Inside Clemson

Watt Center, Center of Excellence welcome first ‘Sparking Creativity’ faculty cohort

Pic of Adobe class 1By Blythe Steelman,
Public Information Director, Watt Family Innovation Center

More than 60 faculty and staff members gathered in the Watt Family Innovation Center Aug. 17, to learn how to integrate digital storytelling techniques into their courses for fall 2017.

The goal of the “Sparking Creativity” workshop was to teach faculty members, through hands-on demonstrations, how to use Adobe Spark and other mobile applications to create presentations, infographics and video content for classroom assignments. Free Spark software allows users to “create impactful social graphics, web stories and animated videos,” according to Adobe’s website. Adobe’s Creative Cloud software is free to everyone at Clemson through the university’s partnership with Adobe.

The half-day workshop attracted faculty from all academic disciplines for presentations on a variety of digital storytelling topics, including science communication in STEM, using digital tools to tell the story of African Americans in early Clemson University history, and developing classroom implementation plans.

“By introducing digital communications tools to faculty in academic disciplines that traditionally tend not to use them, the workshop advanced the Watt mission to promote cross-disciplinary teaching and research,” said Dr. Barbara Speziale, associate director for academics at the Watt Center and director of Clemson’s Creative Inquiry program.

In addition to promoting cross-discipline research, the tools also afford faculty, staff and students the opportunity to diversify their professional skillset.

“These digital tools offer Clemson students a creative skillset that is very desirable in today’s workforce, no matter the field of study,” said Jonathan Clayton, the CTO Digital Creativity.

Thanks to generous funding from the Center of Excellence for Next Generation Computing executive director Jim Bottum, Clemson faculty participants received professional development funds to utilize these digital storytelling applications in classroom assignments this fall and, with students’ permission, to share examples of student work.

“It was incredibly rewarding to see the faculty response to the workshop call, and we look forward to seeing the impact in the classroom during the semester” said Jim Bottum.

Pic of Jonathan Gantt at Adobe classJonathan Gantt, a co-director in the Center of Excellence and the director of new and creative media for Clemson Athletics, presented during the workshop and echoed Bottum’s sentiment.

“Our aim with the Center of Excellence is to empower and inspire faculty in the areas of creativity and digital communication and that’s why the Digital Storytelling workshop was so fulfilling, because the faculty who participated were incredibly enthusiastic about learning the why and the how,” Gantt said.

Even individuals with limited Adobe experience found they could use the tools with ease.

“I teach in the graduate program with nurse practitioner students who are anywhere from 25 to 50 years old, and when I listened to the presentations on Adobe Spark, I felt like even someone with minimal experience could still use the technology,” said Tracy Fasolino, an associate professor in the School of Nursing.

While the workshop was designed for Clemson faculty, representatives from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) also participated.

“(This workshop) helped us create a way for our school to help expand our diversity and inclusion,” said Terris Riley, a grants administrator from Clinton College. “We are an HBCU but we need to make sure we’re open to different ideas and creativity. This workshop was a great way for great minds to come together. I have so many ideas — now I just have to figure out which one to go after first.”

This workshop was supported by the Center of Excellence, the Watt Center and Creative Inquiry. With support from Adobe, a second Digital Storytelling workshop will be offered in the Watt Center in December 2017. Faculty who are interested in participating should contact Dr. Barbara Speziale.