Creative Devices

When I first started my Media Arts program back in 2016, people thought I was mad teaching Adobe products to primary students. I got raised eyebrows from industry professionals, who felt that they were way too complex to teach to young children, and fellow teachers alike. I particularly remember a conversation I had with a friend of mine, a graphic designer, who said this to me:

It’s a bad idea to teach industry-standard products to students at a young age, because it will take [up] all your time explaining the intricacies of the programs and how they work, and less time for the kids to be creative on their own. Give them an easier program to work with. Leave the industry-standard programs to industry.

I could see his point. Take Photoshop, for example. It’s an extremely complex application that has a lot of power and scope to edit photos. Adults, myself included, grapple with the program, so how could children be expected to cope with it?

And then I realised a fundamental truth that pushed aside my friend’s concerns: he’s not a teacher. That’s important, because it’s with the right teaching – which focuses only on what students need to know, rather than the entire program itself – that children can be introduced to such a program in a carefully planned-out and structured way.

[Photoshop is] an extremely complex application that has a lot