Event held at the Eastern England sigma Hub, 18th June 2014
Prezi is becoming increasingly popular as a tool to present complex information in a dynamic and visually arresting form, which can accentuate links between concepts. This event was aimed at maths support tutors who wanted to find out more about this alternative to Powerpoint, and how it could be used specifically to present mathematics and statistics content.
The session was run by Robert Jenkins and Jeremy Schildt from the University of East Anglia’s Learning Enhancement Team. Robert and Jeremy had submitted a paper discussing their experiences using Prezi for maths support at last year’s CETL-MSOR Conference, which they took as a basis for this meeting. Prezi allows the production of “interactive mindmaps” which demonstrate how individual concepts are related. This is particularly useful for mathematics, due to the fact that many topics have necessary pre-requisites. With topics represented as nodes, and pre-requisite topics identified though directed paths, a well-crafted Prezi can guide the user through a structured sequence of learning.
Prezis also allow the embedding of documents, videos and other resources, meaning that one Prezi file can contain a rich variety of resources to support learning and understanding. An example of one of Robert’s Prezi’s can be found here.
Delegates at the meeting had time to investigate some existing Prezis, and practise creating their own, before reflecting on the educational value and any drawbacks of this technology.
This event was hosted at University Campus Suffolk. Twelve people registered for the meeting, representing seven institutions across the region.
David Bowers
Chair, sigma Network