Cool Classroom Tech Tool Review - Prezi

     This week, I took a moment to explore a tech tool I could implement in the classroom.  I chose to explore and experiment with Prezi.  I selected only tools I was unfamiliar with so that I could give an unbiased opinion, and Prezi is no exception.  Prezi is a tool used to create slideshow presentations.

     Let me start by saying I enjoyed using Prezi.  In my undergrad days, presentations were made using Microsoft PowerPoint... and that was it.  While I am more familiar with PowerPoint, Prezi was slightly easier and faster to use.   I feel like the pros of this tool is that many of the presentations are designed for users to simply plug information, the tool comes with a variety of predesigned presentation formats, backgrounds and fonts.  It also has the text and slides move in attention grabbing ways.  You can change these things, but you also do not have to start from scratch.  Prezi allows users to embed videos and links, however these features require a paid subscription.  The free version is more limited.  Fairly typical..... annoying.... but typical.

       I think this tool could be very useful in a classroom.  A teacher could use Prezi in order to create and share lecture notes.  Students could create presentations on a variety of topics, create digital book reports, or to present speeches.  Students could also use this tool as a way to plan out papers instead of creating paper and pencil graphic organizers.  In fact, many of the presentations are already formatted with slides for introducing a topic, followed by slides for subtopics and details.  It provides a nice visual for how to organize many types of writing.

      I believe I would encourage the use of a tech tool such as Prezi in the classroom.  The presentations it can create are eye catching and fairly easy to modify.  I had a bit of a struggle figuring out how to add animation, but I feel that today's digital natives would be more adept at using Prezi than I am.  I could definitely use it to create slides for book introductions or to demonstrate how to map out different forms of writing.  However, I wonder if there are tools that can do more for less?  Can I embed videos and make things more interesting with similar tools such as GoogleSlides for free?  After all, if my students are digital natives, these are the things that will catch and keep their attention.  I don't know, but I am willing to bet there is probably something better out there.

If you are interested in using Prezi, check it out here.