My First Prezi...Check!

He was a bold man that first ate an oyster. --Jonathan Swift

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Last night, I took the plunge and sat down after the kids were in bed to create my first Prezi. I felt like a toddler taking her first steps as I first stumbled around with the canvas, text tool and "zebra". After about half an hour of perplexed fiddling and referring back to the cheat sheets, I eventually got the hang of it and my presentation started to 'flow'. Drum roll, please:

Exploration of Web 2.0 on Prezi

What helped:

• Adding elements/text off to the side of the canvas, and then dragging them into place (rather than trying to position them correctly to start with)
• Using the 'frame' tool to group items together
• Trying to minimize motion sickness by limiting the zoom in/zoom out
• Using the 'path' tool at a distance show more than one element at a time
  

What hindered:

• Accidently grabbing the 'resize' tool rather than the 'move' tool
• Accidently grabbing one element rather than a frame
• Not having the 'path' tool cooperate with where I wanted it to go
• I just couldn't figure out the 'hidden frame' tool - it wasn't hidden and it didn't group!

The Verdict:

I will certainly use Prezi as a teaching tool. It is appealing because allows students to process information in non-linear fashion by emphasizing connections and the big picture. This post at the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo states that "like a concept map, a Prezi presentation has the potential to help students understand the context or system in which something has meaning -- and context, as the image to the right perhaps demonstrates (roll your cursor over it) -- is sometimes highly revealing." I also like that Prezi is in the cloud and I can easily embed it in moodle or a class blog.

Prezi is a tool I would use for student projects from middle school up. I am sure kids would be engaged by its creative potential, although some patience would be needed to learn how to use it: "Designing a Prezi presentation is conceptually more challenging than PowerPoint because it lends itself to more complex arrangements of ideas, images, and facts." (Centre for Teaching Excellence, n.d.) Solution: Provide an option to use either Prezi or Powerpoint in order to meet the learning styles of all students.

References:

Centre for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.) Prezi. Retrieved from http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_with_technology/netsavvy/prezi.html

Tell Your Story in a Compelling Way

Using PowerPoint is like having a loaded AK-47 on the table: You can do very bad things with it. --Peter Norvig, Google Director of Research



The above video reminded me of my prior life as a conference/event planner, during which I sat through dozens of scientific presentations featuring Powerpoints so filled with bullet points, text and charts that I had to quietly sneak out of the room to get some air.

The point? Those of us who regularly give presentations need to keep on our toes. There is an art to giving a good presentation, and thanks to Prezi, it is now easier to entertain and inform at the same time.

To prepare for the week ahead, I spent some time tonight going over the tutorials provided at the Prezi website. The videos were short and clear, and I like the way the "Learn" area at Prezi also provides cheat sheets that I can quickly refer back to when I'm in the midst of creating. This Prezi created by founder Adam Somlai-Fischer gave me a lot to think about for the presentation I am about to start:

Copy of How to create a great prezi on Prezi

Of course, PowerPoint is not the only presentation tool with detractors. Prezi also has its fair share of critics. This blog post features a Twitter conversation between librarians with some complaining that Prezi makes them feel physically ill. Clearly, too much zooming and animation has its drawbacks, particularly for those prone to motion sickness. PF Anderson finishes the blog with the conclusion that a good Prezi is "especially special" but "if you aren’t a Prezi wizard, maybe you should stick to Powerpoint."

Am I up to the task?

References

Anderson, P. (2011, February 4). Pondering Prezi [web log post]. Retrieved from http://etechlib.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/pondering-prezi/

Estabanb. (2010, March 16). Stop! You're killing me with Powerpoint [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JU48-FVqvQ

Somlai-Fischer, A. (2011, October 11). How to create a great prezi. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/recyyolzxm3e/how-to-create-a-great-prezi/

Current Events #8: Adobe Flash Concedes Defeat

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction. --Douglas MacArthur

I love my iPad! LOVE IT! But, the one thing that frustrates me is that it won't play Flash content. I can't watch the multimedia at many websites and I can't browse Ikea! I did a little research and found Steve's Jobs "Thoughts on Flash" to to understand why this aspect of the web did not function on the iPad.

This week an article at Vancouver Sun caught my attention: Adobe throws in the towel to Apple in Web Software War. If it's not going to be developed for mobile devices, I wonder how long it's going to be maintained at all. Here is an article at CNN that states that Adobe Flash is on its way out on all devices.

It looks like big changes are coming down the line for some of our favourite Web 2.0 tools like Animoto, Voicethread and Prezi.

References

Finkle, J. (2011, November 9). Adobe throws in the towel. The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/steve-jobs/Adobe+throws+towel+Apple+software/5683707/story.html.

Goldman, D. (2011, November 10). The beginning of the end for Adobe's Flash. CNN. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/10/technology/adobe_flash/

Job, S. (2010, April). Thoughts on Flash. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Web Tool #6: Prezi

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” - Mark Twain

Mark Twain's quote reminded me of the nuances of speeches and presentations. Prezi is a popular Web 2.0 tool that allows users to create visually appealing, zoom in, zoom out, canvas-style presentations. It has “wow” factor that PowerPoint lost a few years back and, furthermore, because it is a cloud application, one’s presentations are available on any computer. In his post about the advantages of using Prezi, marketing blogger KC Claveria (2011) notes that Prezi excels at allowing the presenter to make connections without forcing the presentation into a linear format. Now that I have viewed several Prezis and seen its power to capture audience attention, I would like to familiarize myself with it so I can use it both for lesson presentations and also for student projects.

REFERENCES:

Claveria, K. (2011, August 15). Four reasons why you should use Prezi for your next presentation [Web log post). Retrieved from http://kcclaveria.com/2011/08/4-reasons-why-you-should-use-prezi-for-your-next-presentation/.