Bradford College

Adobe Campus Day

Bradford College is proud to announce it is the first UK College outside the specialist deliverers to be chosen to host an Adobe Campus Day. Adobe is one of the world’s largest and most diversified software companies, with a reputation for excellence and a portfolio of many of the most respected and recognisable software brands.

During the special event, students and teachers were invited to attend a series of presentations by Adobe presenters.  The aim of the day was to bring industry knowledge direct to the learner and expand people’s career opportunities.

Explaining how students and staff benefited from the Adobe Campus Day, Adobe Presenter, Maxim Jago said: “I think it’s difficult these days to stay up-to-date and keep an eye on how things are changing with this kind of technology.  A lot of the best features don’t always make the marketing, so having someone like myself and my colleague Matt come and show you the things that we really love gives you the opportunity to see first hand, ask questions - and find out the very latest state of play with the technology.”

Maxim went on to outline how attending the event could help people expand their career opportunities, he explained: “One of the ways it will help you to build a better career is by expanding your knowledge.  People tend to specialise, focusing very much on their own individual specialism, which is good because it’s important to specialise.  It means people know who you are, what you’re about and what you do really well. Unfortunately it can also blinker you a little bit to what’s available in other technologies.  You might also discover there are things you could easily do if you knew they were there.  Because we’re covering a broad range of applications, people for example who work in 2D Graphics might be surprised to discover that they’re one hop, skip and jump away from working with video. People like me who don’t really know how Flash works could discover where the menu is and go on to produce Flash movie websites. ”

Explaining why Bradford College had been selected to host the event, Rose Kane, IT Services Manager said:  “Bradford College has an outstanding and renowned reputation for its School of Arts and Media.  This has assisted Adobe in making the choice to select the College along with the longstanding relationship we have with Adobe.”

Rose continued: “We also have a close working relationship with a company called Phoenix Software.  They put our name forward to Adobe to host the event because we’ve been working closely with them on the development of software compliance tools.  They know we work at the cutting edge of compliance and have recently gained a ‘Federation Against Software Theft’ Gold Standard (FAST) Award - which is one of the highest accolades for a College in the UK.”

Phoenix Software representative, Caroline Wilson remarked:  “We’re one of the main resellers to education.  We also have a student online store so it’s important for us to make sure that students realise what Adobe products are available to them and that discount is available.”

IT Compliance & Procurement Manager, Sue Richardson added: “We use their range of products across the board, given our broad portfolio of subject areas, including: Computing, Construction and Engineering.”

During the series of creative lectures, Adobe teamed up with professionals to provide staff and students with presentations ranging from: Digital Photography to Games Technology and E-portfolios.  Rose explained:  “The agenda’s been varied and has covered presentations ranging from:  Digital Photography; Rich Internet Applications, ePortfolios; Flash Animations; Graphics For Film, Video and Web; Integrated Marketing and Podcasting.”   Rose added:  “Today’s presentations have been great! Everyone’s been given the opportunity to gain industry standard knowledge from industry experts.  Its also been of great interest to Bradford College, as we’re currently developing our e-learning platforms for students.”

ICT Lecturer, Malcolm Smith explained why he was keen to attend the Campus Day, saying: “We’re interested in e-portfolio developments in general.  We’re looking to introduce them across teacher education as part and parcel of their continued professional development.”  

ICT Lecturer, Clare Wolfenden added: “It will be interesting to see how other organisations are using the e-portfolios.”

IT Application Developer/Trainer, Jackie Robertshaw attended the event and said: “I attended two of the sessions and they were really enlightening.  There were lots of students at the lectures, asking lots of questions. The presenters were obviously industry trained and knew their stuff so I got a lot out of it.”

IT Application Developer/Trainer, Steve Pryszlak remarked: “It was great – it was set up wonderfully, well organised and the presentations of Adobe products were absolutely fantastic.  I think short sweet sessions like this are great. I think we need more of them at College.”

Following the success of the event, Susan added: “Some students hadn’t registered, but when they saw the agenda for the day they asked if the event was going to be on for longer than just one day. We also had students decide to go to the presentations rather than go home.”

Commenting on the success of the day, Rose said: “Its been a great success!  Everyone who attended will automatically be entered into a fantastic prize draw. There’ve been some great lectures, with excellent attendance from learners, tutors, university staff and representatives from the exciting, emerging Appleton Academy in Bradford – for which the College is sponsor.  There’s been a buzz about folk as they came out of the lecture theatre. Many have asked if there will be more days along these lines, and if we’re doing one next year. Adobe and Phoenix Software said they’ve never been so well looked after anywhere – and have had attendance levels that have delighted them.”

Rose concluded: “I’d like to thank all the internal Departments across the College who had helped to make this day a fantastic success!  In particular I’d like to thank Susan Richardson our IT Compliance & Procurement Manager for all her hard work. I’d also like to thank Phoenix Software, The University of Bradford, and Appleton Academy for joining us here today.”

Adobe Campus Day – Gallery