From teacher to learner: Using digital technology to enhance authenticity and engagement in poster presentations in the classroom and online

Abstract

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed a rapid shift from traditional classrooms to digital learning environments. This shift has allowed for the creation of a more dynamic and interactive educational landscape. Students are now afforded learning opportunities that most of us could have only dreamed of with information and digital solutions at their fingertips. However, along with this increase in educational learning opportunities comes a distinct need for educators to continuously adapt and evolve their teaching and educational content to meet the needs of their digitally savvy student cohort. This can be a challenge as academics are often hesitant to engage with and learn new technologies and frequently lack the time to invest in developing digitally relevant material and assessments to meet the needs of the changing student cohort.

In 2022, Federation University joined collaborative forces with Adobe and launched a program for academic teaching staff titled ‘Adobe Innovation Champions Pilot program’. The aim of this program was to engage staff in innovative digital technologies to improve pedagogical outcomes in their classrooms. The program facilitated staff to bring to the table novel ideas and to learn how to use the Adobe suite of products to develop innovative solutions to teaching deficits in their classrooms.

This presentation provides an insight into the author’s engagement and experience with this program and the development of an interactive online poster presentation format from idea to delivery. It outlines how quickly digital technology can transform educational delivery and how these can be adapted and changed to meet educator and student needs. The result was an interactive online poster gallery created through Adobe XD, a software platform focused on website building.  However, with some academic creativity and lateral thinking, the Adobe XD platform was engaged with in a manner different to its intended purpose.  This saw students interact with scientific conference posters comprehensively before a presentation session, whilst also enabling the platform to be used as the poster presentation itself, resulting in seamless content delivery.