Homeroom with Sal & Mala Sharma - Wednesday, May 5

- Hi everyone, Sal Khan
here from Khan Academy.

Welcome to the Homeroom live stream.

A very exciting conversation today.

We have Mala Sharma who is the VP

and GM of creative cloud at Adobe.

But before we jump into that conversation

I will give some of our
standard announcements.

First, a reminder that Khan Academy

is a not-for-profit organization,

we can only exist through donations

from folks like yourself.

So if you're in a position to do so,

please think about making a
[e-mail]/donate.

I also want to give a special shout out

to several organizations that
stepped up during the pandemic

when they realized that we were
running at a bigger deficit

than normal because of
all of the server costs

and our desire to accelerate content

to support tens of millions
of learners around the world.

So, special thanks to Bank
of America, AT&T, Google.org

Novartis, Fastly, and general motors.

I also want to give a
special shout out to Adobe.

This is a new thing that
we are announcing right now

and one of the reasons why Mala
is here amongst many others

as our creativity partner
and we're gonna be talking

a lot more about just education

and the role that creativity has to play

and how Khan Academy and
Adobe hope to work together

to really push the envelope there.

And last but not least,
I wanna remind everyone

that there's a version of this

that you can get wherever
you get your podcast,

Homeroom with Sal, The podcasts.

So with that, I'm excited
to introduce Mala Sharma,

VP and GM of Adobe Creative Cloud.

Mala, great to see you.

- It's great to see you too Sal,

thank you so much for having me here.

- Well, there's a ton of stuff
I wanna talk ask you about.

I know you care deeply about education,

it's teacher appreciation week.

I wanna learn about your journey
and of course I wanna talk

about what we are now
going to be doing together,

Adobe and Khan Academy but
maybe a good place to start

just so people understand context,

what is the Adobe Creative
Cloud and what does the VP

and general manager of
Adobe Creative Cloud do?

- So Adobe Creative Cloud
is the creativity platform

that anybody can use

who has an idea to put
out there in the world.

We have professionals who use it,

we have students, we have
consumers like you and I

who have an idea and wanna
have impact in the world

that has applications like
Photoshop, Premier Pro,

InDesign, Illustrator,

applications that work on the desktop,

on your mobile phone, on the web.

Adobe Spark is a part of a creative cloud

that is a web based application

and not only does it have applications

it also has services integrated

so you can collaborate on creative cloud.

You have content you can
use, you have templates,

you have fonts that you can
bring into your creation.

So, think about anything
you need to express an idea

is available within creative
cloud and what I do at Adobe,

I have the privilege of managing

the product marketing organization

and the education business.

So, I'm responsible for thinking

about how do we get our
products more available

to our customers, how
do we grow the business,

how do we make them
more accessible to users

wherever they are in
any part of the world,

any platform that they're on
and I work with product teams,

engineering teams, marketing teams

to get the product out there
and available to our customers.

- Yeah, and I've had a long relationship

with many of those products products.

I use them now but I all the way back,

I think it was as early as 1991 or 1992

when I was the art
editor and layout editor

for our school newspaper in New Orleans

under Mrs. Kennedy who
is one of the teachers

that I always make a point of appreciating

during teacher appreciation week.

She was our journalism
and our English teacher.

But that's when I first used,

what was now part of
the Adobe Creative Cloud

but I used all of the various
things that Adobe suite.

I'm curious, how do
you and how does Adobe,

there's a lot of areas
where Adobe is used.

Obviously a lot of designers,
the creative professionals,

et cetera, et cetera.

What is the lens that y'all
take on education and education

in the context of supporting
teachers especially?

- Yeah, education is very important

from a couple of perspectives.

First of all, we believe
that all of us as humans

are innately creative

and giving everybody a
voice is an important part

of building self-worth,

building great citizens in the world

and therefore education is a conduit,

is a very important vertical
for us to get students access

to our products so that
they can tell their stories.

And we have so many infinite
examples of the students

when they're able to put
these stories together,

put a voice to their ideas,

what it does to their self-confidence

and what it does to student
outcomes specifically.

So, a big part of our focus

is getting the products with
the hands of the students,

making them work on platforms
that students are on

whether they're on the web,

whether they're on mobile
devices or they're in the lab,

working in the lab.

So, it's about making
the products work here

in these different places,
making it affordable for schools.

Adobe Spark is free for students to use.

Creative Cloud which is
over a $600 a year product

is just $5 a year for student in K-12.

So, really it's about
making the products work

as well as making them
accessible through pricing

but the second area Sal
is about the teachers.

And again, it's great to be here with you

during teacher appreciation
week announcing this partnership

because teachers are aware
where this all happens.

They are the ones who sort
of help lead the students

through the learning process
and making them ready

to bring creativity into the classroom

is another really important
piece of what Adobe does.

We have a platform called
Adobe Education Exchange,

there's over a million
teachers on that platform,

there's sharing ideas with each other,

there's project plans,

there's lesson plans available for them,

of how they can bring
creativity into a Math class

or into a science class
or a Geography class.

Because what that does is one,

it makes learning more interesting.

It engages students but most importantly,

the teachers can assess

what the student is actually
comprehended and learned

through what they create.

So, education to us

is about making both of
those things possible

which is putting the products
in the hands of the students

and preparing the teachers
to teach creativity

and bring creativity into the classroom.

- And I definitely want to
talk a lot more about this

especially what both
Adobe and Khan Academy

hope to do together.

But before we go there,

I do wanna focus a
little bit on your story.

That's one of the interesting things

about these conversations.

I always love to learn

how people got to where they're going.

We have a lot of young
people who are watching this,

a lot of parents who are watching this.

So, when you were young
in elementary school,

middle school, did you say,

"I Mala Sharma I'm going to be a VP

and GM of Adobe Creative Cloud."

What did you think you were going to do?

(laughing)

- Oh my Gosh.

Well, if you asked my mom,

she probably thought I was up to no good.

I was a very, very naughty
student and was always the person

who was trying to distract
the teacher in the classroom

and distract the students
in the classroom.

(indistinct)

I'm sorry.

- Do you remember what you did?

- Oh my gosh.

I don't know if parents
would appreciate this

(chuckles)

but I used to be the student
who would sit at the back

of the classroom and
throw a little airplanes,

this is what we did in India.

We made airplanes with, you know, paper

and we threw it out in
front of the classrooms,

I would chew chalk and then throw chalk

at different students, I was really bad.

- Chew chalk, that's a new one.

I didn't know that
that's the thing that...

(Mala laughing)

- Oh my God.

Yes, I was a very naughty student

but at some point...

Sorry.

- No, no, go ahead.

I was going to say it
but it clearly evolved.

But at some point...

Please keep going.

- Yes, at some point,

I think I realized that
it was important for me

to pay attention to learning

and I think my mother
being a school teacher

was part of that.

And really, I think the way I'd sum it up,

it's a sequence of events that
I didn't expect what happened

but happened but I think
the learning that I had

from my teachers, from my
parents, from the elders around me

was to be ready to embrace
them and be prepared for them

and be able to not just embrace
them from the standpoint

of accept what happened but embrace them

and take them forward.

There's been lots of ups
and downs in my journey

to get to here but what's been consistent

is being confident, having
a deep sense of self-worth

and a deep sense of confidence

that if somebody presents
something to me, I can embrace it

and I think that comes from the learning.

The learning and the teachers around me

and all the examples that were around me

that gave you that confidence.

- Yeah, so, I mean, going
back to your original.

Your mother was a teacher

and still, it sounds like at a young age

you were maybe not the most
obedient obedient child

in at least in the, in the classroom.

Do you remember when it
kind of clicked in you?

Was there a particular moment?

Clearly your mother is a teacher

who played a big role in your life

if we're thinking about
teacher appreciation week

but were there moments in your education

where you started saying, "Wow,
this is really interesting,

I'm not passionate about this

or this person is really invested in me."

- Yeah, I think what my mom did for us

was it was not just about what
we learned in the classroom

but she also encouraged us

to do different kinds of learning

so she put us into theater.

I was on stage at an early stage,

I was learning Indian classical music.

I was learning rowing and a
variety of different experiences

that taught me consistently

that then I practiced and
when I learned from people

who knew more than me
and were better than me

and I observed what they did,

that I was able to
incorporate that learning

into whatever that I was practicing

and I think it was the
extracurricular activities

and the interest that those
teachers and those mentors

took in me that helped me get better

and I was able to apply

that into into the classroom as well.

And I think from a teacher standpoint

when it came to just regular studies,

it was a biology teacher who I
had in I think seventh grade.

She really made learning
incredibly interesting.

And this is again many,
many years back in India,

in a government school
where I was learning

and we heard that the
resources were limited

but the teacher made it
interesting by making us take walks

helping students get together in groups

and have conversations about
the different plants we saw,

the different insects we saw
bringing art by having us draw

what we were seeing.

And I think all of that and
the interest that she took

in making it fun and
making it non monotonous

and surprising is what
engaged me and helped me

get more interested in learning.

And then when I started seeing the results

of what I was doing, I
think it got me most serious

about continuing to do my studies.

- And I'm always curious

because when I remember when I
was especially in high school

and even in college, you
see people whose careers,

their mid-career or they've kind of gotten

to impressive places, what is the path?

How did they figure that out?

Did they know what they were doing?

I clearly didn't know what I was doing,

what did you think you were going to do?

When did you kind of find your direction?

Did you know you're going
to go into industry,

go into marketing,

did you think you were
going to do something else?

And when did you figure that out?

- Yeah, so when I was in school,

as I said, I was in theater,

my first dream was to actually
take acting professionally.

And I was in a theater through
school, through college

but then my parents didn't
think that was a good choice.

My next choice was to join the Indian Navy

because my father is a war
hero and I really admired him.

And I was like,

"I wanna go represent my
country and be patriotic."

He then discouraged me from
doing that because at that time

women didn't get great
opportunities in the Indian Navy.

We were typically stuck behind the desk

as opposed to what I wanted
to do, was be on the front.

So, that's what I wanted to do.

And when neither of those worked
out at that time at my age

of my batch at the time,

everybody was studying to go abroad

and I was like, "No, I
don't want to go abroad,

I wanna work for my country."

And I decided to do my
master's in business

because I didn't want to do science

because it looked like
science was too hard

and people studied too much.

So, I kind of made the
out of convenience really

and ended up doing my MBA.

And then after that life just happened.

I was I think ultimately
Sal if I were to look back

on what's consistent is what
you learn not just in school

but what values get instilled in you.

And I think that's helped me
through and sort of guided me

through all the ups and downs

and I've had plenty of downs as well

is really sort of hanging
onto the values that matter

and for me, it's about doing
what's right, not, what's good.

It's about being consistent
in thought, word and action

and it's those kinds of
values that see you through

and I think it's so important.

Again, teachers, parents
play such an important role

in not just teaching us the
studies that we'd have to do

but also demonstrating
and being the examples

for us when it comes to values.

- Now I'm curious, I did not
know this background of yours

that you were essentially the theater kid

turned a corporate leader.

(Mala laughing)

- It's funny, a lot of
folks, when I was in college,

I took a theater class just on a whim

just thinking it would
be a nice change of pace

and I thought it was transformational

and when I really think about it,

it affects how I even
interact with people,

how I communicate, how aware
I am of of my own being,

what was the effect of theater

and obviously we're here
to talk about creativity.

There's a lot of creativity in theater,

how has that background given
you some superpowers in it?

Most of the folks are corporate
leaders in Silicon Valley

especially if were stereotypically say,

coming from South Asia,

they were probably engineering majors,

come out here and start their
life as a software engineer

and then move up through management

but you have a very, very
different background.

How has that either helped or hurt you?

- I think the way it's helped me,

there's a couple of
things that come to mind.

One is the recognition that you alone

are not what makes that play happen.

There's you, there's the
person who pulls the curtain,

there's the light, there's
the person behind the camera,

there's a team that's involved

and everybody has to work in sync.

The production is great for the audience

only when everybody is operating
together on time, on cue

and all of that takes an
incredible amount of practice

and incredible amount of collaboration

and incredible clarity

on what the outcome of
the play needs to be.

And that's what work is about.

The second thing that I
learned is improvisation

because oftentimes the
person you're working with,

or excuse me, you might be with,

they might forget that dialogue.

You might forget your dialogue

and being able to in the
moment sort of fill the gaps

and let the story continue.

And the third area, I think
is just the confidence, right

of being in front of an audience

and that's what business is about.

Businesses is about collaboration,
it's about innovating,

it's about creative ideas and
it's about selling those ideas

confidently through storytelling.

And so, I do think that it's
been something that's helped me

and including my fighter spirit,

all right, that's where
risk-taking and planning

I think was an important
thing that I really admired

about what my dad did

and that's something I found
I've incorporated into my work

which is really being thoughtful

about what the strategy
for winning needs to be,

what the operational efficiency

and operational cadence needs to be.

All of those skills that
you need in business.

- I've never made the connection before

but hearing you describe
it, you're so right.

I feel like theater should be part

of any business program now
because you're absolutely right.

It's a clear goal,

- Yeah.
- Lot of coordination

but as soon as you're out there,
some new stuff might happen

and you're going to have to improvise

and it reminds me I actually
was for half a year in college

on the improv comedy troupe.

And we used to have to go to college

(indistinct)

and you just go on stage with no planning

and people throw out words and scenarios

and I have never gone
through more stressful thing

in my life than being
on an improv comedy team

but also, you want you to go
through that and you're like,

"well, nothing else in life"

(indistinct)

I've never fully drawn the prowls.

I'm gonna make sure my kids
get a little bit more drama

(Mala chuckles)

organized drama,

I think unorganized drama for them.

For unorganized in their lives.

Well, let's put the gears a little bit,

let's let's talk about this partnership

that obviously I'm very excited about it

but I'd love to hear
from your point of view,

what excites you, or I'd love
to hear in your own words,

what is the motivation for
partnering with Khan Academy

and what do you hope
we're able to do together?

- Yeah, So this is an amazing opportunity.

And Sal, we are so proud and honored

to be the creativity
partner for Khan Academy.

As I said earlier,

for Adobe, enabling creativity
for everyone is our mission.

We believe every human
is innately creative

and giving them a voice
is a part of our mission

and the fact that your
platform serves many millions,

I believe it's over a hundred
million students globally

and the focus of your work
has been on in the STEM area.

What I'm excited about,

what Adobe is excited about
is giving all of these kids

through the classroom access to tools

where they can express
themselves creatively

because what we've seen happen Sal

and there's many, many examples
including a personal example

I had when I was volunteering in India.

We teach for India where kids
who'd never seen technology,

had never interacted with Adobe tools,

when they were given access to this,

what it changed for them

in terms of not just
the learning experience

but what it did for them

(indistinct)

in confidence is what we are excited about

and it's not just sort of the
storytelling aspect of it.

We know that future hiring managers,

they value creativity in employees.

We know that the World Economic
Forum, Bloomberg, LinkedIn

their research has it
that creativity is a skill

that most hiring managers are looking for.

So, the ramifications
of bringing creativity

to your platform and the
lives that can impact

is incredibly thrilling and so important

especially in today's time

where the entire education
experience has been upended

because of COVID.

- No, I couldn't agree with you more.

From my point of view, what
we Khan Academy is missing

as a not-for-profit is
free world-class education

for anyone anywhere

and education has a lot
of dimensions to it.

There's the cognitive development of it,

there's the socialization element of it,

there's the credentialing side of it

but even if you talk about
the cognitive side of it,

a lot of folks listening
Bloom's cognitive taxonomy,

it's usually drawn as a pyramid

where the base is remembering,

it's the most rote type of work to do

then you go into skills procedures,

and then as you get higher up the pyramid,

you're getting into synthesis application

at the very top as create.

And I'm a big believer that
you need the whole pyramid

that if you just do one
part without the other,

you're selling yourself short

but the reason why I believe
bloom started up as a pyramid

is that they do too many
degrees build on each other

not always, but many times build

and Khan Academy has historically focused

on I would say that core
foundational piece of the pyramid,

more of the skill fluency, et cetera

but there's always a
desire for real education.

We got to make sure kids get
the top of the pyramid as well.

And so for us to be able
to be so complimentary

where the students and teachers

who are already leveraging Khan Academy

and hopefully many more to
make sure they have fluency

in their mathematics and their sciences

had that content knowledge
also have world-class tools

to apply that in really thoughtful ways

and that they compliment each other.

So, this is this announcement
we're making this week.

It's very exciting and
actually I'll cue this video

that I think we've put together
that describes the program

and I think we can comment on
it as it's playing as well.

- [Presenter] Teach creativity
with Adobe and Khan Academy,

a powerful new partnership
bringing together creative tools

and content knowledge to
empower thousands of teachers

and millions of students worldwide.

- It's a beautiful blend

of informative and engaging content.

- [Presenter] Get started
today by registering

for our brand new self paced
course available for free

on the Adobe education exchange.

Take this course and earn up to 20 hours

of professional development credit

and maybe even a visit
from Sal Khan himself,

founder of Khan Academy.

Register by May 17th and share a tweet

tagging an educator who inspires you

with the #AdobeKhanCreativity

for the chance to win
an Adobe creativity kit.

You want to surprise your
students with a voice Khan Academy

is best known for, yes, we are
talking about a virtual visit

to your classroom from Sal Khan.

(indistinct)

Or plan to infuse creativity
into your classes.

Submit your entry by May
17th and you could win one

of five virtual classroom
visits from Sal Khan.

Embrace creativity in powerful new ways

with Adobe and Khan Academy.

Sign up to the course and
learn how to get started now.

(indistinct)

- So much fun.

So, the course that we've designed,

it's specifically designed
for Khan teachers.

We built this along with your team Sal

and the courses are
specifically designed to be used

like creativity and math,
creativity and social studies,

creativity and science

and I know recently there's a young woman

called Hillary Andeles who was part

of your I think it's called a junior.

- Breakthrough challenge, yeah?

- Yeah, thank you.

And she's somebody Adobe
is very familiar with.

We got to know her a few years ago

when she was in her teens.

And as you know, she is,
you know a STEM enthusiast

and she had a classmate
who was very creative

and she decided as a as a young teen that,

"Why can't I be creative?"

And she started teaching herself
Photoshop and illustrator

just for fun and unfortunately
while she was a little kid,

she lived in Philippines, there
was this really big typhoon

that hit Philippines in her town.

It was called typhoon Yolanda

and many people lost their lives

and there was a lot of damage.

And once she realized

that the communication
that this put together

to help people understand what the impact

of the typhoon would be, was
just not impactful enough

and that's when she made
a commitment to herself

and has done some amazing work

to really take science concepts

and make them more
accessible and understandable

through creative communication

and she's done this amazing
work, created this amazing video

and then of course she got
awarded the prize to the-

- Exactly what number is this?

- And she goes, yeah.

- She it says it's six,
she says it's nine.

- So who's right?
- Yeah, I know.

- And she's an amazing
woman and now she's an MIT,

thanks to the scholarship

she got and-
- Added from

different reference frame.

Now, what exactly are...

(faintly speaking)

- Yeah, I think we can stop the video.

- Yeah, she is so inspiring
but this is a great example

and I hope that the
teachers on your platform

can take advantage of
these lessons, plans.

There's hundreds of lessons,
plans, there's projects,

there's tests that they can
be bringing into the classroom

to inspire these kids to
communicate and tell these stories

in an impactful way making these concepts

that can sometimes seem
obtuse, more accessible

and have an impact.

- Now, Hillary is great.

I mean, all the Breakthrough
Junior Challenge winners.

And it's a very impressive set of...

They get $250,000 for college,

- No.
- Their teacher gets $50,000

and then they get a I think
a 50 or $100,000 science lab

for the school, it's done
by the breakthrough prizes

and it's really a
brainchild of Yuri Milner

and several other folks
out here in Silicon Valley.

But yeah, it's incredible.

I'm privileged to be part of the process

as one of the judges and
obviously we get the word out

to the broader Khan Academy community.

And to your point,

Hilary shows that a lot
of people think somehow

that that STEM and
creativity don't go together

and in fact it's the exact opposite.

I always say, the factoring of polynomial,

those are giving you the toolkit

so that you can unlock
your creativity in STEM.

That's like saying that learning
to mix paint is painting.

No, that unlocks your capability
to then become a painter.

And you see someone like
Hillary shows that in spades

and shows the importance
of this type of work.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

I'm super excited about what
your teachers can make possible

for the kids.

- Yeah, well, Mala, all these
conversations go much faster

than I ever expect.

Time flies when you're having fun.

But I just wanted to
first of all thank you

for sharing your story with us.

Thank you for this partnership

between Adobe and Khan Academy.

I really do think it's going to unlock

hopefully many millions of
Hilary Andeles around the world

to benefit all of us and be
just more creative in the world

which I think just makes
the world more interesting.

Any final thoughts for all of the parents

and students and teachers listening?

- I want to say let your
kids express themselves

in the way that they want to

and know that the tools are just a means

to get their ideas out and
creativity is equally important

as the science and the
math that they're learning

because that ultimately

is how they will be able to have impact.

Is by bringing their
ideas out into the world,

sharing them with others
and having impact.

So, thank you.

- Love that, thank you so much Mala

and I couldn't agree with you more.

If you don't have that creativity side,

then really all of the skill level

is to some degree all for not.

It's all it everything
it needs to be in service

to creativity and we're so
excited about this partnership.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you, thank you, it's a pleasure.

And thanks for having me.
- Well, thanks everyone.

No, no, it's been a pleasure.

Thanks everyone for joining today.

We're very excited about this partnership

with Khan Academy and
Adobe around creativity.

Parents, students, teachers,
you can all check out the site

that we're doing on the creativity cloud.

I'm sure if you do a Google
search for Khan Academy,

Adobe and the Creative Cloud,

I'm sure you will find
all of these resources

and we look forward to
continuing to go on this journey

of learning with you.

Thanks everyone.

(beep)