EdTech Connect: “Mia Healy: Creativity is the New Campus Currency”
Host: Jeff Dillon
Guest: Mia Healy, Higher Ed Consultant at Canva
Date: November 28, 2025
Episode Overview
Main Theme:
This episode explores how creativity has evolved into a vital “campus currency” for colleges and universities, with a focus on integrating technology to empower students and staff. Guest Mia Healy dives into her journey from student leader to EdTech consultant at Canva, sharing insights on bridging institutional barriers, fostering digital storytelling, and driving campus-wide innovation with tools like Canva and AI.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Mia's Creative Projects and the Power of Digital Storytelling
- Personal Story: Mia shares her recent joy in creating a digital keepsake for her daughter’s first birthday using Canva and AI, reflecting on how design makes memories tangible.
- Quote (03:35):
"It reminded me just like how design can make memories so tangible... I wanted to put something digital together and then see if I can, like, maybe scale it every year." — Mia Healy
- Quote (03:35):
2. Passion for Education & Technology: The Student Perspective
- Origins of Her Drive: Mia’s challenges in college—financial stress, a sense of belonging—shaped her mission to make education approachable and personalized.
- Dual Perspectives: She stresses the importance of understanding both the student and institutional sides for meaningful tech advancements.
- Quote (06:04):
"Technology could be the equalizer... with empathy and purpose, meeting students where they were." — Mia Healy
- Quote (06:04):
3. Student Leadership & System Change
- Cal State Student Association Presidency: Mia reflects on representing half a million diverse students, navigating microclimates within the California State University system, and aligning stakeholders for systemic change.
- Quote (10:28):
"Meaningful change in education really requires a lot of alignment between stakeholders around shared goals... making sure we’re pulling the rope in the same direction was challenging." — Mia Healy
- Quote (10:28):
- Action-Oriented Leadership: Focused on shifting culture and systems rather than quick, surface-level projects.
4. Digital Transformation: The Moto Labs Experience
- Change Management: Mia’s time at Moto Labs highlighted that effective technology adoption is about “trust, timing, and people”—not just the technology itself.
- Quote (15:33):
"You have to dance with the change. You can’t bring disruption, because that’s not where change is meaningful." — Mia Healy
- Quote (15:33):
5. The Canva Era: Democratizing Visual Communication
- Role & Mission: As a Canva consultant, Mia helps universities strategically leverage visual communication and digital storytelling for all campus constituents.
- Strategic Integration: She builds frameworks for brand governance, accessibility, and skill-building, meeting institutions “where they are” to cut through digital noise and empower community engagement.
- Quote (18:02):
"I partner with colleges and universities to help integrate visual communication as a core capability across the entire campus..." — Mia Healy
- Quote (18:02):
6. Ground-Level Innovation with Canva
- Student Digital Portfolios: Mia highlights students building interactive digital portfolios to align academic work with career ambitions—a modern twist on resumes.
- Brand Cohesion: Using Canva’s brand kit feature to standardize branding and improve collaboration across departments.
- Personal Anecdote (23:11):
Mia humorously shares past branding missteps as a student, underscoring the value of standardized visual tools.
- Personal Anecdote (23:11):
7. Artificial Intelligence: Canva’s Growing Role
- AI Tools & Integrations: She details exciting developments like Canva’s “Magic Studio,” the new ChatGPT integration that allows users to prompt Canva file creation directly from within ChatGPT, and the Canva Code tool for generating custom learning portfolios and interactive websites.
- Quote (26:04):
"Canva is the second most used AI platform globally, second to OpenAI." — Mia Healy
- Quote (26:04):
8. Emerging Trends in Higher Ed Tech
- Generative AI: Shift from pockets of experimentation to intentional strategy and implementation across institutions.
- Digital Skill-Building: Design, communication, and data literacy becoming baseline competencies for all disciplines—not just creative majors.
- Quote (29:00):
"Tools like Canva are really being embedded into coursework to help students translate more complex learning experiences into visual landscapes." — Mia Healy
- Quote (29:00):
9. Advice to Students and Educators
- Say Yes: Emphasizing the importance of openness, curiosity, and focusing on qualitative impact over quantitative achievements.
- Quote (30:44):
"Start where you are, use what you have and say yes to learning moments that scare you a little bit... The more you start to learn, that's what life's all about—how can I be useful?" — Mia Healy
- Quote (30:44):
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Institutional Change:
"You have to dance with the change... you can’t bring, like, disruption—because that's not where change is meaningful." — Mia Healy (15:33) -
On Digital Skill-Building:
"Communication, design, and data literacy—those are like the baseline competencies across all majors now." — Mia Healy (29:00) -
On Innovation with AI:
"ChatGPT can create a design for you in Canva with X amount of criteria, whatever you want, and it'll pop open a Canva design. It’s just fantastic." — Mia Healy (26:54)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 02:40 – Mia’s digital keepsake project and design philosophy
- 04:04 – Beginnings in student leadership; technology as an equalizer
- 10:28 – Cal State Student Association: lessons in broad-scale leadership
- 15:33 – Moto Labs: Change management and campus partnerships
- 18:02 – The mission at Canva: visual communication as a core campus skill
- 23:11 – Student digital portfolios and legacy of branding
- 26:04 – AI integrations and Canva’s new capabilities
- 29:00 – Trends to watch: generative AI and cross-discipline digital skill-building
- 30:44 – Final advice: curiosity, saying yes, and meaningful impact
Episode Tone
Authentic, collaborative, and practical—focused on real stories, honest lessons, and actionable advice for higher ed professionals and students alike.