Before our Prezi tutorial and assignment, I had seen a few Prezi presentations in several of my grad courses. Being used to Powerpoint from my years in consulting, I initially loved the fresh and fun look Prezi brings to presentations. As I watched more presentations, however, I realized that it is very easy to overuse Prezi's zooming features and intricate designs. When this happens, presentations become overwhelming and it becomes difficult to sort out the main ideas of the content. I think this becomes even more of a challenge for younger audiences.
After doing the assignment, I do not think the basic templates are too overwhelming or intricate. I chose the "pathway" template, which guides the viewer along via a simple flow. It has footprints that mark the way, and simple circles to frame each "presentation point." I do think that a more youthful template like this would be more engaging for students, as opposed to a Powerpoint template, which can look very business-like very quickly. My guess is the more distracting templates I saw on prior presentations are only available via an upgrade. Once I got used to the menus and how to sequence the flow, it was easy to construct my presentation.
I just completed a lesson plan for my World Language Methods course, and I definitely needed slides to use as visual aids to support my French lesson. I immediately opened up Powerpoint and set to work on my slides. After creating a few, I remembered that I could have used Prezi. I stuck with Powerpoint, however. This is most likely because my comfort zone lies with Powerpoint. I also think that Prezi is more geared to very short snippets of text. All presentations should limit the amount of text, but I felt I needed more room for my French text (maybe this is because the template I selected had circular "slide" layouts, as opposed to the rectangle in Powerpoint). I think I need more time to experiment with Prezi, and my goal is to use it for one of the other lesson plans I need to do for my World Language Methods course this semester. I will add to this post with my results!
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I also want to include a few words about Skype in this blog post. I really enjoyed the Skype discussion with Patrick Larkin. I thought it was very informative, and the fact that he took time out of his clearly busy schedule to speak with one class from Fairfield University speaks to his passion on the subject of technology in schools. Having graduated in 1994 from high school, I find his iPad initiative remarkable. I still cannot get my head around the fact that students will use the iPads responsibly for the most part, but he seems to have a great deal of confidence in the students, and he also views the benefits as outweighing any risks. Maybe this confidence is the secret to his success! In addition, I also wondered how he encouraged all teachers, especially those who do not consider themselves "tech savvy," to use the iPads in their classrooms. His expectation that teachers set a goal of adopting and implementing one new tool each year is very realistic. I think this approach will minimize any additional pressure teachers may feel in the midst of an already pressure-filled career.
I find so much potential for using Skype in a world language classroom. I could skype with native French speakers from around the world on a variety of topics. For example, I could arrange conversations with a French restaurant owner as part of a thematic unit on food. Or I could skype with a native French citizen about current events in the country. Finally, we could skype with an English class in France with whom we are "key pals." The fact that these conversations can be in French as much as possible will provide students with more exposure to authentic language and accents, and provide more opportunities to improve listening comprehension and oral speaking skills.
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