Will Prezi swoop into your next presentation?

It seems fashionable, these days. to knock Powerpoint ; in reality, it is more often its poor usage which is the cause of complaint rather than the accessible and stable product itself. ‘Prezi’ is a web-based alternative which allow the presenter to swoop over and into a kind of giant poster of user generated content. Zooming in allows sections to fill the screen to become the equivalent of frames. More on the effects of that swooping later.

 

In many ways, it reminded me of software such as Activ Studio3 used on Promethean interactive whiteboards (what an expensive ‘must have’ but increasingly underused resource they turned out to be).  The best way to understand Prezi is to see it in use – the previous posting has an example.  The on-screen instructions seem obvious at first, but I found I had to play around a little before I felt I was in control of what was happening rather than it ruling me.

 

 Design is key: there is a real danger that the swooping motion might induce motion sickness in the audience.  Properly set out, the full Prezi might make a useful additional resource in its own right.  It also has interesting applications as a giant thinking/brainstorming/spidergraphing space; I am particularly drawn to this usage.

 

I liked the fact that the presentations can be used online or downloaded and sending files seems to be a hassle-free operation. The basic version is free to use and there is enhanced storage space for educational accounts.

 

I’ll certainly be using this over the next few weeks to see what students and staff think of it.

 

Prezi, Bloom’s taxonomy and some interesting suggestions

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and Web 2 Tools on Prezi

A colleague emailed a link to Prezi this week and so I’ve been taking a look. One of the resources in their showcase was on Bloom’s Taxonomy and it seemed too good a chance to pass up. Here is a nice little demonstration of how Prezi – a presentational device as an interesting alternative to the ubiquitous Powerpoint – can be used to explore an issue. More on first impressions of Prezi in the posting above this.

I was interested too in Phillipa Cleaves‘ links to resources which might help expression of the elements of the hierarchy.  I thought this a useful addition to the    wealth of material around about Bloom’s taxonomy: I often seem to spend time trying to think of novel ways for students to demonstrate the higher layers of the hierarchy and it may be that some of these resources will encourage their development. The Prezi is credited to Pip Howell (who might be the same person).