For those students who were progressing through school during the "tech bubble" era, as well as the teachers, PowerPoint was amazing technology that could save time and resources and still result in a high-quality finished product. Sadly, in the years after PowerPoint's conception, the program has turned into a staple for a boring lesson or presentation. These days, it almost seems as if no amount of sound effects, high quality images, or goofy animations can save a PowerPoint presentation from inevitably boring its audience. Yet, the style and ease of PowerPoint still exists as it is a fixed presentation that the students can take notes off of, the instructor can make it accessible for download, and it can be used year after year without having to locate old notes or possibly degraded pictures.
With that in mind, the masterminds at Prezi brought the world a new type of presentation. Instead of just advancing slide by slide, Prezi offers the instructor or presenter a more engaging presentation with the use of a "pathway" for the presentation to take. Presentations can now take the form of pictures, structures, or symbols and traverse them accordingly. Presenters can zoom into fine-print details and back out to important ones to demonstrate importance. These presentations not only show the information that is necessary, but can begin to activate higher order thinking skills as the students attempt to analyze how the structure of the presentation might apply to the overal concept being conveyed.
This once again seems to confirm my affinity for flow charts...
And while you are here, why not watch a Prezi about Prezi:
Is it like an ouroboros if it's itself about itself?
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