Being fluent in creating and interpreting media is an increasingly important skill for a modern learner. The ways we communicate continue to evolve intellectually, emotionally, and technologically. How can we apply critical thinking to the messages in our media, and use what we learn to create effective messages of our own?
Adobe Spark is a fantastic tool for students and teachers to create great looking graphics, web pages or animated videos and share these easily.
Spark works on any web browser, as well as iOS apps for iPad. It's power is it's simplicity - it is very intuitive and easy to use.
There are three kinds of Spark's you can create:
In each case, the Spark can be shared through a link. This overcomes the problem of where to store these creations. Videos are always too big to email, so they usually end up on a school network drive, never to be seen again, or at best seen by the teacher only.
The link makes it easy to share with anyone. The work can also be shared on social media or embedded in a website or blog.
Here is my video with all the details:
Here is an example of a page I created to give an overview of tools I shared:
Webpages generated with Adobe Spark look gorgeous. When you scroll you see an effect known as parallax or window scrolling where the image and text do not scroll together. The 11 professionally designed themes keep you from worrying about font, colour, and animation choices, so you won't be wasting time with those things. A simple click gives your entire story a different look with a different theme.
Adobe Spark is a fantastic tool for students and teachers to create great looking graphics, web pages or animated videos and share these easily.
Spark works on any web browser, as well as iOS apps for iPad. It's power is it's simplicity - it is very intuitive and easy to use.
There are three kinds of Spark's you can create:
Post
Like Canva, a Post can be used to create social media posts or great looking posters. Start with a template and edit.
Page
A Page is like a scrolling website that looks great with very little effort. Drop in text, video, image galleries and more.Video
Students using tools like Movie Maker will love how easy this is. Add a picture or video, choose some music for the background and record a narration over the top.In each case, the Spark can be shared through a link. This overcomes the problem of where to store these creations. Videos are always too big to email, so they usually end up on a school network drive, never to be seen again, or at best seen by the teacher only.
Here is my video with all the details:
Here is an example of a page I created to give an overview of tools I shared:
Webpages generated with Adobe Spark look gorgeous. When you scroll you see an effect known as parallax or window scrolling where the image and text do not scroll together. The 11 professionally designed themes keep you from worrying about font, colour, and animation choices, so you won't be wasting time with those things. A simple click gives your entire story a different look with a different theme.
Ideas for Classroom and Teacher Projects
- publishing newsletters
- writing book reviews
- posting photo essays
- sharing creative writing and poetry
- documenting experiments
- sharing photos
- retelling a story or historical event
- making a photo gallery of class art projects
- sharing photos and reflections from a field trip
- creating visual handouts
- publicising a school event
- reports
Here is a Spark tutorial about Spark!
Be aware - children under the age of 13 are not allowed to create their own Adobe ID and so they will need to sign in with an account created by and supervised by a teacher or parent. Teachers can create an account and share the details with students under 13 so they can create their own Spark's.