Funny that you say that.
Its true. I teach flash (intro timeline stuff and actionscript) in NYC.
Since I teach at art schools one of the challenges is to get people who are very visual to start thinking in code.

When they do, it opens up a whole new world for them and most of the love it.

The schools sometimes dont have the money to promote the classes as much as they should. Even though its a win-win-win for the schools, students and teachers.
...russ

I agree with you both and I also know about the ColdFusion shortages as well. You just get colleges that won't teach core Adobe products. Or in the case of Flash they get put in the Art department as a graphic design tool for the web. I think that Flash should be taught from a programming perspective as well, not just an animation tool. With all of the RIA's that are appearing online, it seems like someone would wake up.

Adobe is all about selling licenses of their products, but they need to focus on the users and the potential new users that are still in college. I think they should give copies of software away to students.

We are in a bad bad shortage right now in the industry. With no schools churning out new RIA developers, you only have the people currently in the market. So the shortage is only going to get worse and worse. Eventually it will lead to people having to turn down work, because there is only so much people can do.

I have over 8 years of experience with Flash and ColdFusion, but what I learned was because I taught myself. I would have killed for a program where I went to college that offered Flash Programming classes.

I think the biggest problem with Flash/AS right now is exactly the fact that many places don't see it as a platform worth teaching. It's still sitting on this line between technology and design so people tend to overlook it too easily.

Incidentally, I'm teaching Flash at my college and even though they do try to keep ahead of the curve - they have Python, C#, and all that on their tech curriculum - they don't even think about actually teaching ActionScript on the tech courses. They just have a few "Flash" (IDE) classes for the Design students.

One funny thing is that I have even found online someone that is teaching flash programming to high school students, which I think is great. Getting students thinking about Flash early is great. The school that it is as taught at leaves something to be desired since it is an art school and it appears to be an after school program.

I would think trying to have an actual class in high schools would be harder than trying to get a class at a college about flash. Most of the time you will find maybe one computer class in a high school and that will be it.

http://www.jbum.com/flashstuff.html

Speaking to the part about support from Adobe, what I would like to see is Adobe creating example Syllabi and somehow giving their stamp of approval on classes that followed their Syllabi. After getting course credit you would also be given credit in some sort of "Adobe University". They could push this through advertising, etc as a way to become recognized in the community.

Accumulate enough credits with the "Adobe University" and you could become a community expert, etc. I know that Adobe does offer classes through vendors on their own, but they miss out on the accreditation that a university gives. This would also give the universities a chance to select what Adobe technologies they wanted to teach each semester.

This way you could graduate college with not only a degree, but with a stamp of approval from Adobe saying that you have taken certified courses in Flash, RIA's, ColdFusion, etc. making you a RIA expert or something along those lines.

I think if Adobe made more of an attempt to give materials like this to universities that they would be more than willing to teach the certified programs and give better opportunities to their students.

I would think trying to have an actual class in high schools would be harder than trying to get a class at a college about flash. Most of the time you will find maybe one computer class in a high school and that will be it

Your comment about the number of comp labs in high schools is more accurate than you think. It's even kind of sad, I went to high school in the mid 80's and there was one comp lab (brand new commodore PETs for those of you that remember). So it appears that things have not changed significantly with regards to number of computers per student. What has changed is the number of applications per comp. Actionscript is only one of many apps out there (one of the few progs that actually has potential, mind you). At what point do you draw the line and say "we'll go with this". AS is not an industry standard, it's preferred by many developers but it's still only a small segment - and one that I would like to see grow. I personally think that Flash is an excellent tool for delivering online training. My office is moving more and more to Flash based online traing (I work at a rather well-known Canadian University).

Cheers,

I want to second Anthony's invitation to visit the Web and Digital Media Development (WDMD) website at UW-Stevens Point (http://wdmdsrv1.uwsp.edu/wdmd/main/main.html). My role in the WDMD program is to teach visual design, information design, and print/web production in the WDMD curriculum. I specifically teach Adobe Photoshop, ImageReady, Bridge, and Illustrator. This program teaches a very effective blend of technical/programming AND client- and user-centered design skills.

thanks

Many thinks.i want to learn some flash...:)

"What I have been considering more and more is approaching colleges to get them involved in the future"

so jeff ... eighteen months on, did you go approach them?

any followup?