- Donovan Baltich, Chad Burton, Esther

Cabrera,
Joshua Jamias, Alice Law

TABLE OF
CONTEXT
Executive summary3
Introduction..4
Background research.4
Qualitative research and analysis16
Strategic recommendations..24
Conclusion...26
Appendix:

In-depth interview
transcripts27

Copy of survey...47
Descriptive statistics, breakdown for survey.....49

Executive Summary
There are several different types of people who teach classes that
prepare students to take Adobe Certification Tests. Many have positive
things to say as well as suggestions that would make their experience
with Certiport better.
Our survey showed that 68 percent of instructors are female. 43
percent of instructors were between the ages of 41 and 60. A majority
of instructors have a masters degree while 41 percent have a
bachelors degree. The vast majority of instructors are white/Caucasian
and few are Hispanic/Latino or black/African American.
It showed that 43 percent of instructors made the decision to offer the
classes themselves, which was the highest answer. It shows that
mostly individuals decide to offer the classes instead of school districts
or boards of education. Though 63 percent replied that the district
administrator pays for it.
82 percent of those surveyed said they do their instruction at public
schools. Adobes website and emails are the most used resources in
staying up to date, but research also showed that Lynda.com and
YouTube could be replaced if Certiport or Adobe had services that
rivaled them.
The best channels to reach instructors were clear. 67 percent of
instructors prefer to be contacted either monthly or quarterly. A vast
majority of instructors prefer to be contacted by their work email,
followed by postal mail, then by work phone. YouTube and Facebook
were the most popular social media sites.
From the research, we have several strategic recommendations. The
descriptions of each can be found on page 24, but they are: (1) update
the instructor database, (2) provide information about the benefits of
ACA certification, (3) create an online forum where ACA Instructors can
collaborate, share resources, etc., (4) market directly to ACA
instructors and CTE administrators, (5) market the ACA certification
more toward young public school teachers, (6) communicate with
instructors via their work emails once a month and inform them of
updates, (7) create stronger social media presence on Facebook,
LinkedIn and Adobe Youth Voices, (8) offer a badge for LinkedIn, (9)

provide course curriculum and study guide materials, (10) offer flexible
buying options for vouchers, and (11) alter the test format.
Through the research, it can be seen how we reached those
conclusions, what instructors are pleased with, and what they would
like to see more of.

Introduction
The company Certiport provides tests for its clients so they can prove
their capacity at some of Adobes products. If the clients pass the tests,
they can become certified in software such as Photoshop, InDesign
and Illustrator.
Certiport would like to better understand its client base. How is the
company meeting the clients needs? How can it better meet their
needs? What are the demographics of their key clients?
This research first gives a background on how Certiport has catered to
its clients in the past. In the background we show the questions that
guided our research throughout the project. After the background,
there is some raw data of surveys completed by ACA instructors
throughout the United States as well as analysis of what that data
means. Finally, some strategic recommendations will be given on how
Certiport could serve its clients even better.
The research will show that Certiport currently targets its clients well,
but there are several common things the clients are requesting that
could make the company even better.

Background
Purpose
The purpose of this research project is to help Certiport identify buyer
personas to increase marketing efforts effectiveness toward digital
media teachers and ultimately increase Adobe Certified Associate
sales. Certiport designed an Adobe Certified Associate Educator
Program and its advertising to two groups of people: (1) teachers who

will be offering ACA certification in their classrooms, and (2) high

school students who will be taking the courses.
Although the Adobe Certified Associate program is worldwide, Certiport
is only concerned about teachers and test-takers within the U.S.
Instructors do not have to be Adobe Certified Instructors in order to
teach students the Adobe Certified Associate program, although the
additional certification does have further benefits.
Research Questions
Below are the research questions used as guiding points to accomplish
the purpose of helping Certiport identify buyer personas to increase
Adobe Certified Associate sales.

What is an ACI or ACA?

What certifications are offered by Certiport?
Who is taking the certification tests?
How has digital media changed the way people teach?
What are the costs of certification courses?
Demographics of instructors?
What kinds of schools offer Adobe classes?

Methodology
The process used to collect information and data in helping Certiport
identify buyer personas to increase Adobe Certified Associate sales
includes publication research, surveys, interviews and other techniques
using primary and secondary research.
About Certiport
Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, prepares individuals with current
and relevant digital skills and credentials for the competitive global
workforce. These solutions are delivered by more than 12,000 Certiport
Centers worldwide and include the official Microsoft Office certification
program, the Microsoft Technology Associate certification program, the
Adobe Certified Associate certification program, the Adobe
Certified Expert program, the HP Accredited Technical Associate, the
CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals, the Autodesk Certified User
certification program, the Intuit QuickBooks Certified User
certification program and the IC3 Digital Literacy certification.
Certiport Executives:

Certiport has five executives at the top the company:

Robert Whelan, President and Chief Executive Officer
Kevin Brice, Chief Strategy Officer
Craig Bushman, Vice President, Marketing
Neill Hopkins, Vice President, Global Operations
Rob Moore, Vice President, Client Services
Company statistics:

Certiport delivers exams in 148 countries and 27 languages

Roughly 250,000 exams are administered monthly through a
network of more than 12,000 Certiport Authorized Testing
Centers worldwide.
Certiport works with more than 400 Subject Matter Experts in 20
countries to ensure exam objectives are consistent with market
needs.
Microsoft Office Specialist-the official certification program for
the Microsoft Office-was created and launched by Certiport in
1997.
Certiport IC3-the worlds premier performance-based digital
literacy certification-was launched in 2002.
Certiport became the Microsoft launch partner for the Microsoft
Business Certification program in January 2007, which houses the
latest standards for the official 2007 Microsoft Office
certifications.
Adobe partnered with Certiport to launch Adobe Certified
Associate-the leading certification for validating entry-level
digital communications skills-in June 2007 into educational
markets around the world.
Certiport expanded its programs to introduce a pathway of
learning solutions leading to certification, beginning with
Certiprep for Microsoft Office Certification in 2005 and Internet
and Computing Benchmark/Internet and Computing Mentor in
2006.
Since 2002, over 750,000 students have participated in both the
Certiport Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office and the IC3
World Cup competitions.
In July 2010, Certiport introduced the Microsoft Technology
Associate (MTA) certification program to the global academic
market; a landmark certification that validates students
fundamental IT and software development knowledge and serves
as a stepping stone to advanced technology level certifications.

In 2011, Certiport expanded its certification portfolio to include

industry verticals by introducing the Autodesk Certified User
certification program and Intuit QuickBooks Certified User exam/
Certiport acquired MeasureUp LLC, the global leader in IT
practice tests and assessment services, in order to offer a full
range of solutions to support the entire certification lifecycle
including study materials, practice exams and certifications.
In May 2012 Pearson VUE, the computer-based testing arm of
Pearson, acquired Certiport. Certiport continues to operate
independently and deliver on the companys partner-focused
business plan, with oversight from Pearson VUE.

Certiport test delivery statistics

Certiport has a growing international presence which is evident in its
certification statistics. Certiport has administered more than 15 million
exams around the world due to accelerated growth. The certification
company has surpassed 3 million exams delivered in a single calendar
year to reach the 5-million-exam milestone in February 2007 and the
10-million-exam milestone in June 2011. Certiport administers about
8,220 exams per day on average. 8,220 exams per day breaks down to
342 exams administered every hour or an exam delivered every 10
seconds.
Certiports certification exams have been translated into 25 different
languages. The most popular languages in order are English, Korean,
Arabic, Japanese and Spanish.
Top ten states currently off ering certifi cation are (in order):
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. New York
4. California
5. North Carolina
6. Virginia
7. Ohio
8. Illinois
9. Louisiana
10. Utah

Marketing methods
Certiport has turned to a number of methods to reach out to teachers
for marketing purposes including:

Email campaigns
7

Direct Mail campaigns

Weekly Newsletters
Social Media
Tradeshows
Web banners
Webcasts
Success Stories (printed and videos)
Classroom materials (curriculum, lesson plans, posters, etc.)
Student Competitions (ACA World Championship)

Top five selling points

1. ACA certification prepares students with a recognizable
credential to enter the workforce and fulfill their interests.
(college and career readiness)
2. ACA certification enhances the digital media skills of faculty and
staff, and helps teachers incorporate technology in their teaching
methods to improve learning outcomes for students.
3. The full ACA certification pathway of materials arms educators
with a full Adobe solution to structure their classroom and meet
standards and objectives set by school districts, state and federal
education systems. (the full solution includes a combination of
Learn>Practice>Certify resources)
4. ACA certification provides students with a validation beyond their
digital media portfolio that certifies a depth of knowledge in the
cutting-edge use of software tools and ensures their aptitude to
complete a broad range of projects and assignments
5. ACA certification meets the growing market trend for digital
media skills in the workforce impacting the intuitions offerings
and it also closes the divide between the skills emerging
students may have and the actual skills that todays workforce
demands.
Certiport Research Methodology
Certiport receives its information from both internal, primary research
and secondary sources.
Internal research is accomplished via:
Formal phone-based and in-person persona interviews
Win/Loss interviews
Interactions at tradeshows and similar events
Periodic surveys launched via our weekly newsletters to our
testing centers (typically academic classrooms).

Social media feedback (Facebook, Twitter)

Anecdotal information gleaned from our direct sales force
Tracking activity and responses to marketing campaigns
Success story interviews/videotaping of current customers

External (secondary) research is accomplished via:

Information gleaned from the client (i.e. Adobe) based on their
own research (which is typically tied to the product itself, not
necessarily tied specifically to teachers of certification)
o Adobe has a terrific collaboration site for educators
called the Adobe Education Exchange and there is often
information for/about teachers who focus on
certification
Research studies launched by other entities, such as:
o Floridas Career and Professional Education group
(CAPE)
o State and National Career and Technical Education (CTE)
organizations
o State Departments of Education
o U.S. Department of Education
Other organizations and media/publications and associated
websites focused on the education space, such as:
o Agile Education Marketing
o THE Journal (Transforming Education Through
Technology)
o District Administration Magazine
o AASA The School Superintendents Association
o NRC CTE National Research Center for Career and
Technical Education
Schools that teach Adobe software:
A wide-range of schools (both typical public schools as well as more
specialized technical and graphic design schools) offer Adobe classes,
as the applications that comprise the Adobe Creative Cloud are often
the de facto standard in numerous digital media disciplines. If a school
is providing education in digital media, chances are very high that they
are using some aspect of Adobe Creative Cloud.
A list

of schools that offer Adobe classes:

Public high schools
Magnet high schools
Charter high schools
Technical high schools
9

Vocational technical education schools

Community colleges
Polytechnic colleges

Current Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) profile examples:

Vickie Roge

Key Attributes

Job
Responsibility/Foc
us

Influence/Impact

Teacher/Instructor/Team Leader and

Technology Chair
South Texas Independent School District
Secondary Education
Female: 30-40 years old
Education: Bachelors, Masters
5 years at current school; 6 years at a
previous school
Reports to the principal of her school,
Maggy Guitieze
BETA is a magnet school. This means that
students from a three-county area can
attend the school. BETA offers course
specializations in: Medical Technology,
Science, Business Education Technology.
Vickies job is to establish the curriculum for
the Business Education Technology track.
She understands that technology is a
quickly growing and quick-changing field.
She recognizes that students must have
strong business-technology skills in order to
compete in college and in the work place.
She develops curriculum that develops
those skills and give students a strong
credential to market themselves with.
Vickie has a large amount of influence in
the decisions regarding tech-ed at her
school. She works closely with the school
principal. The principal has the final
approval in decisions, but Vickie stated that
the principal trusts here recommendations.
Vickie moved to BETA a few years ago from
another school. Shortly after leaving that
school, it decided to implement ACA as
well. This was a direct result of Vickies

10

Goals/Priorities

Values

influence. Later, the teachers that the

previous school were required to become
ACA certified. The reached out to Vickie for
instruction. With Vickies tutoring, all of the
teachers received their certification.
Vickie was aware of the ACA program when
she contacted Certiport. She said the
process to get ACA in here school was very
easy and painfree. She said that all of the
Certiport people she has worked with have
been very helpful, and it seemed like she
was working with a friend.
BETA also offers CIW certification. It works
well for her, but she really likes Certiports
process.
To quote Vickie: ...people are hungry for
what Certiport offers. She takes this very
seriously and has developed a strong
program to provide students with the
opportunity to get ACA certified.
Vickie is working to help students to be
prepared and confident at graduation. She
helps them learn how to perform the tasks
to be successful at graphics, video, and
animation.
Vickie recently brought in a guest-speaker
from IBM to speak to her students. She said
that here students understood the concepts
and ideas that this IBM person shared with
them. They understood terms like cloud
computing, and design concepts because
they had learned them in class. The
students were able to hold a meaningful
discussion with this tech professional.
Vickie said that there are about 550
students in the tech-ed program. Of those,
about 75-80% achieve ACA certification.
Vickie said that one of the key ways that
Certiport can influence the adoption of ACA,
or any of Certiports programs, is to reach
out to the councilors at her school and
convince them of the value of certification.
She said many of these councilors are non-

11

Pain Points

technical and do not understand what

technical certifications like ACA are. But, if
they can be educated about it, they will see
the value and begin recommending it more
to students.
Vickie works with department chairs from
the three campuses that comprise her
district. Together they determine which
programs to pursue and help coordinate
curriculum.
Funding is always a pain point. Vickie learns
which programs are authorized in the Texas
CTE program. ACA is one of those courses,
she pursues it because funding is available.
For every three students that enroll in the
ACA program, her school receives funding
dollars for four students. This helps to
provide funding that she needs.

Motivators

Vickie is motivated by helping students. She

realizes that the work and college world is
very competitive. She is passionate about
helping her students learn and develop
skills that they can take with them in life.

Validators

Vickie, and the other teachers at BETA, do a

lot of research in to what technologies are
new and evolving. She understands what
trends are developing, then she traces
backwards which industries are searching
for workers with these skills.
This helps her know if her curriculum is on
track or needs to be adjusted. She also
pays a lot of attention to what national
media is saying and writing. This includes
sources like US News and World Report,
CNN, Fox News. Because these outlets have
such huge influence, she sees the
correlation between their reports and what
industries are doing.

Information
Sources

Vickie used to attend trade shows and

events, but has not attended one for a
while. She does a lot of research on
technology blogs, and webpages. She also

12

reads trade publications and watches

technology news sites.
She follows CNET, podcasts and a couple of
technology experts: Leo Laporte and John
Varick
She also uses social media.

Denece Spence

Teacher
Dunbar High School, Ft. Myers, FL.
Secondary Education

Key Attributes

Female, 30-40 years

15+ years teaching, 6 years at current.
Masters, Bachelors, Associates, multiple
certifications including ACA DW and MOS:
Power
Point, Excel, Word, Outlook.
Adobe Education Leader.
Reports to principal.

Job
Responsibility/Foc
us

Influence/Impact

Magnet Grant technology lead teacher.

Business Technology department head.
She manages two certification programs at
Dunbar:
The Academy for Technology Excellence
(MS-based)
The Academy for Digital Excellence (Adobebased)
Denece is an Adobe Education Leader. She
works directly with Adobe and attends
education tradeshows, working in the
Adobe booth. She will be attending ISTE in
San Diego in June.
She presents at conferences and is a
contributor to the National Career and
Technical Education Foundation (NCTEF).
She also collaborates with Microsoft on the
College and Career Readiness Program.
Deneces influence is strong in the Lee
Country school district. Serves as a
resource to other teachers.
Her school had what Deneces refers to as

13

Goals/Priorities

Values

Pain Points

Motivators

boring IT stuff programs, such as

CompTIA A+, Cisco Associate and
Technician, MSCSE, and MSDSE.
Dunbar does not offer IC3 certification but
Denece would like to see it offered at the
middle school level.
Denece wanted a creative option too so she
began building and teaching Adobe-based
courses with the Adobe Certified Expert
program.
She adopted ACA later and now the
program has 150-200 students enrolled
each semester.
Adobe is very supportive of Denece and
gave her school a full-campus site license.
Other schools received a discount but no
free licenses.
Dunbar High School was the first in Lee
County to offer ACA certification.
Her principal is also a grant writer. This
helps to support her certification programs.
District approval is still required.
Deneces ACA program has about an 85%90% certification rate.
About 25%-30% of students do not pass on
the first attempt and require a second or
third attempt.
All instructors are certified in the program
they teach and they all drive toward the
success of the students.
Instructors provide time for students to
take Certiprep practice tests and the
instructors realize that not all students are
ready at the same time.
Funding is a problem. The State of Florida
pays for student certification based on a
point system.
Points are awarded based on the number of
students enrolled in state-certified courses.
The maximum amount that can be received
is $1,200 per student.
Denece is an excellent example of a
14

dedicated educator. Her enthusiasm and

passion for helping students is obvious and
contagious.
Validators

Information
Sources

Pete Epipsco

Key Attributes

Job
Responsibility/Foc
us

Denece has helped shape the digital

training at Dunbar High School, as well as
other schools.
Her work with Adobe and Microsoft are
testaments to her commitment.
Tradeshows/events: ISTE, FETC
Advisory rolls: NCTEF, CCRP, Magnet
Schools of America
Working directly with technology providers
such as Adobe, Microsoft, CompTIA
Social networking, vendor web sites,
publications

Teacher/Instructor
Viera High School, Brevard County School
District
Secondary Education
Male; 25-35 years old
Education: Bachelors, Working on Masters
7 years at current school; Worked in the
digital design/graphic design industry
before becoming a school teacher.
Reports to the principal.
Pete was in the graphics design/illustrations
industry prior to becoming a high school
teacher.
He is on the Communication Technology
Task Force. On this task force he set
curriculum for his school.
When he came to Viera HS, it was a brand
new school and did not have a digital
design program. Pete created his own
design program curriculum before ACA
came out.
He recognized the need for and value of
providing students with training in digital

15

design products, such as Adobe Photoshop.

Influence/Impact

Goals/Priorities

When Pete came to Viera, the school did

not have a digital art program. He built the
first program based on the Adobe Certified
Expert program.
After Pete had been teaching for a while,
the ACA program was released. He adopted
the ACA program.
The buying process for Pete was extremely
easy. His school district contacted Certiport
and purchased a site license for the first
year, then renewed the site license the
following year.
The program originally consisted of only
Photoshop.
This program quickly became very popular
so the Principal of Viera High School
provided funding to double it. Later, Flash,
Dreamweaver, and Premier Pro were added
but Photoshop remains the most popular.
Pete and the head of Brevard County
Schools CTE department toured a facility
called Full Sail.
This had an impact on the CTE director
resulting in funding for Viera to build a
state-of-theart studio with $270K in funding that was
left of after the school was built.
The programs are now divided so that
Freshman and Sophomore get PhotoShop,
InDesign, and Illustrator training.
Juniors and Seniors are eligible for Flash,
DreamWeaver, and Premier Pro.
Pete Episcopo is well-respected at Viera
High School and by Adobe Corporation.
He serves on the Adobe Education Leader
program and is often asked by Adobe to
attend conferences and work in Adobes
booth at trade shows.
The CTE Director that had supported Viera,
Margaret Lewis, has retired, but her
replacement, Janice Sholz, is equally
supportive.

16

Values

Viera is often approached by area

businesses to ask if students can assist in
design work.
This is often presented in the form of a
contest.
Pete Episcopo has also created the
Academy for Digital Arts and Media (ADAM).
ADAM has become a well-known program
for training students to advance and grow
their digital career futures.
Pete is very dedicated to his job and to his
students. Each year he purchases his
students a gift from his own money.
Last year he purchased a flat screen
television with full surround sound.

Pain Points

Petes experience in implementing ACA has

been fairly easy. He has had advocates that
support the program and have made
funding available.

Motivators

Pete tells a story about a former student

that was a troubled youth. This student
became
ACA certified in Photo Shop. After high
school, the student joined the U.S. Air
Force.
While stationed overseas, this student had
the opportunity to apply his PS training.
He was approached by the Red Cross and
asked to join their organization after his
enlistment in the Air Forces was complete.

Information
Sources

Pete is a member of the Adobe Education

Expert program.
He is considered an expert and strong
resource for ACA certification.
He often participates in trade shows with
Adobe, working in their booth as a
certification expert and an advocate to
speak to other high school teachers.

17

Quantitative Research and

Analysis
BYU students from the Bradley Public Relations Agency conducted a
survey for Pearson VUEs Certiport to gain insight on the personas of
Adobe Certified Associate instructors. The survey was administered on
Qualtrics and distributed through three main channels: Certiports ACA
instructor database, ACAs LinkedIn group and ACAs Facebook group.
The survey included 27 questions regarding demographics, contact
preferences, student pass/fail rates, etc. One hundred eighty-five ACA
instructors responded to the survey.
Survey Description
The Bradley Public Relations COMMS 318 class spent two hours
brainstorming questions for the survey. The four survey group leaders
then met to organize, eliminate and standardize the questions before
submitting the draft to Professor Blake Stowell.
Professor Stowell reviewed the survey draft, made changes and gave
his students a digital copy for them to sample the survey with two
individuals to ensure quality control. Students met together and
discussed suggested changes. Twenty-seven questions made the final
cut and were inputted and published online via Qualtrics.
The invitation sent and posted on the ACA LinkedIn and Facebook
groups incentivized users to respond by offering a chance to enter a
drawing to receive one of four $25 Visa gift cards. Many users who
were not ACA instructors were bound to answer the survey, so the first
question was used to eliminate those who were not instructors. Survey
participants who said they werent ACA instructors were booted from
the survey and their email addresses were recorded to prevent them
from reentering and responding with Yes.
Sampling methodology
Outreach to ACA instructors was limited. All three possible channels of
outreach were used, including emailing everyone in Certiports ACA
instructor database and inviting instructors to participate via posts on
the Facebook and LinkedIn ACA groups.
Sample size
18

The final sample size was 185 respondents. Two hundred eighteen
people began the survey, but 33 respondents were booted, including
nine who are not ACA instructors, 12 who were previously but are no
longer ACA instructors, 11 that are not but plan to become ACA
instructors and one other.
Demographics
Sixty-eight percent of instructors are female versus 36 percent who are
male. Forty-three percent of instructors were between the ages of 41
and 60. A majority of instructors have a masters degree while 41
percent have a bachelors degree. The vast majority of instructors are
white/Caucasian and few are Hispanic/Latino or black/African American.
Survey Analysis
1. What is your email address?
This question was asked in order to prevent participants who said
they were not ACA instructors from reentering the survey after
being booted and it was used to contact the four winners of the
$25 Visa gift cards.
2. Are you currently an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) Instructor?
Survey respondents who answered no were booted from the
survey. Thirty-three were booted, but 185 submitted a completed
survey.
3. How long have you been teaching digital media/Adobe products?
The answer to this question indicates that most instructors teach
Adobe products for the long-run. It also indicates that few
teachers are currently entering the field of digital media
instruction.

4. How long have you had your ACA certification?

19

Older instructors with more experience teaching ACA are less

likely to have their own ACA certification. Thirty-six percent of
instructors have taught ACA/Adobe products for more than eight
years, but only 4 percent of all instructors have had their own
ACA certification for more than eight years. (Compare with #3)

5. How long have you had your Adobe Certified Instructor

certification?
The vast majority of ACA instructors do not have an Adobe
Certified Instructor certification. Only 33 percent of instructors do
have their ACI certification.

6. Who decided to offer an ACA class in your school? (check all that
apply)
Those who had the power to decide who would implement ACA
certification in schools were spread all over the table. Forty-three
percent made the decision themselves and the next biggest
group was other. Those that responded with other were asked
to fill in who specifically made the decision. Sixteen of 51
respondents cited CTE personnel and 19 of 51 respondents cited
district/county personnel.

20

7. How long have you been an ACA instructor?

This question built on #3, How long have you been teaching
digital media/Adobe products? It adds more specificity. It differs
with #3 in that most instructors have been teaching ACA
certification for three to six years versus most teachers who have
been teaching Adobe products have been doing it for seven or
more years.
8. Who in your organization makes decisions on digital media
certification exam funding?
This question builds on #6, but with a focus on funding. The
district administrator is the most likely to direct these funds,
followed by the instructor him/herself. The vast majority who
answered other specified that it was CTE personnel who
decided.

9. Why did you decide to prepare your students to take ACA

certification exams?
Respondents were asked to check all the reasons that applied,
thus more than 185 responses were recorded. Eighty-two percent
teach ACA to provide career opportunities for their students.

10.
In which school(s) do you teach ACA?
Eighty-two percent of these digital media instructors teach at
public schools and 13 percent at technical schools. The rest of
the respondents were spread sparsely among magnet schools,
charter schools, vocational schools, community colleges,
polytechnic colleges, 4-year universities and other.
11.
How do you stay up-to-date with Adobe products?
Adobes website and emails are the most used resources in
staying up to date. Lynda.com and YouTube could be replaced if
Certiport or Adobe had services that rivaled them.
21

12.
How often do you prefer to be contacted by the
certification exam providers?
Sixty-seven percent of instructors prefer to be contacted either
monthly or quarterly and the remaining 33 percent are spread
more or less evenly over preferences: yearly, weekly, daily and I
dont want to be contacted.
13.
What type of information would be useful to receive about
ACA certifications?
Instructors were asked to briefly describe what kind of
information theyd like to received about the ACA certification.
Their responses are broken down below:
29 percent want news of updates/changes to the test
61 percent want more/better test preparation material
14.
Choose your preferred method of being contacted by
ranking the following list in order of preference (1 being their
first choice and 8 being their last choice).
A vast majority of instructors prefer to be contacted by their
work email, followed by postal mail, then by work phone. The last
ways they want to be contacted is via their own cell phone/house
phone and by text message.

15.
Select the top three social media channels that you use
most
22

Facebook and YouTube dominate instructors social media usage.

YouTube is an interesting response, as its not used in the
traditional ways that Facebook and Twitter are used. Some
instructors use YouTube to create additional study material for
their students.

16.
Rank these top three media channels in order of
importance.
Facebook and YouTube dominated instructors social media
priorities.
17.
How many students do you teach per semester per class?
The average ACA instructor teaches a class of 25 students. The
biggest class size recorded was 40 students.
18.
On average, how many of those students take the ACA
certification exam?
An average of 19.71 out of 25 students will take the ACA exam
following their course. That means about 20 percent of students
who take the ACA preparation class dont ever take the exam.
19.
On average, how many of those students pass the ACA
certification exam?
Instructors responded that only 58 percent of their students who
attempt the exam, pass it.
20.
Do you feel you have benefited from your ACA
certification? If so briefly describe how.
Seventy-six percent of instructors feel theyve benefited from the
ACA certification versus 8 percent who say they have not.
Sixteen percent are not certified. Respondents that said no
explained that a strong portfolio is much more valuable than a
certification and that they hadnt seen study results that show
that the certification benefits students in any way.

23

21.
Where do you find your teaching curriculum?
Most instructors create their own curriculum whereas only 37
percent use material from companies that administer the exams.

Additional analysis on #21: Isolating instructors responses to

look the success rates they have with individual preparation
material shows statistically significant results. Although only 34
percent of instructors use material from certification exam
providers to teach their students, 65.86 percent of their students
pass the exam. Those that use other materials have only 44.26
percent of their students pass.

22.
Please identify the Adobe programs that you teach as part
of your ACA instruction?
Adobe Photoshop is the most emphasized ACA program in place
at schools and Premiere is the least emphasized.

24

23.
Which Adobe programs do you use outside of teaching?
(Check all that apply.)
Adobe Photoshop is also the most commonly used tool by
instructors outside of the classroom with 91 percent usage. The
next most used program is Adobe InDesign, but usage jumps
down to 53 percent.
24.
What is your gender?
Sixty-four percent of instructors are female versus 36 percent
who are male.
25.
What is your age?
Instructors ages are spread across the board, but a majority are
between the ages of 46 and 50.
26.
What is your Ethnicity origin (or Race)?
Seventy-percent of instructors are white or Caucasian, 11
percent are Hispanic or Latino and 5 percent are black or African
American. Three percent are either Native American, mixed race
or other and 5 percent preferred not to answer the question.
27.
What is the highest degree or level of school you have
completed? If currently enrolled, highest degree received.
ACA instructors are generally very well educated, with some
even having doctoral degrees. Forty-one percent have a
bachelors degree and 51 percent have a masters degree.

25

Quantitative Analysis Wrap-up

Class size average of 25 students

70 percent of instructors are ages 41-60
64 percent of instructors are female
78 percent of instructors are white/Caucasian
67 percent of instructors are not ACI certified
41 percent have a bachelors degree, 51% have masters
degree
43 percent of ACA instructors made the decision themselves
to offer an ACA class in their school.
76 percent of instructors feel they have benefited from the
certification
80 percent of instructors students take the exam versus 20
percent who dont
58 percent of those students pass versus 42 percent who fail
Students who were taught from a curriculum provided by the
Certification Exam Providers had a 65.86 percent pass rate,
whereas students who weren't taught by a curriculum
provided by their Certification Exam Providers had a 54.18
percent pass rate.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Real life application
Certification is valued
Leading certification
program
Pearson as parent company
(credibility)
Global market coverage
Relationship with Adobe

Opportunities
Market to younger
instructors
Online forum
Online review/feedback
(SEO)
Social media expansion
Expand material (online,
textbooks)

Weaknesses
Brand confusion
Behind on updates
Database
Test is expensive
Voucher expires in one year
Lacking ACA curriculum or

Threats
Curriculum providers
assigning badges
(lynda.com, LinkedIn)
School budget constraints
Aging instructors nearing
retirement
Certiport has low social
26

test prep
Network and administration
problems

media activity

Strategic Recommendations
1. Filter the database.
When we attempted to contact the ACA instructors in order to conduct indepth interviews with the information given to us from the database, we found
that many of the contacts were not ACA instructors. Many were not
associated with ACA at all. Certiport should develop an accurate and current
instructor database for future contact use.

2. Provide information about the benefits of ACA certification

Many instructors expressed their concerns on the importance of ACA
certification. They do not know how it is recognized in the work place.
Providing instructors information on the benefits of ACA certification can
increase their willingness to promote the certificate to their students.

3. Create an online forum where ACA Instructors can

collaborate, share resources, etc.
Currently, ACA instructors do not have a common forum where they can
share their experiences and resources. They dont know what other
instructors are doing. Certiport can create an online platform for the
instructors to share resources and for software and test updates. This could
include collaboration from instructors who share teaching resources to
achieve a better testing outcome.

4. Market directly to ACA instructors and CTE administrators

Our research indicated that instructors themselves and CTE administrators
had the power to make the decision to bring the ACA program to their
schools. Teachers themselves, even when not the final decision maker, are
influential in the process of getting ACA in their schools.

5. Market the ACA certification more toward young public

school teachers

27

Looking at the results of our survey, we found that most ACA instructors are
about 50 to 60 years old. Certiport should market the certification to younger
school teachers so there wont be an instructor vacuum when older teachers
retire.

6. Communicate with instructors via their work emails once a

month and inform them of updates
Many of the instructors expressed that they are not receiving updates of the
certificate and the Adobe products on a regular basis. They do not know
where they can receive a uniform information on the test and products.
Certiport can start communicating instructors regarding the updates on the
test and products after Certiport has filtered its database.

7. Create stronger social media presence on Facebook,

LinkedIn and Adobe Youth Voices
Involvement from Certiport on both the Facebook and LinkedIn groups and
Adobe Youth Voices is an untapped resource. Certiport has the opportunity to
engage with instructors and students alike to show them the benefits of ACA
and make announcements.

8. Offer a badge for LinkedIn

Certiport can partner with LinkedIn to offer a badge for people who are ACA
certified on LinkedIn. Candidates will consider the badge as a recognition for
their work and will offer them greater employment opportunities.

9. Provide course curriculum and study guide materials

Instructors are using different course materials and they do not have a fixed
curriculum of the test. Certiport can provide course curriculum for the
teachers so they know what to teach. One of the biggest challenges for ACA
instructors and students is the unknown nature of the test. With the course
curriculum, instructors will know what to teach and students will be better
prepared for the test.

10. Offer flexible buying options for vouchers

Many instructors are frustrated with the buying options for test vouchers. They
say a large number of their vouchers expire before they can be used. Theyd
like to see either a reduction in the cost of vouchers, different sized bundles
or longer expiration dates.

11. Alter the test format

Many instructors stated that they would like to see some changes on the
format on the test. They want the test to be more skill-based rather than

28

simply multiple-choice question based. They expressed the test should test
students knowledge of program shortcuts. Certiport should consider
changing the format of the exam.

Conclusion
Certiport does a good job of meeting its clients needs. However, if it
made a few changes requested by its clients, it seems that they would
be more pleased with the product.
There are a variety of people who teach Adobe Certification classes.
Though their demographics vary, most are public school teachers.
These public school teachers were for the most part the key decision
makers to teach an Adobe Certification Course.
The teachers were mostly pleased with the services Certiport provides,
but improved communication and networking would help these
teachers better become acquainted with each other and Certiport
updates. They requested to be contacted with updates and information
through email, then post mail and finally phone calls to their work
phone. They would like to either be contacted monthly or quarterly.
Certiport could do a better job organizing its social media presence.
Facebook groups, a LinkedIn badge and an instructional page run by
Adobe or Certiport were all requested. Most instructors would also like
an online forum where they can get together to discuss teaching needs
and ideas. It seems like Certiport could be instrumental in starting
something like that.
Finally, When targeting new clients, the research showed that it would
be bet to market to ACA instructors and CTE administrators, who seem
to be the decision makers on running these courses. Another good
target audience may be district administrators, who dont usually
decide to run these courses but they do pay for them.

APPENDIX
The appendix includes three parts:

In-depth interview transcripts

29

Copy of survey

Descriptive statistics, breakdown for survey

In-depth interview transcripts

ACA Instructor Interview with Caryn Butler
Interviewer: Hi Caryn this is Esther I was emailing about the
interview.
Im so sorry its taken us a while to get this.
Caryn Butler: Thats no problem. Thats fine
Interviewer: Ok so what exactly do you do with your ACA instruction?
What do you teach?
Caryn Butler: I teach graphic design, three levels. One, two and
three. I have the my graphics lab, are you familiar with that?
Interviewer: I am not.
Caryn Butler: Ok my graphics lab is basically an online program put
out by Pearson that have all the different softwares and its basically a
test prep for ACA. I use that to get the kids ready. I teach software
independently but I also have them go through and there are different
lessons that they do and I have them take practice tests that they offer
for the ACA. Is that what youre asking about?
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah sorry .
Caryn Butler: Like last year I ended up having 12-13 kids pass the
test after going through those modules.
Interviewer: How many students do you teach on a regular basis? You
said 12-13 passed but how many do you teach?
Caryn Butler: 12-13 was out of like 16 last year. But I have 120
students. But I dont do those things with year one. I do it with year
two and three year. One is more introduction to basic design principals
and stuff.

30

Interviewer: When do you teach, what times and days?

Caryn Butler: School starts at 7:25 and I get done at 2:15.
Interviewer: So you teach at a regular high school?
Caryn Butler: Yes.
Interviewer: I guess Im not super familiar with it. I thought it was
more of a side kind of thing like for nighttime. So is it required for your
school or do people just take it because it benefits them?
Caryn Butler: Is the graphic design class required is that what youre
asking?
Interviewer: Yeah the classes that you teach.
Caryn Butler: No theyre electives.
Interviewer: And the students still is it apart of the school or do
they have to pay extra to take this elective for these tests?
Caryn Butler: Its part of the school but there is a $25 fee for supplies
not for the test. Last year I actually paid for the test. And the teachers,
they may pay for the test, depends on my funds and how Im doing we
run a little business too so. You know its a small fee to take the class.
Interviewer: Ok so why did you choose to be an ACA instructor?
Caryn Butler: Just hoping that having that on their resume will help
them to get into graphics schools or to get a better job. People will
think they have some experience with it with illustrator or adobe shop.
Add some sort of credentials.
Interviewer: Do you think there is anything lacking in the ACA
certification process?
Caryn Butler: Ive been told in the industry that the certification
means nothing to them. I mean they wont hire based on it. Im just
hoping for like a college kid itll get their foot in the door. Its not a
college degree but part of it shows that theyve accomplished
something. Theyve stuck something out until they could do it well
enough to pass the test.
Interviewer: So how long have you been doing ACA instruction?

31

Caryn Butler: Ive only done it one semester last year.

Interviewer: And how longdo you plan on continuing to teach?
Caryn Butler: Yeah
Interviewer: For how long? Is this something you see as being long
term?
Caryn Butler: I hope so. The kids have a lot more computer skills now
then they did 10 years ago. But not in programs like these. These are
more expensive. Once in a while kids will have photo shop. But design
and illustrator they have no idea what to do with those.
Interviewer: What is the greatest challenge you have faced as an
ACA instructor
Caryn Butler: Motivation for some of the kids probably.
Interviewer: Is the programming pretty good or would you
recommend it for someone who is wanting to start a career in
something like that?
Caryn Butler: For my program or for the ACA stuff?
Interviewer: I guess just as an instructor and um I guess how could
weI guess this is basically Im trying to get an idea of your
experience with it and what you would suggest to change? Were going
to be talking to people from Adobe.
Caryn Butler: My graphics lab that I use isnt put out by Adobe, Adobe
has got a lot of good resources but um I dont know that they have a
particular curriculum. I dont know, I havent taken the test myself yet I
just havent had time. A lot of the kids felt like it was kind of nit picky
there are like five ways to use the tool you know to do the same thing,
but on the test you have to do it a certain way and if you dont do it
that way you have to use the menu or the tool panel. The kids that got
frustrated when they took the practice test first they were like well I do
it this way why do I have to do it that way. Im sure its the limitations
of doing a computer-based hands on kind of test. You know rather then
just a multiple-choice test you have to click here and do this but it has
to do it one way. That would be my biggest feedback is to make their
test more friendly that if a kid wants to right click he doesnt have to
go up to the right menu.
Interviewer: For short cuts and stuff?
32

Caryn Butler: Yeah if they have to copy something they cant do

command C they have to click on it which isnt that big of a deal but it
would be nice to let them be able to do it multiple ways. That would be
the feedback that I would give them that they were frustrated with the
test. They had a hard time with those type of questions where they had
to do something when theres like 12 ways you could do it.
Interviewer: Did they already have ACA when you did you bring ACA
to your school?
Caryn Butler: No it was kind of me pushing to get it with the district
so I got them to buy the set of test and the practice tests so I could
have the kids take the practice test multiple times.
Interviewer: Where did you say you got the teaching materials from?
Caryn Butler: Pearson, which is a test book publisher its called my
graphics labs. Theyre the ones that claim they work most closely with
Adobe.
Interviewer: So do you challenge your students to go beyond ACA?
Caryn Butler: Yes, we just started it so we havent talked about that.
Im excited that theyre gonna try and get this first certification.
Interviewer: So youre just happy that they have one at all.
Caryn Butler: Yeah a couple kids got them in two different softwares
which was kind of cool.
Interviewer: How did you learn about ACA?
Caryn Butler: One of those trade show kind of things. The technology
conference they have in Tucson every summer, they had a booth.
Interviewer: Do you connect with other teachers that are kind of on
the same page as you as far as teaching ACA or becoming certified?
Caryn Butler: Nope there are none in my district. There are graphic
design teachers at each school but they all do their own thing.
Interviewer: So what gives you satisfaction when youre teaching the
ACA to students? Is that just more along the lines of getting them in
the door and helping them?

33

Caryn Butler: Yeah, giving them something else they can put on their
resume, like I had a girl that applied to a job in chandler and she got it
and that helped I think a little bit.
Some learning more details of software and understanding how the
software works makes me happy and them having confidence that they
can figure things out
Interviewer: Do you receive mail notices about ACA or anything like
that?
Caryn Butler: No.
Interviewer: So how do you stay on top of advancement in Adobe or
graphic design
Caryn Butler: As far as new stuff when it comes out?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Caryn Butler: I mean I would say somewhat trial and error kind of
things I got to. YouTube or the Adobe website and watch their videos,
or sometimes forums that talk about how to do stuff. The school
districts are always s a couple versions behind. So you cant stay right
on top of it.
Interviewer: What do you like to do in your free time?
Caryn Butler: Are you serious?
Interviewer: Yeah were just trying to get this whole persona idea.
Caryn Butler: I play poker. Haha
Interviewer: Haha I like black jack and roulette.
Caryn Butler: And I garden, my husband is a really good cook so we
cook a lot dont have a lot of free time most of the time its just
relaxing we used to have a graphics business but since we closed that
Ive been kind of like eh I dont want to do that right now. Ya know I
mean I like to make creative stuff for my grandkids and make stuff in
Adobe for gifts and stuff.
Interviewer: So what social media channels are you active on if any?
Caryn Butler: Facebook, thats pretty much it and I do YouTube stuff.
34

Interviewer: Are you part of any professional groups or organizations?

Caryn Butler: Yeah the Arizona Career Technical Education group
thats pretty much it.
Interviewer: Alrighty, and let me just get your name is Caryn Butler.
And where are you from?
Caryn Butler: Where do I live or my school or what?
Interviewer: Yeah, where do you live right now?
Caryn Butler: San Tan Valley, Arizona.
Interviewer: How long have you lived there?
Caryn Butler: 12 years.
Interviewer: Ok I think thats all I need Im going to meet with my
professor and classmates today I will be emailing you or calling you in
the next couple of days ok.
Caryn Butler: Ok.
Interviewer: Thank you so much Caryn have a nice day.
Caryn Butler: You too buh bye
Interviewer: Bye
ACA Instructor Interview with Molly Lindsey
Interviewer: What do you do?
Her: Im a high school teacher. I teach a class called computerized
business applications and I teach mainly office software in that class.
And I also teach a class called digital communications where we do
page layout and design, and we also do image editing. So in that class
I teach Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.
Interviewer: How often do you do the ACA instruction?
Molly Lindsey: I have two classes with those kids, and this year its
only 12 kids. So we take the whole first semester and learn InDesign,
35

and then at the end of the first semester we take the certification test
if we have time. If we dont then I have the same kids the second
semester and we take the certification test for InDesign, and then
Photoshop towards the end of that semester.
Interviewer: So whats the demographic of the kids in this class? Are
they all high school kids or is it after school?
Molly Lindsey: Yes, its all high school kids, grades 10-12
Interviewer: How did you get into ACA instruction?
Molly Lindsey: Microsoft instruction got me into it. Ive been doing
Microsoft certification for, I dont know, 7-8 years. and um we have
tried very hard to make sure we have some kind of certification
available for all of our students in our business classes here in our
school. And so that was the next step. My kids take CBA and can get
certified in Office programs, so since were teaching digital
communications we wanted to make sure they were certified there too.
One of the reasons we chose the adobe software is because there were
certifications available.
Interviewer: So is it a public or private school?
Molly Lindsey: Public school.
Interviewer: In the ACA certification, is there anything you find
frustrating or is there anything lacking in it?
Molly Lindsey: Well I didnt like the way they did the practice tests,
but I like the fact that its in geometrics now, I think. Because I havent
had my kids practice yet for that, but I did like geometrics better than I
liked how they did it before.
Interviewer: How long have you been doing ACA instruction?
Molly Lindsey: Well, I did them last year and I think the year before
that. This is probably my second year offering it to all my students and
my third year offering it to some of my students.
Interviewer: Where do you get your teaching materials?
Molly Lindsey: Yeah, I have a computer lab, thats what I teach on.
And this year we moved up to Adobe CS6 so I found some software
online through Pearson that uses the Adobe Classroom in a book
textbook. And so my students, it has presentations about the materials
36

and videos on how to use it in the software and you know quizzes and
things like that. So those are the materials I use in my classroom; its
all geared towards certification.
Interviewer: What are the biggest pain points to help your students
progress?
Molly Lindsey: Well, um I think, and I like the fact that there are
objective questions mixed in there with the application questions on
the Adobe Certification Exam, but the objective questions are usually
the ones my students struggle most with. And thats with any test, its
harder to prepare for multiple choice questions.
Interviewer: How do you connect with other ACA instructors?
Molly Lindsey: We actually dont really connect, because here in
Arkansas we have an initiative for office certifications, so were trying
to get more and more teachers to do that. But we dont have a big
push yet for the Adobe certifications. And the state department has
funded office certifications for some of us (there are certain criteria you
have to meet). Most schools dont have the funding for Adobe
Certification, and so thats a drawback. And so I dont really have any,
very many other teachers or other people that do the certifications
that I know of, Im kind of an island.
Interviewer: So who pays for this, the state or your students?
Molly Lindsey: Actually the students do not pay for it. We get a
Perkins grant every year its for career in technical classes. Before our
state paid for the office certifications, now we use Perkins to pay for
Adobe certification. Ive tried to convince other teachers to use Perkins
as well.
Interviewer: How do you sell this class to your students?
Molly Lindsey: Number one they dont have a choice. But I tell them
its a piece of paper that tells a perspective employer or a college
teacher that youre proficient in this software, you have at least basic
skills. Some of them like that they can get more pieces of paper than
their friends, but mostly this proves they are proficient in the software.
Interviewer: What gives you the most satisfaction in this job
Molly Lindsey: That they have learned some new skills. Most kids are
at least familiar with office software, but they have very few
opportunities to learn other software. I try to make sure they can use
37

these skills in different areas. I hope they can find a way to learn the
same way to learn other software.
Molly Lindsey: Thats why the objective questions are so important.
Interviewer: How do you stay on top of software updates?
Molly Lindsey: I use the software myself and I take the test before
the students do.
Interviewer: How often do you have to re=up your certification.
Molly Lindsey: Every time theres a new version that I have. Now
were a public school and we cant always afford the new versions. Any
time I have a new version of the software in my class I take the test.
Interviewer: Demographics:
Molly Lindsey: Female.
Hobbies: Photography, paper crafting, paper crocheting, sewing and
quilting, and Im the typical grandma type.
Social media: Facebook
Interviewer: How would you like to be contacted:
Molly Lindsey: I would like it. Email would be okay but I get too many
emails. What I enjoy is groups on Facebook of people with the same
interests.
Interviewer: Professional groups?
Molly Lindsey: Im part of our career in technical group, and business
educators.
Interviewer: Anything to add?
Molly Lindsey: If they would make it a little easier for schools to
participate. For example one of the things, when a person doesnt pass
the test one day they sometimes have to wait longer than 24 hours to
take it again. And in a classroom situation even 24 hours when they
take it is a different class completely. Thats a problem for me.
Sometimes my students have to wait 2 days to take the test again, and
were wasting class time. And I understand why they have rules like
that, but for a classroom situation like that its a little different.
38

So I think that if they would target schools, maybe give a price break to
schools that try to get whole classes of kids certified things like that I
think that many organizations miss out on the huge target that public
schools are. We have an audience here that will do what I say, so if we
teach and use Adobe software with students they are much more likely
to purchase it when they are done with school as well.
So I think they should better target schools both in price and
accessibility for them.
ACA Instructor Interview With
Interviewer: What do you do?
Interviewee: Im a networking web, video teacher here at CART, the
Center for Advance Research and Technology. Were a project based
learning environment which means all our parts and tools, software
that we use, we wrap around a product and it adds a lot to our
community, so we have people making websites for the police
department, we have people shooting commercials for a nonprofit
organization. Thats our end product, it always reaches our local
community or the national community.
Interviewer: What Adobe products do you use?
Interviewee: Mainly Photoshop, Premier, lots of InDesign, we do some
PDF stuff, but Premiere is our favorite tool then Photoshop.
Interviewer: Where do you teach?
Interviewee: Its the Center for Advanced Research of Technology,
CART and I also teach an engineering class at Clovis State. CART is for
juniors and seniors, they apply to come here. We have three classes
and we have our kids for three hours a day. We have them come over
for a day.
So its three teachers, a hundred students and we all interrelate our
lessons.
Interviewer: Are these juniors and seniors in high school?
Interviewee: Yes. Like I said, I do teach a computer science and
engineering class at Clovis State, but the ACA classes are for 11th and
12th graders.
39

Interviewer: How many students do you personally teach?

Interviewee: Right now in my billet, Ill have 120 (students) in the
morning, which is 7:30 to 12:30, we have three hours and then we
have our down time when we prep and I have another 95 or so
(students) from 12:30 to 3:30. I have a lot students throughout my day
and I get them every single day which is pretty amazing.
Interviewer: Is working at CART your fulltime job?
Interviewee: Yes. One of the cool things at CART is Im a networking,
computer business expert for 20 plus years, I do a lot the products
through that business. We do a lot of our movie props through there.
Interviewer: Is this your ideal job?
Interviewee: Thats interesting that you ask that. I went to medical
school, I was practicing. It wasnt what I was originally expecting. It
was lot of HMOs pushing. I started coaching the national volleyball
team, they said how about you teach? So I started subbing, loved it. It
was like a giant sports game for me. It was like playing chess helping
students get around their learning environment. Absolutely I wouldnt
do anything else right now.
Interviewer: Do you plan on staying in your current field or positions?
Interviewee: I plan to stay here. We opened our doors in 2000. Ive
been working here since 2000. Having such a vast array of different
activities again its like playing chess its really, really exciting to
have a kid who may not have the tools, who cant afford the tools,
were able to provide those tools. I mean for me being at where that
happens, I wouldnt change anything. I got a job offer last night for four
time what I make here, so its not about the money. Its my passion.
Interviewer: Does the ACA program lack anything in particular?
Interviewee: I think if Adobe spent more time developing more
practice tools, more ways for students to look at if before taking the
actual test, I think that would be helpful. I also think, I teach another
class and theres a lot interactive third party tools, but I think Adobe is
a little weak there. You know, Im an Adobe user to begin with, going
through it was Hey I didnt know that short cut was there, I learned all
this new content. Sometimes when they learn new content sometimes
they struggle. Theres so many things that Photoshop does. Theres so
many things you can do in Premiere. I would almost feel better if there
was an entry level, like here Ive got my foundation for Adobe, use the
40

locators, how the screen works versus looking back now as an expert,
now I can do transitions like chroma keyer. Those are things better
done at greater levels.
Interviewer: What is your greatest challenge as an ACA instructor?
Our greatest challenge was providing access to the material. A lot of
the Adobe products are pretty pricey. You know, we found some ways
to kind of cut the prices down. I mean I guess Adobe doesnt
understand this, you get to this point of affordability for students to
use these products after they graduate. Microsoft will lower their prices
for a lot of these students and then turn around buy them because
thats what they use. You know $3,200, you can get bootlegged, which
I dont recommend. We have some that use other tools that are a lot
more affordable. Its a professional product and I get that.
Interviewer: Do you prefer subscribing to Creative Cloud or actually
owning the product?
Interviewee: For the school setting, I prefer the former way. Because
the Cloud base, I havent really looked at it with my students, but I
prefer CS6 because I can download it on my machines, I dont have to
worry about user accounts, I dont have to worry about things
happening. I have my machines and I have one license for it.
Now, in the business world they prefer that we have the Cloud basis.
Youre not going to have to buy some expensive part that youre not
driving and you pay it when you drive it, so I like that. A lot of us have
the budget style. You have one part of money to buy this piece. Hey, I
have $50 a month, then Ill do it.
Interviewer: Was ACA already a part of the school?
Interviewee: No, absolutely not. I personally was one of three key
players who brought it in. Before it was like you needed some higher
degree or college education, so we preach college, but if a student has
a basic piece that says, I can do this, Im going to hire that person
over someone with a college education. So we started pushing
certifications. Even now we have students who are working in print
shops and design centers.
Interviewer: Who had the final word in bring ACA to school?
Interviewee: At CART its a little bit different. We teachers, we run the
school. We have a principle which we call the CEO. We have a business
model. We have a dean. So Im the head of the technology. So our
technology chain, we had a focus group that dealt with this. From that
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we said OK this is going to work for us. Our dean said, yeah we have
the money for it. So we teachers were the decision maker.
Interviewer: What materials do you use to teach?
Interviewee: Were using the MyGraphicsLab from Certiport and we
like that, with the price of $1,200 with access to digital textbooks,
lessons.
Interviewer: What would you change about the certification process?
Interviewee: Again it goes back to pricing for our students. I think
several people were saying Hey we need a better price to buy 500
vouchers and they expire in 12 months. So lowering the prices (of test
vouchers) and not letting them expire. I know theyre in business to
make money, but were getting cut out the game. Versus buying a
$3,000 pack and buy another one when youre out buy another $3,000
pack. You end up losing quite a bit of money. Either dont let them
expire or have them expire in 24 months. And also about making
certification for teachers. If I do something, I choose something, the
students are going to follow me. I am a walking billboard for Adobe. I
have my certificates on the wall and they ask What does that mean
Mr. Bynum? And thats a whole conversation piece for Adobe.
Interviewer: What is the biggest challenge for your students in
becoming ACA?
I think its the unknown nature of the tests. I mean whats really being
asked? What areas are being discussed because theres nothing really
out there that says, this is what were going to test you on. You just
have to know as much as you can. You know your categories. Hows
the pass/fail rate with your students?
We had 76 kids take the test the last time we offered it. Of the 76, four
did not pass. 60% of the students that take it pass their first time and
the rest pass on their second or third attempt.
No one has taken it more than three times.
Interviewee: At what point do you have students take the test?
Some students stay for both years, but we dont know if were getting
them for two years, we dont know if theyre going to graduate so we
get them ready. Every day we go over principles of Photoshop rules.
Well work on a problem together until we solve it. Theyll find the
answer and then email it to me. So if they get it wrong, they dont feel
like Ive got to wait two years.
We try to set them up in one year.
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Interviewer: Do any of your students do more than ACA?

Interviewee: We had one student ask. He is working in Seattle and
hes landed a job and his job will pay him more for the higher
certification. So we do whats most valuable for them. Most kids will
say no I have a piece of paper, I can get an entry level job and Im OK
with that.
Interviewer: Do you recommend your students get higher
certifications?
Interviewee: Absolutely. I wish I had a chart, we used to be really
good at handing out pathways. You start here, you go here. A lot of our
kids care about seeing a pathway. I do this, then do six weeks of
InDesign training, then we take the test in December. These kids make
these really cool websites and say whats next? What can we do?
Interviewer: How did you learn about ACA program?
Interviewee: I think I received emails, but I do a lot with Certiport, so I
do lot for them about the benefits of certifications. Ive written a couple
white pages. We piloted an HP product. You pick the courses you want
to try, so I deal with that and from that and they said Hey focus on this
Photoshop tool, and I did that on my own.
Interviewer: What level of Adobe certification do you have?
Interviewee: I have an associate certification, but I also have the
instructor certification too. Its not for money or for anything, but I just
did it. You get wifi access, Tshirts and polos. And after you get to the
associate you know the adobe products are available to us Im like
yeah.
Interviewer: How was your ACA testing experience?
Interviewee: It was normal, simple. I like practical things. I like things
interacting. I absolutely passed it my first time. In fact I joke a lot, I
dont live in this world, I live in the hardware.
Interviewer: How do you keep up with Adobe updates?
Interviewee: I subscribe to a few magazines, but whenever theres a
conference, theres a lot of day conferences here in town and Ill try to
go. But Id say I spend probably a solid week a year studying new tools
and things that have been discontinued.
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Interviewer: How do you network with other ACA instructors?

Interviewee: We have a database where we can self connect with
instructors. Theres a lot of people teaching Adobe, but theyre not
certified. And it goes back to what I said earlier. A teacher will say we
already spend a lot of money on our classrooms and were not going to
spend another $10 or $15 thousand. Because you dont get a pay
raise, you dont get any incentive for doing this. We just had a meeting
yesterday, Why arent we getting paid for having certifications?
Interviewer: While pay raises for certifications arent a concern for
you, it is a big concern for others?
Interviewee: Absolutely. We have a pretty good system here, but
theyre like We need more money.
Interviewer: Do you receive ACA or Certiport updates via email?
Interviewee: Im a big supporter of Certiport and the process theyre
doing. I know there was other people offering Adobe certification.
Certiport is good at showing the difference. If youre Adobe certified,
what does that mean? They will call and say Hey we have a new
voucher or new pricing structure or we have a new thing to help your
kids or we can give you ten free vouchers.
Interviewer: Do they usually send you information via email?
Interviewee: Yes and they have my cell phone number. I actually get
a phone call first.
Interviewer: Do you have a preferable method of contact?
Interviewee: I like the phone calls and also by email. I know theyre
not calling me to tell me something to waste my time. Its usually good
news for us.
Interviewer: What are your hobbies?
Interviewee: I like to go shooting, Im an athlete, I like to run. I do a
lot of volunteer work at the senior center. Im a business owner and
Friday night travel time. I try to leave California. And I do a lot of
reading. Thats probably what I do with most of my free time.
Interviewer: Are you active on any social media channels?

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Interviewee: Yes, I do Inline, Instagram, Facebook. I do some tech

writing. I dont do Facebook how most people do Facebook. Hey! I
have pictures! No, Im good. Im friends with a hundred or so people.
Interviewer: Do you blog?
Interviewee: Yes, but I like to do it anonymously because I dont want
the kids to follow me. I want them to pursue their own path in life.
Interviewer: What publications do you techwrite for?
Interviewee: Local publications and wherever else I can get
published. But again I dont do it to get a raise. I do it because I want
to do it.
Interviewer: What professional groups do you belong to?
Interviewee: Im a member of Adobe user group and on the national
level with the Google mobility set and becoming Google certified.
Interviewer: What is your highest level of education?
Interviewee: I went to medical school and I finished it. I can diagnose
people and write a legal prescription and my friends tell me I should be
making more money, but I again Im more interested in helping people
here.
Interviewer: Do you have anything else to share?
Interviewer: I think to continue to reach out digital media teachers. I
know Certiport does it, but it would nice of Adobe to say heres the
edition for teachers and heres what teachers can do with this. I would
say to continue to promote Adobe products, giving Adobe shirts and
polos, I mean theyre walking billboards. And the pricing should be a lot
cheaper.
There should be more of an effort to make it affordable for people. I
think its funny because Adobe is like, we have this Cloud base. I
wonder how many people use Adobe tools illegally. Kids are going to
use it either way and if they make it cheaper, its more money for
Adobe.
ACA Instructor Interview With Sean Glumace
Interviewer: What do you do?
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Sean Glumace: I teach in the digital arts department at Golden West

College. Ive been doing it for 15 years. I do freelance so it works with
my schedule.
Interviewer: When do you teach?
Sean Glumace: Monday night from 6-10 p.m.
Interviewer: How many students do you teach?
Sean Glumace: 120-130 students each semester
Interviewer: Is there anything lacking in the ACA cert?
Sean Glumace: Certiport gave us some early tests for our instructors
that wasnt too difficult. There no issues with the actual process of
testingA few interface issues and where buttons are in front of you.
For example, the reset button. Ive already emailed them about the
issues.
Interviewer: How is ACA recognized in the workplace?
Sean Glumace: The state (California) is pushing for people to be
certified. I tell my students its great but you really need a portfolio. I
really like what Certiport has done with their tracking.
Interviewer: Where do you get teaching materials?
Sean Glumace: Im project based. I create all of my own content.
Interviewer: At what point were you certified? Why?
Sean Glumace: May 2014, became an Adobe Education Leader
Interviewer: How do you connect with your ACA peers?
Sean Glumace: I am the AEL on campus. I current have four ACA on
staff and by December, all should be ACA certified.
Interviewer: How do you stay on-top-of advancement/ innovation in
Adobe products?
Sean Glumace: Since I am an AEL, I have access to pre-release
software. I just need to sit down and learn. YouTube is great. Linda isnt
far behind.

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Interviewer: Personal life

Sean Glumace: I have four kids.
Interviewer: What hobbies do you have?
Sean Glumace: Ive been lettering comic books for 20 years. I speak
at different comic book conventions like the one in San Diego. I need to
make my way up to Salt Lake. People keep telling me to do it.
Interviewer: What social media channels are they active on?
Sean Glumace: Im on Facebook real heavily. Twitter as well. I use
Pinterest a lot. I use Instagram a lot. I use Hootsuite to manage my
social media accounts. I use the free version.
Interviewer: What professional groups are you a part of?
Sean Glumace: I was a part of AIGA. Im still involved but no longer a
member.

ACA Instructor Interview With William Cavada

William Cavada: Hello?
INTERVIEWER: Hello? Is this Mr. Cavada?
William Cavada: Yes it is.
Interviewer: Hi! This is Alice Law calling from Brigham Young University.
William Cavada: Ahhuh.
Interviewer: Regarding the ACA Interview
William Cavada: Yeah
Interviewer: This interview takes about 40 minutes, can I interview you now?
William Cavada: Yes.
Interviewer: Thank you. Thank you for willing to be interviewed and we will be
sending out the compensation the visa gift card to you after.
William Cavada: Ok

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Interviewer: Yea, so I just have few questions on being an ACA instructor and we
are from BYU, we are helping Certiport to better understand the ACA instructors.
William Cavada: Ok.
Interviewer: I just have a few questions on your professions. As an ACA instructor,
what do you do?
William Cavada: I teach high school,
Interviewer: Ok. So you teach high school, so are you a CTE teacher?
William Cavada: I am a fine art teacher.
Interviewer: So do you like being an ACA instructor?
William Cavada: Yes.
Interviewer: How many students do you teach?
William Cavada: I teach a hundred and thirty students
Interviewer: Ok so why do you want to be an ACA instructor?
William Cavada: So I became an ACA instructor through Adobe Youth Voices.
Interviewer: Ok. Do you like the Adobe products?
William Cavada: Yes we do.
Interviewer: How long have you been an ACA instructor?
William Cavada: Three years.
Interviewer: Are you planning on continuing teaching it?
William Cavada: Yes.
Interviewer: What is the greatest challenges you face as an ACA instructor?
William Cavada: Ahum, I guess the greatest challenge is the cost of the exam for
the students.
Interviewer: Ok does it prevent students from taking the exam?
William Cavada: The ACA exam it does. Not my class you know. Yea if they want to
take it.
Interviewer: So um do you think there is anything lack in the certificate?

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William Cavada: Um, the other thing is that the certificate has a little bit more, um,
technical like side we dont cover
Interviewer: So, how is ACA recognized in the work place?
William Cavada: I would like to know more about that, I dont actually know.
Interviewer: So you said you are a fine art teacher, did you bring ACA to your
school?
William Cavada: Ah yes.
Interviewer: Ok. The school didnt have ACA before that?
William Cavada: No it didnt.
Interviewer: Okay. Wow so um, where did you get the teaching materials?
William Cavada: So there is a class between the ACA and Adobe Youth voices,
thats where we got the materials.
Interviewer: Okay, so is it flexible to change them?
William Cavada: Um, so our material had a mix between Adobe youth voices and
broad the ACA., the program a little.. not fully in to the program.. thats why we
have .. and just the online material that it provided.
Interviewer: If you can change one thing about the certification, what would that
be?
William Cavada: Um. I think its um. I think I ll change.. um.. I would like to have a
creative component to it.
Interviewer: Do you challenge the students to go beyond the ACA?
William Cavada: Yes. The creativity. And then we dont really do the printing side.
There is a really technical, printing part.. esp when it come to photoshop. It has a
premier For me, which I havent given yet. Because I have a total different version on
my computer so its hard to match the test since there are so many different
versions. Since I am only certified for photoshop, I would like to..try the premeir and
aftereffect for the ACA.. thats something I would like to go into. For photoshop, I
found it interesting in terms of get matches up with kind of my students who are
taking now which the common core they have to demonstrate their knowledge as
multiple choice which was a really opener with what students have to do in the real
world. So thats part of the.. is really interesting. Although we work with shortcut, in
the real world and design. its all about shortcut and thats how they want you to work
in the industry.. but the test makes you do everything from the manual and then
sometimes we dont even know where the manual is. We just using shortcut. I know
when I want to hire designers, they want me to know all the shortcut and not going
up to the manual cause thats too time consuming and so they didnt know some of

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the function works cause there were short cut. So I guess I would like changes ..
cooperating shortcuts. But I dont know how would that work but ideally they will work
with using shortcut because manual is on the web browser. .. And then I think I
would get rid of the multiple choice part if possible and have it a hundred
percent skills-based test and there were mc questions. I think everyone of the
MC quesiotns could have been answered somehow skill-based away.
Interviewer: Yup. How did you learn about ACA?
William Cavada: Through Adobe Youth Voices.
Interviewer: So you have been an ACA instructor for three years, how long have you
been a fine art teacher?
William Cavada: 15 years.
Interviewer: Wow. Thats a long time. So through the Adobe Youth Voices you
learned about the ACA and you decided to be certified?
William Cavada: Yes. They gave us the opportunity to become certified three
years ago. I would like to see that partnership more, between Adobe, ACA and
Adobe Youth Voices.I would like to see that partnership work out a little bit
more.
Interviewer: So what has the process like for becoming certified for you? was it
hard?
William Cavada: The process was easy because we got it at the corporate
headquarter they brought all of us there we took the test, if we pass we are ACA
certified We put what we are really good in and somewhere. .. They set it up for us
so we didnt need to fix the time, place.. no costs associated for us.. they walked us
through the test, they have an ACA instructor there.. if we have any question..
everything was set up.. we just took the test.. If we pass we got the certificate so it
was really simple.
Interviewer: Ok so do you need to renew your certificate?
William Cavada: Probably.
Interviewer: So from your perspective, do you think ACA is important?
William Cavada: I think it is somewhat important, and it can become more important
Interviewer: Ok. And how do you connect with your ACA peers? Do you have like a
group?
William Cavada: My ACA peer, the only one that I connect with are those same one
who were in the Adobe Youth Voices who went through the training and became ACA
instructors so we work together.

50

Interviewer: So what gives your satisfaction when teaching ACA to students?

William Cavada: Not that (M)any of my students have the exam but that they
challenge themselves to a really high standard and they () things they didnt know, ..
such as technical side of printing..
Interviewer: How do you stay updated in Adobe products?
William Cavada: Well.through Adobe youth voices and creative Cloud.
Interviewer: Um What social media channels are you active on?
William Cavada: I active on Adobe youth voices channel, I am active on Adobe
education exchange channel, Adobe photoshop users channel,
Interviewer: What do you do in your free time?
William Cavada: in my freetime, I really like to work in Photoshop and typography.
Interviewer: So are you part of any professional groups?
William Cavada: Not ACA instructor group, but the Adobe Youth Voices professional
group.

Copy of survey
1. Please enter your email address. (We want to be able to contact you
if you are a winner of the $25 gift card.)

2. Are you currently an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) Instructor or

Proctor?
3. How long have you been teaching digital media/Adobe products?
4. How long have you had your ACA certification?
5. How long have you had your Adobe Certified Instructor certification?
6. Who decided to offer an ACA class in your school? (Check all that
apply)
7. How long have you been an ACA instructor?
8. Who in your organization makes decisions on digital media

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certification exam funding? (Check all that apply)

9. Why did you decide to prepare your students to take ACA
certification exams? (Check all that apply)
10. In which school(s) do you teach ACA? (Check all that apply)
11. How do you stay up-to-date with Adobe products?
12. How often do you prefer to be contacted by the certification exam
providers?
13. What type of information would be useful to receive about ACA
certifications? (Briefly describe)
14. Choose your preferred method of being contacted by ranking the
following list in order of preference (1-8, with 1 being your first choice
and 8 being your last choice).
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Postal Mail
Work Email
Personal Email
Work Phone
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Text Message
Social Media

15. Select the top three social media channels that you use most.
16. Rank these top three media channels in order of importance to you.
17. On average, how many students do you teach per semester per
class?
18. On average, how many of those students take the ACA certification
exam?
19. On average, what percentage of these students pass the ACA
exam?
20. Do you feel you have benefited from your ACA certification? Briefly
describe.
21. Where do you find your teaching curriculum? (Check all that apply)
22. Please identify the Adobe programs that you teach as part of your
ACA instruction?
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23. Which Adobe programs do you use outside of teaching? (Check all
that apply)
24. What is your gender?
25. What is your age?
26. What is your ethnicity/race?
27. What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed?
If currently enrolled, highest degree received.

Descriptive statistics, breakdown for

survey
1. No correlation between a teachers certification
and the success of the students.
2. No correlation between a teachers education level
and the success of the students.

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13. 80% of students that take the course take the

exam. 58% of the students that take the exam pass.

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