Saturday, March 13, 2010

Prezi: A Creative Presentation Tool

I have bookmarked a link to the Prezi website for awhile now, but I have never tried to use the site as I had no presentation system in my classroom. This week with the installation of an Eno board and a ceiling mounted projector a whole new world of creativity and teaching has opened up for me. While I wait for the install of the lesson making software, I decided to give Prezi a try. Teachers can sign up for a free Prezi account here.

According to the Prezi website, Prezi is a living presentation tool.

Prezi is zooming sketches on a digital napkin.

It's visualization and storytelling without slides. Your ideas live on stage and on the web. Have you ever wondered about presenting your thoughts as free as they come? Ever got tired of creating a slideshow?

It's been said, that the best innovations come from people who are unhappy with the tools they use. We realized that our ideas won't fit into slides anymore. Putting together creative thinking and technology expertise, we have created Prezi, a living presentation tool.

I decided to try my hand at Prezi and in about an hour, I came up with this presentation. It is far from perfect and needs a lot fo cleaning up, but it shows the capabilities of the program and I am already thinking of new ways that I can use this in my classroom.

I look forward to seeing how this looks and works on my Eno board when I return to school. Here is an embedded version of my lesson. It is based on a mini writing lesson from Grammar Lessons and Strategies That Strengthen Students¹ Writing.




3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow I really enjoyed your Prezi. I especially like how you displayed photos (real and cartoon). In PowerPoint it is a lot more difficult to go back to a slide. In Prezi you can see everything on one slide and zoom in! I can see how students' interest level would be higher to watch a presentation on verb or nouns for example if it was presented in this way. Great job, was it easy to use and import pictures?

Jim Hansen said...

Hi Katie,
The Prezi was fun to make. I haven't made any more since this one, as new technology is "happily" pouring into my classroom and there are many new things to learn and try out.

It was not hard to add pictures to the Prezi. The only thing I found difficult was the sizing of letters and words as the Prezi was being made. In the end it didn't matter as it always zooms to the correct size.

I think it more visually interesting to use in the classroom than a PowerPoint or similar presentation.

Best wishes if you give it a go.
Jim

A said...

Interesting. Please keep posting on your experiences with Prezi.


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