“Generative AI tools are valuable allies in the creative process, serving as collaborative partners that can enhance rather than replace human creativity.”
Chats Devroop is a Research Professor in the Office of the Dean at Tshwane University of Technology. He oversees curriculum design, faculty performance and student academic success. He also generates and supervises research and creative output, and designs interventions to develop research capacity. He recently shared his experience of using Adobe Express and Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant withLearning Curve, an Adobe Education Elite Partner.
What’s Important to Him?
His teaching philosophy emphasises hands-on experience with industry tools, ensuring students can apply their knowledge to real-world projects and build a strong portfolio. He believes in creating experimental learning environments where students can explore emerging technologies, preparing them for a rapidly evolving job market. Additionally, he sees Generative AI tools as enhancers of creativity, capable of removing creative blocks and expanding ideas, though he emphasises that human creativity remains irreplaceable.
What are the Main Challenges?
- Ensuring student gain real-world experience
- Keeping up with evolving technologies
- Balancing accessibility with advanced functionality
- Bridging creativity with non-creative disciplines
- Preparing students for digital self-promotion
How Adobe Tools Have Helped
Professor Devroop sees Adobe Express as a powerful, accessible tool that enhances creativity and employability by equipping students with practical, transferable skills. Adobe Express has a pronounced impact on coursework. It enables students to create digital portfolios, exhibition materials, artist statements and visual narratives. Adobe Express provides value across disciplines, even in non-creative courses. He confirmed these benefits when commenting on his experiences with Adobe tools:
Can you describe your initial impressions of Adobe Express?
“It impressed me with its intuitive interface and low barrier to entry. Its templates and drag-and-drop functionality make professional-quality design accessible to users regardless of their design background while still offering enough flexibility for more advances creative work.”
What are the use cases for Adobe Express, and does the tool help build creativity in non-creative courses?
“All students can use it to create digital portfolios. In music courses, it’s useful for creating album artwork, concert posters, and programme notes. For art history, students can develop engaging visual timelines and comparative analyses of artworks.”
What are the academic benefits of using Adobe Express across subjects in non-creative courses?
“It helps students develop a professional digital presence and build skills in visual storytelling and design thinking. These capabilities are increasingly important for those who need to promote their work, apply for opportunities, and engage with audiences in our digital age.”
A Research Professor’s View on Generative Ai
In the modern workforce, AI skills are essential for hiring. According to the 2024 Work TrendIndex Annual Report, 66% of leaders say they would not hire someone without AI skills. With this in mind, Professor Devroop was well placed to answer the following question:
What are your thoughts on the use of generative AI tools?
“Generative AI tools are valuable allies in the creative process, serving as collaborative partners that can enhance rather than replace human creativity – human creativity is unique to humans. They can spark new ideas, help overcome creative blocks, and allow creators to explore possibilities they might not have considered.”
What are your future aspirations to empower student with the right skill set for employability?
“To equip students with both practical and transferable skills that extend beyond traditional academic boundaries, focusing on developing their critical thinking, digital literacy, and creative problem-solving abilities while ensuring they gain hands-on experience with current industry tools and technologies.”
A Research Professor’s Insights on Time Savings with Adobe Acrobat Ai Assistant
Knowledge workers like Professor Devroop spend significant time analysing, summarising and structuring information and face bottlenecks that slow down efficiency. The Pfeiffer Consulting research report highlights how Adobe Ai Assistant drastically accelerates traditional document tasks, making professionals nearly four times more efficient on average. Some key benchmarks include:
- Generating a marketing blog post from a 3,000 word article:
This process, which used to take 1 hour and 23 minutes, can now be completed in under 20 minutes. - Building a detailed presentation from an industry report:
Reduced from 89 minutes to 27 minutes, saving over an hour.
By integrating Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant, professionals significantly reduce time spent on repetitive, labour-intensive tasks. Professor Devroop was able to offer the following testimony:
In what ways has the Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant helped you manage large amounts of data?
“It has been transformative in helping me quickly analyse and extract key insights from large research documents and student submissions.”
How has it streamlined your lesson planning or administrative tasks?
“It has revolutionised my workflow by automating routine tasks like summarising readings and creating lesson outlines.”
How has it helped you better handle academic documents, research papers, or student submissions?
“The Ai assistant smartly extracts key information from academic papers and synthesises main arguments, saving me countless hours when reviewing literature or assessing student work.”
Conclusion
With Adobe Express, Professor Devroop has enhanced student creativity and employability by equipping them with practical, transferable skills. With Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant, he has accelerated research workflows, enhanced document organisation and analysis, and reduced cognitive overload. When asked if he would recommend Adobe’s tools to other Deans and Researchers, he says, “I fully recommend them, as their time-saving features are invaluable for managing and deriving insights from extensive research materials.”
His experience working with Learning Curve has been overwhelmingly positive: “Learning Curve is superb. Their presentations are concise, well-informed, and short enough to keep my attention span.”
By integrating Adobe Express, colleges and universities can ensure that students and faculty spend less time struggling with design tools and more time focusing on creativity, storytelling, and impactful communication.