I thought I was pretty technologically savvy but when I saw the PGO for Prezi, I thought to myself “well what the heck is that? Surely I must sign up!”. And, I did.
And….
It was awesome! The technology is a much more visually appealing than PowerPoint. In fact, it makes PowerPoint looks like the ditto machine of the 70’s and 80’s, it’s just that cool.
Prezi is a free program to teachers (you need to use your school email address). It is definitely easy to navigate and teach yourself how to put a very cool presentation together.
What I love about it is that Prezi, at its root, functions as a PowerPoint but is way more interactive and engaging for students (and I’m sure, the visual learners!). You begin with a blank template or page. If you aren’t a linear thinker, this tool is for you! You can put all of the information down on the screen in whatever order you think of it or copy it. You can upload pictures and videos. You can even zoom in to parts of the picture or uploaded document to really emphasize an aspect of it. You can make your text huge or teeny, rotate it 38 degrees or even “send it to the back”. You create “paths” that link all of those pieces together!
Prezi makes PowerPoint seem incredibly archaic. I’ve started to convert my PowerPoints to Prezi’s. They are pretty basic at this point but I plan to update the information over the summer to include more links, images and interactive pieces! I think it’s an incredibly exciting technology with total creative or artistic freedom.
https://prezi.com/secure/1ffcd7bdd052caeb64eea309f8d1f419a5f02337/
I wanted to go to this class as well- it looked intriguing, but of course I had some other responsibility/commitment I had to be at. I am hoping that they offer another class on it next year. I went to the website and it seems really easy to work with. Would I be able to teach a lot of it to myself?
ReplyDeleteKids love technology and I am always trying to find ways to implement new techy tools in my classroom. The only thing is, the kids are usually teaching me. At one of our Phase 3 meetings someone brought up using flip cameras in their elementary classrooms. What a great way to receive instant feedback!!! In PE, I thought it would work great if a partner tapped you preforming a skill and then you watched it back immediatly to see where you could improve. We requested some for the PE departement, but our school is first starting out with a few in the library for check out- which is better than nothing.
Mandy, Prezi is pretty easy to navigate. You just need to use your school address to set it up and I think there are even tutorials online as well. I prefer to watch someone demonstrate it but after a few minutes of demonstration, it seemed pretty easy. I'm still experimenting with it but it's more fun than a simple PPT.
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