Prezi as a teaching/learning tool

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ingrid Ciotti on April 7, 2011 at 1:11am

I agree with all the other comments and have ditched Powerpoint/Keynote in favour of Prezi.

Here is also a helpful link to a presentation on TED by TED about keeping presentations simple: http://www.slideshare.net/mrcoryjim/tedx-presentation-design-tips-e...

In my experience most presentations are way too text heavy and in a way Prezi forces you to get away from the boring dot points...

PS: I'm not a classroom teacher so I can't really make comments about how useful it is in the classroom.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christina on April 13, 2011 at 2:50pm

Once you get practice with Prezi a little it gets pretty easy. I think it is great software to use for presentations. I think it is a little more fun than PowerPoint and it can be used the same way as PowerPoint. I am using it right now to make a timeline of the Civil Rights movement for a lesson and I like it because it is fun and you can create the path for it to follow so it can go in any direction you want. I think the students will enjoy watching this Prezi more than if I just put a PowerPoint together and went from one slide to the next.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kev on April 14, 2011 at 8:45am

Prezi should not be viewed as a powerpoint replacement in a school setting in my opinion. It simply does not have the flexibility that Powerpoint does. I think Prezi is wonderful for introducing topics, embedding on websites, and for creating self-contained packets of information for students to explore.  It is, however, completely "locked down" and offers zero interaction - unlike PPT. 

 

I honestly feel that Prezi can be used for some things but PPT can be used for anything. In 10 years of PPT use I've yet to come up with an idea that PPT couldn't do. In a couple years of Prezi I've found plenty.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Colleen Young on April 14, 2011 at 1:33pm

It's the content that matters - not the tools.

It seems to me that some are getting carried away by all the Prezi zooming in and out stuff. People complain about PowerPoint transitions yet think Prezi is OK?

I have seen some terrible Prezis just like there are terrible PowerPoints.

Interestingly, my husband (International IT Manager) was not over-impressed when I showed him a Prezi.

 

 

 

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Paul H. Strassner on April 14, 2011 at 5:52pm

I love Prezi, it's a nice alternative from PPT.  It's also very easy to use.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mr Stu on May 8, 2011 at 10:55am

Here are two examples of Prezis and videos of students using them in their presentations, so you can see what it may look like in your class.

Cultural analysis of ancient Athens and Sparta (Prezi and video)
http://mrstuartralston.weebly.com/ancient_greece_prezis.html

The Creation of Man by Prometheus (Prezi only)
http://mrstuartralston.weebly.com/wh-prezi-myth.html

In both of these projects the students were responsible for creating visual pieces that were then assembled into the Prezi. This challenged them to recreate aspects of what we were studying, then to arrange them according to relationship.

In my mind, the greatest benefit of Prezi is in challenging students to create meaning with the spacial relationships. When students are challenged to recreate a story, or an entire reality, and they have to understand how the pieces fit together both physically and topically (subject, subtopic), they are demonstrating higher learning. In this way, Prezi is like a huge flowchart, and the students are demonstrating how the content fits together in their own head.

Plus, it's fun. ;)

Enjoy!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Fuson on May 11, 2011 at 8:10am

I and my students use Prezi for presentations and projects in the classroom. You have to use it quite a bit to get use to the mechanics, but some of the things I have seen teachers do with it makes the effort look worthwhile.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by C.S.Stone on May 11, 2011 at 11:11am

I sometime use prezi instead of powerpoint. It is a bit complicated to learn at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is a great tool. The kids LOVE it.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Wylie on May 12, 2011 at 4:18pm

I also think it is good, but it is another of these tools that technically need parental permission for students to have public accounts, and I think a lot of people forget that. Terms of service say:

 

The Prezi Service is intended for adults only. You must be 18 years old – or, if the age of majority in your state or province is greater than 18 years, such age of majority in your state or province – or have obtained the consent of your parent or guardian to use the Prezi Service. In accordance with U.S. Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), Prezi will never knowingly solicit, nor will it accept, personally identifiable information from users known to be under thirteen (13) years of age. Please see our privacy policy for additional information or for how to notify us of any concerns you may have in this regard.

 

How much of this applies to the education accounts, I am not sure. So, make sure you look for the teacher/student account signups. EduEnjoy accounts are free, but parental permission is never a bad idea.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Liana Gooch on June 28, 2011 at 4:54am

Hi

Students often use prezi as a means to present inquiry projects as it is a more creative alternative to power point  in which students can present their guiding and focusing questions in an interesting manner.  The audience is definitely engaged by this presentation type.  The students who use Prezi find it relatively easy to navigate.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rebekah Tageson on September 18, 2012 at 8:37pm

I have seen and used it before.  I think that with some of the different templates, you could do many different subjects.  I think that it would be great to use Prezi as a book review, and it would be great to use to introduce a historic person.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Caroline Schuster on September 23, 2012 at 8:26pm

I learned about Prezi through a college class last year, and LOVE it!  I used it as a tool of identifying the main ideas of chapters I was reading for the course.  I also took a "creativity in the classroom" course last semester and we took pictures of things our group did as part of a scavenger hunt.  My group then uploaded the pictures onto the Prezi and created a "wordless book."  We said that if this was our actually classroom, students would be able to make up their own stories using the pictures found on the Prezi. Those are two of the ways I would use Prezi in my classroom, and I'm sure as classes go along, I will create other ways to incorporate it into my lessons/ classroom! 

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page