Adobe promises $300 million to Obama's ConnectED Digital Literacy Initiative

Children are the future and education is key to creating valuable members of the workforce. Sadly, the USA is no longer a leader in producing quality engineers and scientists.

Luckily, President Obama has been focusing on technology in the classroom, with universal access to faster broadband. Also, Barack is pushing the education of teachers to keep up with advances in technology. The President has mentioned working with the public sector as well and today, Adobe answers the call with a promise of $300 million.

"Today, Adobe is happy to announce that it is joining the Department of Education and the President’s ConnectED initiative by making world-class creative tools available to schools across the country, along with innovative professional development and curricular resources to educators. Adobe has committed over $300 million to help advance digital learning, teaching, and administration in 15,000 U.S. schools", says Trevor Bailey, Adobe.

Adobe says that the commitment "consists of software for students and educators, including: creative products Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Premiere Elements which includes complimentary access to technologies from Dolby Laboratories; Adobe Presenter and Adobe Captivate for e-Learning curricula; and Adobe EchoSign electronic signature software for improving schools' administrative processes. In addition, Adobe's Education division and the Adobe Foundation are providing a range of teacher training resources from the company’s Education Exchange program and the Adobe Youth Voices initiative".

The President's inititative has three pillars:

• Upgraded Connectivity -- The ConnectED initiative will, within five years, connect 99 percent of America’s students to the digital age through next-generation broadband and high-speed wireless in their schools and libraries.
• Trained Teachers -- The ConnectED initiative invests in improving the skills of teachers, ensuring that every educator in America receives support and training to use technology to help improve student outcomes. The Department of Education will work with states and school districts to better use existing funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to strategically invest in this kind of professional development to help teachers keep pace with changing technological and professional demands.
• Build on Private-Sector Innovation -- These investments will allow our teachers and students to take full advantage of feature-rich educational devices that are increasingly price-competitive with basic textbooks and high-quality educational software (including applications) providing content aligned with college and career-ready standards being adopted and implemented by States across America.

This is fantastic news for both students and educators alike. Access to new technologies and popular sofware will spark creativity from the children and hopefully create the knowledgeable leaders of tomorrow. Adobe deserves a round of applause for contributing to the overall good.