A Presentation Tool that Might Just Put an End to Power Point

Prezi is a new kind of presentation tool that might just put an end to power point presentations. Prezi simulates how the human mind works, that is, non-linearly, opposed to the power point linear presentation. The human brain thinks faster than the presenter talks and thus focuses the attention to one aspect of the presentation. In addition, our minds think in a web-like directions. This is where power point stifles our way of thinking. Power point presentations were attacked continuously as making the audience “stupid” especially with it famous bulleted points.

Prezi presentation rationale is simple. The ideas presented are laid out on a map and the presenter focuses on the idea he or she wants to present ( including media) by focusing on that idea non-linearly.

The presentation embedded below shows on sample I did on one course. The navigation can be set to my restricted navigation path or to your own preference. In this case, I set up the navigation path to my own preference, that is, the ideas I am focusing on.

The above is intended as an example and not by any means a clarifications of concepts.

Prezi is really easy to construct ( took me 1 hour to learn the navigation and construct the above presentation). For a free account you are able to construct your prezi presentation online and embed/share or download your presentation on you pc. If you upgrade to a pro account you will be able to download the prezi software to your pc to construct your presentation offline.

How to use it with our Language Learners

Well, you could do number of things:

You could present the ideas of a literary piece you’ve been discussing in class and how characters/actions/causes are related
You can have students present a certain problem with solution to.
You can have a group of students edit the same prezi presentation for a project.
You can present or have students present their understanding of a vocabulary word and its derivative/collocations/usage….

You can do numerous things with prezi as you already do with your power point presentations only that your presentation will be consistent with your students’ way of thinking.

So why not have a go for prezi and share your experience here! :)

Comments

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