August 1, 2006 – Yesterday, Adobe Systems Inc. and computer manufacturer Lenovo announced their partnership to offer Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Premiere Elements 2.0 in Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCentre desktops, which are to be sold to schools in the U.S.
The two companies plan to market the Lenovo computers featuring Adobe’s editing software to schools ranging from K-12 as well as colleges and universities. This software-computer partnership represents the need for digital photo and video editing programs in schools, preparing students for what Adobe vice president Eugene Lee calls “essential 21st century digital skills,” in today’s press release from Adobe. Students will be able to combine their lessons with multimedia, through photo essays and video book reports, according to the release.
"Students live in a universe filled with highly visual mediums such as video games, computers, portable DVD players and camera phones. By bringing those mediums to the classroom, digital images and video allow for more creative and engaging outlets for expression of new ideas and concepts," said Lee.
For educators who fear that Photoshop will replace pencils or that laptops will replace blackboards, Lenovo and Adobe offer product tours and sample plans to help familiarize them with the product.
Lenovo will also offer Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements in their IBM 1:1 program. In a partnership with IBM, the computer initiative offers one computer per student and teacher pair in schools K-12 and colleges and universities.
