Heads up, Readers, I will be using the words colleague and classmate interchangeably here… I’m too indecisive to pick one and I think they both fit.
My colleagues are some of the most creative and thoughtful
people I know. I worked with a group of three others to create a lesson and hands-on
activity to help our classmates understand the nuts and bolts of Prezi as well
as it’s appropriate & timely use use. Specifically, we wanted to get them
thinking about when the software would enhance student learning and lead to higher
order thinking. We wanted them to think critically about this and not just
learn how to create flashy presentations. While planning this presentation, we
quickly discovered that there are a lot of bad Prezis out there and decided to
acknowledge the characteristics that made them bad while exploring what makes a
Prezi an effective teaching tool.
Based on participation and conversations, I believe that our
Prezi presentation was both informative and stimulating. Our classmates dove into the activity we
planned and participated in meaningful conversation about how and when the
software is appropriate in the classroom.
We started with a Do Now that we projected on the screen.
We wanted to scaffold the lesson and started with a short,
simple task that would last 5-10 minutes. We had our colleagues sit within
their disciplines (for the group work that would happen later) and create a
visual representation of their families. The purpose of this was to get them
thinking about the different ways information can be shared visually. We had a
lot of interesting and creating images but no one did a family tree – I was
really surprised!
I went over some nuts & bolts of how to use the basic
functions of Prezi (which was all that they needed for our in-class activity).
I learned the hard way not to use new technology in front of a group of people.
I mirrored my screens on my laptop so I could see my presentation notes without
the whole class seeing them, but then I had a difficult time navigating on the
overhear screen with my neck cranked – this would have been much smoother with
either a SmartBoard or notes on an index card. One extreme or the other! Also noteworthy is that we decided to use Google Presentation for the information posted on the screen - ironically, we didn't think Prezi would be appropriate for that part of the presentation.
My group mates shared our opinions of good and bad Prezis
and what made them so. This is when things started getting exciting for me (and
I hope for the rest of my classmates). In our large group setting we started
exploring WHY the Prezis were good and bad and really dug into the idea of how
the software can truly enhance student learning. I regret not video taping this
lesson because this group came up with so much good information!
The activity was even more exciting. We challenged our
classmates to come up with a topic/concept that would be enhanced by Prezi and
had each person create a simple Prezi with this idea.
We had them grouped by
disciplines and
asked them create something individually then pick their
favorite to share out with the whole class. At the end of 20 minutes we had
some really creative Prezis!
This class reminded me of my Extroverted-ness, I could feel
myself getting energized as I walked around talking to my classmates about
their ideas. I sat down and brainstormed with the Social Studies folks about
timelines, watched the science guys get micro and macro with water, and got
lost talking with the math ladies. I tried not focusing too much on the English
folks since that’s my discipline but it was hard to not hover since they were
coming up with really neat ideas. The whole experience was wonderful and I
seriously love how committed everyone in the room was to learning about Prezi
and it’s implications in a secondary classroom.
We sent out a survey today to find out what folks took away from the class and so far we've gotten some great feedback - people are really thinking about when to, and not to use this software!
So as to not leave you hanging, here are a few of the
thoughts we came up with regarding good and bad use of Prezi in a classroom
setting:
Prezi is great for
- connecting non-linear concepts
- showing a time-line (ex. Normandy landings in WWII – travel through each beach)
- expressing macro and micro concepts
- moving around on a map (ex. showing the influence of different countries on Latin American culture)
Prezi may be too much (too flashy?) for
- linear concepts
- lists
- math problems (but it may work well for math concepts?)
- guided notes
