Friday, June 10, 2016

Web 2.0 Tool #1: Presenting with Prezi

Link: https://prezi.com

Link to example: http://prezi.com/efcr5jd2aupk/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Description: Prezi is a web-based presentation unlike Power Point. It allows users to spread their information over a vast canvas and then zoom in on each component of the presentation in a predetermined sequence. The different components can include text, picture, videos and audio clips. At any time the presenter can zoom back out so the audience can see where they in terms of the "big picture." I really enjoy using Power Point but I can't see how it can present information in the same way as Prezi.

As a first time user of the product, I was extremely pleased with how quickly you are able to put together your first presentation. The tutorial shows a user all the essential tools and within 10 to 15 minutes I was creating my presentation. The ability to continually bring the audience back to a "Big Picture" overview is really helpful. Recently, I facilitated a workshop where we examined the process used to create an environmental education curriculum. I wish I had used Prezi instead of Power Point so that after discussing each component, we could have come back to the process as a whole.  The free version of the software offers a variety of ways to present your information; however, if you do not have an internet connection you will not have access to your presentations. In order to work offline with the presentations, you have to purchase one of the upgraded versions.

I am not a fan of stand-alone grammar lessons but sometimes in an ESOL classroom you have to take the time to explicitly teach certain grammatical structures. I could use this lesson to introduce conditionals and how they are formed. This is a constructivist lesson in the sense that I am asking the students to examine the examples and non-examples with the expectation that they will be able to make certain rules about conditional sentences based on punctuation and verb tense. The Prezi would have to be accompanied with a handout that guides their note taking based on the ESOL level. Once they had attempted to make their own rules based on the examples in the presentation, I would provide them with some online grammar resources and ask them to research conditionals to see if their rules were correct. After completing a comparison of their rules and those discovered on the web, each group could present their findings to the class. 

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