A meaningful community supports and inspires, and Clara Galán is all about doing just that for EdTech companies. Clara, who helps lead global educator community programs for Creative Cloud at Adobe for Education, sits down with us to talk about community, creativity, and technology's role in both.
Get To Know An Industry By Meeting Its People.
In Clara's first career as a middle school ELA teacher, she explored EdTech products that would benefit her students by going to industry meetups in San Francisco.
"It was through one of those meetups where I was learning about these EdTech tools that I met the co-founders of Remind, who mentioned that Edutopia was looking for social media help."
Moving first into education media and then into EdTech, Clara's skills as an educator and connector let her show developers what teachers really need most and help teachers articulate their needs. She believes that EdTech always has room for educators and their skillsets, and that industry meetups are still a great entry point.
"If there is a conference coming up in your state, chat with vendors on the expo hall floor and share how you're using their tools, and provide feedback. It's a great way to start building those relationships."
EdTech Brands Grow Best In Educator Communities.
As a former teacher, Clara knows that sharing effective tools are among the many benefits of educator communities. This makes the EdTech market different from any other product or technology space.
"Teachers are wary when it comes to for-profit companies saying, 'This is the silver bullet to solve all of my students' problems.' You have to have everything rooted in teaching, learning, and pedagogy, and make sure this is meeting the goals of teachers and student learning outcomes."
Community is the sweet spot for building a strong EdTech brand.
“For example, at Adobe, our mission and vision is to equip the next generation of lifelong creators, and nurture and help them grow. We have to make sure that our group of users connects to this vision, because then it becomes a movement. A community builds brand affinity. It actually helps to shape what your brand stands for."
Community makes it easy for the user group to share feedback with the company and with each other, which can build word-of-mouth marketing.
"Teachers learn best from other teachers. If someone from my community is going to a conference to present, teachers are going to listen to that individual much more than they would listen to me or listen to anyone else within the Adobe team."
Nurture Every Student's Creativity.
The late Sir Ken Robinson, an advocate for creativity in education, believed this innate human skill deserves the same emphasis as literacy. Clara believes that technology can unlock every student's creativity.
"You hear people talk about creativity, and it's these big lofty terms. I'm like, 'Great. What does it look like? How can I do this tomorrow in my classroom?' Because we want to tie everything back to teaching and learning first, and product second. That's how educators can know how to use the products efficiently in their classroom."
Adding creativity to the curriculum challenges educators to define it, assess it, and build a classroom culture that nurtures it. Clara's Adobe Creative Educator team addresses all this in their Level One and Level Two courses. She has high hopes for what EdTech can enable young people to accomplish.
"Can someone look at a problem, think about it from multiple angles, and come up with a solution? That's creative problem solving, especially as students go into higher education or the workforce. They might not know all of the issues that they're going to encounter. We, as a society, don't know all of the issues we'll encounter. A lot of solutions take creativity, being able to connect different ideas, iteration, and coming up with a creative solution. What higher education students studying graphic design or in their first year out of university once created, kids are creating that in middle school now, so it's pretty incredible to see."
Take a look at the full transcript of Clara’s podcast episode to dive into everything that was said.
Adobe is hosting the virtual Adobe Education Summit July 26-28, a free creative professional learning event for educators. They'll cover teaching strategies for deeper learning and how to foster a classroom for creative expression. Register for the event.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
All Things Adobe
Adobe for Education, the division of Adobe in which Clara works
Adobe Education Summit (July 26-28, 2022), Clara invites anyone interested in tech-based learning to attend this free virtual event
Adobe Creative Educator, Clara's team within Adobe for Education
Adobe Creative Educator Level One, a creativity-focused EdTech course designed by Clara's team
Adobe Creative Educator Level Two, another creativity-focused EdTech course designed by Clara's team
Adobe Express, the Web-based creativity tool that inspired Clara to work at Adobe
Adobe Character Animator, Clara mentions this tool as an example EdTech products enabling student creativity
Orgs and Events
ISTE, Clara mentions ISTE’s annual conference as a great professional-development resource, particularly the product expo hall
Edcamps, small educator conferences with participant-driven learning; Elana recommends these events as great places for educators to learn about EdTech products and companies
CUE (Computer-Using Educators), Clara mentions this conference for California educators as an example of how she started learning more about EdTech
CMX Summit, an event by and for professional community builders; Clara recommends this resource
London EdTech Week, Clara plans to attend this global EdTech conference in the UK
Communities
Influitive, Clara recommends this advocacy, community, and engagement platform for educators looking to build communities
Discovery Education Network (DEN), an educators' community that shares teaching, learning, and networking resources and opportunities; Elana explains how LCG's Porter Palmer benefitted from years in this community
Companies and Resources
Edsurge, an education-focused media organization focused on people, ideas, tools, and the future of learning; Clara mentions it as a great professional-development resource
Common Sense Media, a nonprofit studying and evaluating the impact of media content on kids; Clara's example of a resource for educators
Remind, a communication and learning platform for educators, schools, and families; an EdTech company that was part of Clara's career path
Edutopia, the public-facing media platform of the George Lucas Educational Foundation; when Elana worked here, Clara was her first direct hire from the classroom
Imagine K12, an EdTech startup accelerator whose meetups Clara attended in San Francisco
Y Combinator, a tech startup accelerator now including Imagine K12
#EdTech, Elana's recommendation for learning about all things EdTech on Twitter
#EdTechChat, Elana's recommendation for finding EdTech chats on Twitter
LCG Resources
"What's Your Community's Purpose? Find it Using the SPACES Model,"LCG blog by Porter Palmer; Elana refers to this as a perspective on growing a community
"How to Build Communities That Matter in Education: A Conversation with Porter Palmer," Elana refers to this All Things Marketing and Education podcast reflecting on communities
"Educator Mental Health and the Power of Being a Connected Educator: A Conversation with Nick Provenzano", Elana refers to this All Things Marketing and Education podcast when discussion educator communities
Recommended Reading
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker, a book inspiring Clara right now
The Space: A Guide for Educators by Rebecca Louise Hare and Robert Dillon, Rebecca works on Clara's team at Adobe Creative Educator
People
Sir Ken Robinson, a longtime advocate for global creative and cultural education; Elana and Clara both remain inspired by his ideas
Matthijs Clasener, an innovative high school educator in Rotterdam, part of Clara's network
Tony Wagner, Elana mentioned this researcher, author, and speaker when discussing theories around creativity in education
All Things Clara
Elana Leoni, Host
Elana Leoni has dedicated the majority of her career to improving K-12 education. Prior to founding LCG, she spent eight years leading the marketing and community strategy for the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she grew Edutopia’s social media presence exponentially to reach over 20 million education change-makers every month.
Clara Galán, Guest
Clara leads educator community programs in product marketing at Adobe for Education. Prior to joining Adobe, Clara has worked in education marketing for Amazon Kindle Education, Remind, and Edutopia (The George Lucas Educational Foundation). Clara began her career as an educator in the San Francisco Bay Area teaching English Language Arts to middle school grades, and ESL to international high school students. Originally from the San Francisco area, Clara now lives in Barcelona and is interested in learning about EdTech startups and new student-centered collaborative school models.
About All Things Marketing and Education
What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase reach, relationships, and revenue.
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