Fayetteville State University’s Division of Information Technology Services works with faculty to empower students with digital literacy skills that help them explore their creativity and gain a competitive edge as job-seekers.

FSU is proud to be designated an Adobe Creative Campus, which helps the University fulfill its mission of preparing our students for success in the workforce. The Adobe Creative Suite, which includes a broad range of video, photo, document, and website editing tools, is available to all FSU students and faculty at no cost to support digital literacy and promote in-demand technology skills.

Using Adobe tools such as InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Express, students develop their design skills, learn to build websites, and create portfolios to show to potential employers or incorporate into graduate school applications.

Students use Adobe’s digital tools as a regular part of the curriculum. Faculty members serve as partners with the Division of Information Technology Services by integrating the use of Adobe Creative Suite and other digital tools into classroom learning to ensure students have lots of opportunities to practice and apply their technological skills. For example, faculty in the College of Education encourage students to use Adobe Express to learn how to build a website for posting class syllabi and other student resources.

To further integrate these tools into our students’ educational experience, FSU is launching two programs this spring: a Faculty Ambassador Program and a Student Ambassador Program. Funded by an Adobe grant, these programs will give faculty and students the opportunity to showcase how they use the Creative Suite tools to transfer their skills and inspire creativity across the FSU community. Faculty and students will have the chance to present their digital creations at forums organized by the University, as well as at faculty senate and student government meetings.

In addition to Adobe Creative Suite, FSU also invested in Microsoft Office 365 to promote digital literacy among students and equip them with in-demand job skills. Microsoft Office tools are integrated into Canvas, FSU’s learning management system, and Microsoft’s communication, workflow management, and document sharing tools, like Microsoft Teams and OneDrive, are used daily for classes, meetings, and collaborative work. FSU's classrooms are also equipped with basic smart classroom functionality to enable media presentations, and some classrooms have tools to enable video conferencing and live online collaboration.

Moving forward, FSU’s Division of IT Services will continue to explore how new digital tools can be integrated into the curriculum to engage students and set them up for future success.