Media-infused Presentation or Learning Center

I finally finished my Prezi presentation! What an adventure! I created it to help the 7th and 8th grade students at my school navigate the high school application process. I've seen the looks of astonishment and confusion on the students' faces as they read over the high school literature. I've seen it with my own son when he went through the process two years ago. I wanted to create something that would capture the students' attention, help them understand the process, and have all of the information they need in one place.

I can't wait to use this with the students. As I created it, I realized how important the process of creating a presentation is. I think that the most challenging obstacle I encountered was trying to get some type of audio file to upload to Prezi. I realized I had to convert the file to a video file, and then to a .flv file. I could then upload it into the presentation. I am hoping that Prezi will make uploading a simple audio file a priority when they next upgrade the website.

I still haven't totally figured out how to change colors of shapes. Prezi definitely has the advantage of a web-based presentation, and is always viewed in a non-linear fashion. I'm not sure if I like it as a tool better than Glogster. I think you can do more with Glogster. You have to be conscious of who your audience is, and what your purpose of the presentation is. I teach Kindergarten through eighth grades, and I think Glogster would definitely be a better presentation tool for the early elementary grades. Prezi is a great resource and great tool for the middle and high school aged students. Both tools can help foster development of the disciplined mind, but I think Prezi definitely has the lead when it comes to a web 2.0 tool to help develop the synthesized mind. Adding different disciplines in different ways is a challenge, and is a great culmination and assessment to lessons and instruction that are designed for synthesizing a variety of subjects in the classroom.

I am anxious to try Prezi again, and will. I'm going to share it with the student teacher who I am mentoring. I think there is much more there then I have experienced so far.

If you'd like to see my Prezi presentation, click HERE.