Prezi: A Web 2.0 Tool

An interesting web 2.0 tool is Prezi, an online presentation tool which combines the cloud format (AKA it's accessible to anyone you wish to share it with), new technology, and old Powerpoint basics. It is accessible on any web browser that had adobe flash. Unlike Powerpoint or older presentation tools, Prezi uses one large slide, similar to a white board, which acts as the canvas to the presentation. On this large slide, smaller images, blurbs, videos, and pictures are inserted. Rather than moving from slide to slide, Prezi presentations zoom and move from one area of the canvas to another so your ideas, images, music, etc flow to share your ideas or tell your story in a natural, easy to follow manner. Starting the large canvas, audiences have a sense of your total goal, or where your presentation will lead as a whole. For example, if you were presenting on WWI, your large canvas image could be the image of a cannon and along the cannon you see a timeline of the "slides" or areas you are going to talk about concerning the war.

 Prezi is interesting because due to its online and sharing capabilities, it becomes interactive. As an audience member, not only can you move from "slide" to "slide", but you can zoom in or interact with the "slide" you are on. For example, if I posted a Prezi on essay writing and I assigned all of my students to look at it for homework, I could have a basic timeline of the components of an introduction paragraph. Then, a student could click on each component to see samples, rules of that component, or get more indepth information about that specific aspect.

Prezi could be used many ways in the classroom. Because of its zoom capabilities, students can zoom into pictures to look at finer details and open discussion to more specific elements. Prezi allows for dynamic diagrams which students could all add to on a class Prezi page. Teachers could post a topic or issue and have student create their own "slides" or branches off that topic to show what they had learned or found. Students can create a unit Prezi which they continually add to as the unit goes on, or just use it as a group or individual presentation tool. The options are limitless!

While Prezi does offer a lot of opportunities in the classroom, it is similar to any other application and takes time to learn how to work it. I created a short Prezi (below) before watching a tutorial and it took quite a while to pick everything up. However, once you learn the basics, everything else is just learning the tools to enhance the presentation. The nice thing too about Prezi is that if you sign up with your school email, you get a larger amount of space to save your presentations for free. If you sign up as an individual, you have to pay for space after a cetain point.

I'd encourage everyone to sign up and play around with it. I think Prezi will be the "new" Powerpoint in schools before we know it.

My first Prezi