More than half of students don’t have access to creative problem-solving software like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. This is due to the fact schools simply don’t have the funds to have those programs for their students. Without programs like these, we don’t develop as many creative solving skills.

Adobe is giving schools and universities a great opprotunity to provide students with an alternative too. They are giving them Adobe Spark Premium without a paid CC subscription. this will allow students to gain creative problem-solving skills when their schools can’t afford the other more costly programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Adobe Spark is a design program for graphics, webpages, and video. The basic version is a nifty tool, but with limited features. The Premium, having more bells and whistles, allows for more creative freedom. Now if you are expecting something that looks and feels exactly like Photoshop, you may be dissappointed. The program doesn’t allow as much creative freedom as Photoshop, but it’s a more narrowed down way of creating things like you would as if you were using it. But it doesn’t look similar. But is however, a great tool that is a great alternative.

Now you may be asking yourself, what are creative problem-solving skills? Creative problem-solving are a bit different compared to the typical problem-solving skills. These skills are more critical than ever in today’s modern, tech savvy world. In a study done by Adobe in determining what educators and policymakers think of the importance of these skills, what they discovered was interesting and noteworthy.

“Creative problem solving is the process of redefining problems and opportunities, coming up with new, innovative responses and solutions, and then taking action.” Most educators in the survey revealed that they believe these skills are necessary to protect the students’ futures. As well as giving them a greater chance to get high ranking careers and a greater chance of earning a higher income compared to those students who fail to develop these skills. Adobe revealed that 96% of educator and policymakers agree creative problem solving is critically important for students to learn in school, therefore, integrated into the curriculum. Unfortunately, they aren’t being emphasized enough because of underlying barriers. Things like budgets and lack of resources make it difficult for schools to allow students to build these important schools. Not to mention the problem on the other side of things, the teachers and staff. Half of teachers aren’t taught or trained in how to help students develop creative problem-solving skills. Leaving more work to be done in the long run.

The solution that Adobe is offering with Spark Premium is the stepping stone to changing the opportunity for students to learn and develop these skills.