I have been asked to think about how I would use one of the topics discussed in my ICT input. I have decided to focus on Prezi as it is something I have never seen before and think has great potential in the classroom. Prezi is a different way to create eye-catching presentations which I think children will really engage in.

Prezi is interactive and allows you to create a background, and move around it easily. A nice example I saw today was a rainforest that zoomed in and out of different animals that inhabit it, which had typical rainforest noises in the background. I think that if this was used in a classroom it would be an interesting way to introduce the topic and set the scene to the children. This is great for all types of learners because it provides visual experiences, physical experiences and auditory experiences. The combination of these three could really engage a child and help them retain knowledge.

The nature of Prezi means you could use it in all age groups of a school, whether it be using mainly visual aspects for younger years, or adding more information based learning for older years.

Ways in which I would use this in a school would be to introduce a topic in an interesting way to the children, or even to sum up information I have taught. I think it would be a good way to validate a lesson at the end of a day in a way that isn’t tiring or repetitive for children. Another way I think this could be advantageous in a classroom could be to get the children to make their own Prezi on a topic they have been learning about. This would probably be too difficult for younger years though, so different levels of support may be needed.

Areas this can relate to in the Curriculum for Excellence is the ICT section. I will highlight some course codes below corresponding to a Primary 4 age group and older, as this is the age group I will be in for my first placement.

“As I extend and enhance my knowledge of features of various types of software, including those which help find, organise, manage and access information, I can apply what I learn in different situations.” TCH 1-03a / TCH 2-03a

Prezi is a program that will help children find information, and organise their own thoughts into a presentation.

“I can create, capture and manipulate sounds, text and images to communicate experiences, ideas and information in  creative and engaging ways.” TCH 1-04b / TCH 2-04b

Prezi will allow children to do just that. Children can use any image, sounds and information they want and put it all together in a fun and interesting way.

Prezi seems like a very beneficial resource that teachers can use and I look forward to using it in the future.