Using Prezi as Introduction to a Course Unit

Yesterday an article in Facuty Focus sparked my interest in the use of a Web 2.0 tool called Prezi. The article suggested this tool as a fun alternative to a PowerPoint presentation. My curiosity increased when I thought about the assignment I needed to complete for the course “Media Integration” I am taking at CU Denver. I needed to use some kind of media that would not be video, screencast, PowerPoint, or a podcast, so the article was an incentive to explore Prezi further.

Prezi is a web-based tool, it is free for limited use, free with a larger limit for educators, and it also has a paying option. The main difference with PowerPoint is that Prezi does not use slides. Instead, it offers a blank but customizable canvas in which one can type text and insert images. Then there is a feature to thread these images and text in any order just by clicking on the various items you have created and assigning numbers that create a sequence for their display. In short, it is a more visual and less linear way of organizing thoughts and ideas to share with a large audience be it face to face or online.

The “magic” of Prezi is in the zoom feature that it provides. This allows you to see a presentation as if it were an aerial view and then “fly” down to see the details at close range. I think it is really neat. But please take a look at my Prezi so you can appreciate the results.




I have to confess that it took me five hours to complete the Prezi I am posting here. Yes, that is a great deal of time! But most of that time was spent deciding what images and text I wanted to use. Fortunately I can also use the Prezi as an introduction for a Unit in my art history course at CCCO, and hopefully, using Prezi will be a cinch from now on.

If you want to try Prezi go to Prezi.com. There are three short tutorials that will show you the gist of the tool in a few minutes. I like the fact that Prezi is easy to embed in the course. I posted it in my course news “News” as a way to introduce my students to the chapter in Modern Art.

~Carol

P.S. I see that the screen of the embeded Prezi has been cut off on the right side to fit the blog width. I am not sure how to adjust that yet.