Adobe has announced the Adobe Creative Suite 5 product family (http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_v...) and its supporting educational resources.

The Creative Suite 5 line-up includes Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, Creative Suite 5 Design Premium, Creative Suite 5 Web Premium, Creative Suite 5 Production Premium and Creative Suite 5 Design Standard, as well as 15 point products, associated technologies and integration with Adobe CS Live services.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection includes all of Adobe’s Creative Suite tools with full version upgrades of stand-alone applications, including Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5, InDesign CS5, Flash Catalyst CS5, Flash Professional CS5, Dreamweaver CS5, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 and After Effects CS5. These tools are available separately or in one of the five Creative Suite editions.

The Adobe CS5 product family also enables the creation of content and applications for the releases of Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2. For more detailed information about features, including pricing options, go to http://www.adobe.com/education/products/creativesuite .

Adobe Creative Suite 5 and its associated point products are scheduled to ship within 30 days with availability through Adobe Authorized Resellers, the Adobe Store and Adobe Direct Sales. Education pricing is available. For the education market, Adobe offers flexible volume licensing programs and low pricing. The new Creative Suite 5 Student and Teacher Editions for individual home-use are expected to start at US$299. For more detailed information about educational upgrade policies and pricing, cruise on over to http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing .

Adobe curricula

Creative Suite 5 products enable students and faculty to create print, web, video, audio and mobile content and incorporate it into their assignments. For example, with the new Adobe Flash Catalyst component, building interactive content can be done without writing code. And integration with Adobe CS Live online services provides new ways to work together online and streamline the way projects get done (CS Live Services are complimentary for a limited time).

The company is offering new curricula, a certification program and learning resources to better train students and faculty in the digital communication and collaboration skills vital to 21st century employment, according to said Peter Isaacson, vice president of worldwide education for Adobe. Also, for the first time, Adobe is extending software discounts for home usage with the new Creative Suite 5 Student and Teacher Editions along with the more affordable educational license pricing offered to institutions.

To complement Creative Suite 5 software, Adobe will offer new educational resources including curricula, associate and expert certification for students and faculty, and faculty professional development. Adobe has developed three different CS5 curricula designed to help teachers implement design, web and video programs. Isaacson says these focus on the technical skills and design theory students need to be successful communicators in their fields: Digital Design: Foundations of Web Design; Visual Design: Foundations of Design and Print Production; and Digital Video: Foundations of Video Design and Production. The year-long curriculum guides will be available for free from Adobe, and will align to the standards set by The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) NETS for Students.

Educators and students can get certified for both entry-level skills as an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) and professional-level skills as an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE). Developed and deployed by Certiport and Adobe, these certifications validate a broad range of technical and communication skills when entering post-secondary schools or the workforce, Isaacson says.
Adobe will also offer CS5 online training from Total Training and on-site, instructor-led workshops through Knowledge Network Solutions.