘Transforming together’ supports not only the development of critical digital skills which raises student employability but also fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration across higher education.”
Session one: enabling digital transformation
The launch event took place in London in October attended by the first cohort of ‘transforming together’ universities. The workshop marked the beginning of a series of co-designed activities to support the integration of Adobe Express into their organisations.
Reasons for joining the programme included making assessments more authentic, enhancing student employability, boosting confidence in using AI, and redesigning the curriculum for a digital world. Nigel Hayes, digital media support technician at Leeds Trinity University, described their aspirations:
“[Adobe Express] is a vital tool for both student success and faculty innovation, supporting our wider digital transformation goals. By signing up to the programme, we gain access to invaluable resources and collaborative opportunities that can enhance our digital initiatives. A standout aspect of this agreement is Jisc’s organisation of the transforming together group. Such collaborative experiences are essential to foster a community of learning and support, making it easier for us to integrate and embed Adobe Express across our programmes.”
Session two: embedding and integration
In early January, the group gathered to share their journey and successes in rolling out Adobe Express.
Highlights included:
- York St John University launched ’12 days of Adobe Express’ in the lead-up to Christmas, to share the platform’s ‘gifts’. This initiative is now being used to create a user guide. To cultivate a ‘sense of belonging’ around the platform, students will co-create their assessment programme, looking at flexibility and optionality. By creating a community of practice, they forged connections between faculties and departments across the university that were simply not there before – an unexpected benefit of the programme.
- Leeds Trinity University launched a ‘digital media skills’ learning pathway in September, offering video, infographics, and visually enhanced platforms to upskill staff on Adobe Express. The pathway was so successful, they had requests for a student version which was released in January. The digital badges awarded upon course completion have proved popular.
- Manchester Met University (MMU) used Adobe development materials with staff and invited Adobe to their Delta Leads strategy group to explore the potential of Adobe Express to redesign assessment tasks and improve inclusion.
- Kingston University reported that their website and presentations have already benefitted from Adobe creativity, and they are now working on how to embed Adobe Express within curriculum delivery and assessment.
- Adobe Express was creating a buzz at the University of Hertfordshire from some exciting and creative uses of the platform, although Jen Gainsford, Deputy Head of TEL and Digital Capability, conceded: “It’s more a series of delicious cakes than a full bakery at the moment.”
Building on solid foundations
At the second ‘transforming together’ meeting, the group assessed whether their universities had the foundations to support a full rollout of Adobe Express at a strategic level, by delving into their own organisation’s strategic principles’ documents. Within these documents, although Adobe Express was often implicit in the strategies, it was rarely explicit. For some participants, this flagged a need to make those links clearer to pave the way for staff buy-in.
The focus on strategy documents suggested other potential next steps that could facilitate staff buy-in including a need for a change management process and further discussions with senior leaders; bringing in other areas of the university such as web or marketing; or exploring a task-driven process showing how Adobe Express could address existing needs.
The road ahead: going forward with confidence
The transforming together programme aims to support universities with strategies for maximising their investment. By the end of the workshop, participants expressed confidently, their vision for making Adobe Express an active choice in the academic toolbox. This would involve a combination of:
- Running promotion and awareness campaigns
- Offering hands-on training
- Giving clear examples of practical solutions and benefits offered by Adobe Express
- Identifying the specific needs and teaching styles of staff to drive engagement rather than just asking, “why aren’t you using it?”
- Offering incentives, such as digital badges for completing Adobe skills’ courses
- Highlighting real-world applications used by local companies using Adobe Express to manifest the relevance to employability
- Tapping into those academics who were interested, and using their experiences to inform case studies to demonstrate the benefits
Fiona Camino, Adobe’s head of HE UK&I, summed up the day:
“Last time we met, we were stepping into the unknown, but today this has turned into confidence about the amazing opportunities within your organisations. It is inspiring to see how you have addressed blockers and embraced innovative ways to deploy Adobe Express.”
What are the next steps for participants?
After a day of unpicking strategies and putting them back together with Adobe Express, participants had clear takeaways from the workshop.
Kingston University want to build awareness and facilitate staff to go and learn about Adobe. Abbey Ali, Enterprise Collaboration Manager said:
“The CPD videos are ready and waiting. We want to inspire our staff to dive in and discover how these resources can enhance their skills and support their growth.”
University of Hertfordshire left with two action points: creating an advocacy campaign and further promotion.
“We will now work with staff experienced in Adobe Express to support a variety of work, including creation of staff health and safety training videos, social media content and assessment materials. We want to showcase the use of the tool, but also how people approached the gradual development of new skills, overcoming the issues that can sometimes prevent experimentation with different ways of working.” Samantha Clarkson, Digital Capabilities Manager, University of Hertfordshire.
“We have pockets of good practice which we need to promote. We’ll start at task level, finding tasks that need to be completed – then show how Adobe could enhance them.” Jen Gainsford, University of Hertfordshire
Arts University Plymouth want to use Adobe Express to build bridges in the analogue vs digital debate in the arts.
“We want to show how digital can enhance physical 3D work. For example, one of our students took a photo of her work and used Adobe to reimagine it on a plinth in a museum setting. I hope this action can help students visualise their work to buyers or employers.” Adam Levi, senior learning technologist.
A collaborative future
‘Transforming together’ is not just about digital tools but about building a supportive, collaborative community of learning and innovation.
¹ Higher education policy statement and reform, July 2023
² Digital skills and inclusion – giving everyone access to the digital skills they need, 2023
If you want to find out more about Jisc’s Adobe ETLA agreement with new Adobe Express option and to participate in the next cohort in 2025, please contact help@chest.ac.uk.
To learn more about the current ‘transforming together’ programme, participating organisations, together with Adobe and Jisc, will take part in a panel discussion, sharing their experiences at Digifest 2025, 11 – 12 March in Birmingham, highlighting the transformative impact of Adobe Express on higher education. If you are not able to attend Digifest, there is still time to register for the online event to gain access to the discussion.