Toolbox Tip: Using Prezi in the Classroom

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation tool that uses a zooming interface in place of the typical linear format used in PowerPoint and Keynote. I have used Prezi successfully in a classroom setting, and have found that its unique interface offers several advantages in an instructor-led presentation.

The most obvious advantage of Prezi is its novelty. Instead of presenting content one slide at a time, Prezi lets you zoom out to see the big picture and zoom in to examine supporting details. This is accomplished using frames instead of slides.

When designing your presentation, you place your content onto a large, open canvas. Next, you plot a path by framing elements on the canvas and assigning a sequence to the frames. Instead of advancing to the next slide when presenting, you advance to the next frame. The size, orientation, and position of each frame controls the movement between frames. This gives your audience the sensation of flying over the canvas—zooming in to see the smaller frames and twisting to see frames that are placed at a different angle.

The zooming, twisting, and panning movement can make Prezi much more exciting than PowerPoint. When used deliberately and thoughtfully, it can convey meaning in an engaging and memorable way. Unfortunately, when it is used poorly, it can cause your audience to feel seasick. For this reason, trainers tend to think of Prezi as either an exciting new medium for presenting or a flashy gimmick that makes them dizzy. If your first impression of Prezi was tainted by poor design, I hope you will reconsider using it because it can be an excellent tool for instructor-led training.

Here are three of the many ways you can enhance instruction using Prezi’s unique interface.

Use a Visual Metaphor to Improve Retention

Concepts are much more likely to be remembered if they are presented as pictures instead of words. Instructional content that is presented in a line like a filmstrip is limiting. On a Prezi canvas, a large, single image can be used as the background for the rest of the frames, forming a memorable visual metaphor for the entire presentation.

For example, safety skills might be retained better if they are presented in an image of a worker on the job. A list of eyewear requirements could be shown in a frame that zooms in on the worker’s safety goggles. Acceptable footwear options could be listed in a frame that zooms in on the work boots. Learners may be more likely to remember safety mandates when they can picture the image of the worker in their mind’s eye, and visually associate it with the instructional content.

Use Layout to Provide Context

There is abundant educational research indicating that graphic organizers aid in learning. Visuals are more effective than text, but most training presentations rely on text to provide essential information. With Prezi, your text is not confined to a linear progression, so you can position it inside a nonlinear layout such as a graphic organizer.

An example of this is a course depicting a process flow. A flowchart of the process can form the structural layout of the Prezi presentation. Each element of the flowchart can contain text or images that clarify that step in the process. Tracing a path through the frames, the viewer can almost feel the flow as the presentation moves from step to step. The instructor can re-orient the participants at any time by pulling the perspective back so the flowchart can be seen in its entirety. With this visual overview, each step can be easily seen within the context of the whole process.

Use Freeform Navigation to Support Discussion Sessions

Learner-centered instruction relies on the participants’ engagement with the content. Whether instructors interact with participants during the presentation, or save it for a question and answer session at the end, most of them find it necessary to return to a slide for clarification.

If you are using Keynote or PowerPoint, it can be awkward to navigate to a specific slide after advancing past it. You need to know the slide number or have a very good idea of where it is located in the slide deck in order to redisplay it. With Prezi, the process is much simpler. One keystroke displays the complete canvas, where you can easily locate the content you want to display. Point and click on the frame to zoom directly to the image you want. This is an effective way to drill down into the details of the presentation while also providing the context for how the specific concept fits into the big picture.

During the past several years, school teachers have begun realizing the advantages of Prezi over PowerPoint and Keynote, and incorporating it into their curriculums. Prezi has committed $100 million in free licenses to hundreds of thousands of high-school students and teachers nationwide. It also sponsors a free program to train and support teachers in the ed-tech community.

As I see it, the training and development professionals of tomorrow, who are learning Prezi in their high schools today, will bring their technical skills with them as they join our ranks in the industry. Why not get the jump on them and start using Prezi in your own classroom right now?