No Time like the Prezi!

No Time like the Prezi!

 

As part of this week’s assignment, we are to explore and analyse one out of a select group of IT tools for educational purposes. I chose Prezi. Like many of you, when I heard the word ‘Prezi’ I was left scratching my head as to the meaning of this tool, having never heard of it before!

For the uninitiated, Prezi is a brilliantly simple technology to use! It is a wonderfully flexible blank canvas with which the user can create presentations and graphs, mind maps and the like with or without the templates provided. Here is a simple example that took me about 20 minutes to complete:

 

Several key features about Prezi make it ideal for turning the mundane classroom presentation on its head. For example; The average PowerPoint presentation is simply a matter of flicking from slide to slide, sometimes with no recollection of the content on the slides before and no real physical connection to the slides ahead (more, simply as a reminder to the educator as to what they were going to say to the students, than for active participation by said students). Prezi’s zoom tool changes that by allowing the presenter to zoom in on aspects of a presentation instead of flicking from slide to slide, to get the viewer a better idea of the presentation as a whole.

For example; in this very professional-looking presentation on the Western Lowland Gorilla by J.D. Vorheis (2012)…

It is incredibly easy to zoom in on one particular aspect of the presentation!

 

This tends to make lessons more interactive, and hence, more memorable and fun (particularly for younger students)!

Encourage students to use this tool and in no time, professional and easy to read presentations can be created by students as individuals and in groups. Another great aspect of this tool is that it is not just available at school. If students do not get their presentations done in time at school, they can go home and collaborate online with their classmates (no more excuses!). Older children can be encouraged to create their own digital resume and portfolios. A ‘how to’ presentation can be found on this link: You Tube- Prezi

Engage Your Class (2013). In Prezi. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/prezi-for-education/

Prezi (2013). In Instructional Tech Talk: Education and Technology. Retrieved from http://instructionaltechtalk.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-prezi/prezi/

Vorheis, J.D (2012). The Western Lowland Gorillas. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/0kzxesbyv5hc/the-western-lowland-gorillas/