New+Technical+Knowledge

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= **OVERALL IMPRESSION** = ====**This was my first time experimenting with Prezi.com. This is only one example of new technical knowledge that I learned to use throughout the length of this course. I thought the use of a Prezi could be beneficial to both myself and my students. It is definitely a new fresh method of creating presentations or introducing ideas. As a teacher, using a Prezi might keep the students more interested in watching and staying engaged longer, and that is different than using powerpoint. Prezi is also a useful tool for students to create interesting presentations. It was frustrating at the beginning when I was learning all of it's capabilities but as I started to figure it out more, it became like an obsession. I didn't leave my computer for many hours until it was finished. I liked this much better than a slideshow as the effects are more 3D and abstract. Students would love this method of presenting and it is not too difficult for them to do on their own with some instruction.**====

= **FEATURES** = ====**When using Prezi, everything is created on one big page called a "Canvas". The canvas is the main page where the designer can add all sorts of features to enhance and create the path of information. On the canvas, using the mouse allows zoom and panning of thoughts, or additional information that is being shared. There is a tool in Prezi that helps edit information once it is added to the canvas. So for example, if I added a picture to my canvas and wanted to add different effects like rotation, or place it in a different spot on the canvas, something called the "Zebra" is one of the tools that helps with the editting. The zebra allows movement, adjustments of scale, and rotation of any content that has been selected within a frame, all at once.**====

====**When you open a Prezi, you can choose between 5 reusable templates or a blank canvas. When choosing a template, you can edit everything you see on the canvas just as if you were creating your own Prezi, including copying and pasting pre-made content that you would like to duplicate.**====



====**Another feature of Prezi is that you can use other peoples ideas from their presentations by saving an editable copy of another person's Prezi. Through re-use, you can borrow assets, animations or sound effects you see in another Prezi. As long as you remember to cite your references, it is not plagiarism!!**====

====**Colours and Fonts can be changed with the "Theme Wizard". Other Features of Prezi include the addition of URLS, drawings and/or shapes.** **Other shapes that can be added from templates are arrows, lines, rectangles, circles, and/or triangles.**====


 * And Finally, one of the last steps to using Prezi is linking all the frames and information in the direction of the path that you would like it to be presented. The nice thing about the path is that it does not have to be situated in order on the canvas. This feature creates the path no matter where yje frames are situated on the canvas. These visual differences are what make it unique and more interesting to watch than powerpoint presentations.**

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= **EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS AND/OR IMPLICATIONS** =
 * ====**Prezi is a safe website that is free when provided an email address. It is ideal for students for example in health class to present health type issues with the inclusion of videos, pictures, and sounds all in one place and that are easy to add. So as an example t****opic such as the human body, the Prezi could include diagrams of the bones, organs or muscles, along with any video that could be related to the body systems or health related issues with the body. For these same reasons, as a teacher, Prezi is a more valuable teaching tool for in-class physical education type work. Other related topics where Prezi could be used to display information in the health classroom are with yhings such as various instuctions, and how-to videos on navigation/orienteering type activities, calculating heart rate, using pedometers, games and rules, links to websites, or charts etc.. the list goes on.**====
 * ====**It is an easy alternative to boring powerpoint presentations to present information that is fairly simple to use, once you understand its capabilities.**====
 * ====**Depending on the students learning style (such as those who are more linear), all the moving and shifting of frames, and/or shapes and pathways, can become more distracting than useful if those types of things bother the student.**====
 * ====**Adding URL's automatically embed the video directly to the canvas so you don't have to leave the page to go the video. One implication of this is that the advertisements that sometimes come up on the bottom of the page in UTube, if watched in Utube can be closed but can not be closed in Prezi once the video is embedded on the canvas. So when the video starts, the ads may still show. They do get lighter at the bottom of the page but are still visible and a distraction to the playing of the video.**====
 * ====**Students have an option to share their Prezi online or not. Many people post their Prezi's and students can "borrow/steal/use" their information by copying it from an edited version. Prezi tries to encourage this so people have a "library of information" to use, and re-share. As educators we obviously would like our students to create their own ideas but is almost virtually impossible to keep track of all the information they can attain. So plagiarism is always going to be an implication and concern for teachers with 21st century learners. the fun is in seeing what you have created and I think most students would be creative and want something thats their own.**====