Goals for Technology & Digital Media

Click HERE to see a Prezi on my goals for technology & digital media in my classroom!

As a new student teacher this past year, Prezi was one of the first online platforms that I utilized with my students. Although this tool may seem similar to PowerPoint, I like that it gives viewers a “big picture” view of the presentation and that it allows for presentations that are non-linear. The website itself is incredibly user friendly; it takes minutes to create an account, and students can watch a brief tutorial on how to begin creating their presentation. There’s really nothing complicated about it, and I noticed my students were able to jump right in and begin working within minutes!

In our classroom, we had students use Prezi to create a photo essay about a social issue that mattered to them. With this tool, students were allowed to get creative as they selected their photos, wrote their captions, and compiled it into an interactive presentation for their viewers. On the date that the presentations were due, we did a “gallery walk” in one of the computer labs. Students set up their Prezi on a computer, then all the students rotated around and got to interact with one another’s final products. It was interesting to see that students added components to their presentations that we didn’t expect; not only were there photos and captions, there were also polls, videos, voiceovers, background music, and more. Since Prezi is non-linear and allows viewers to jump around the main ideas, students could focus in on that in which they were most interested. The gallery walk was a success and students enjoyed being able to interact with the work of their peers.

One of the complaints I hear over and over in English education is that our students are tired of writing essays. As educators, we need to find ways to diversify our assignments so that all students (even those who may not favor writing) can express their knowledge in productive, and maybe even enjoyable, ways. In my class, Prezi turned out to be a way for students to do just that. I’ll definitely be using it again in my future classroom!