Prezi and Technology Standards

The first technology based standard for students, according to Nets for Students on the ISTE website states that:

1. Creativity and Innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:

a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

Creating a presentation with Prezi would meet this standard because students could use an innovative Web 2.0 tool to create an original expression of their ideas (part b). It could also be used to meet part c of this standard because the technology can be used to express ideas that are both simple and multi-faceted.

Gagne and Interactions

Robert Gagne’s “Nine Events of Instruction” describes a model of instruction where each step builds on the preceding step. While I think these steps are fairly intuitive, it makes sense for instructors to be familiar with them to ensure that their lessons are following a logical format. Having these steps in mind when planning a lesson will help the teacher to organize their ideas and create an engaging experience.

We learned that there are three different types of interactions in the classroom: student/student, instructor/student, and student/content. It’s important to plan lessons with different types of interactions in mind. You would not want to use only the instructor/student type of interaction because I don’t think students would be fully engaged for the entire lesson. However, if you broke the instructor/student interactions up with some small group activities (student/student) and possibly a project (student/content), it would create a much more dynamic lesson. Some steps seem to fit better with certain types of interactions, like “Step 2-establish a purpose”, seems like it would be a student/instructor interaction. However, I actually think that you could use any of the interactions in any step of Gagne’s model of instruction and trying something unexpected may improve the learning experience.

My Prezi

Wow, what a great tool! I've seen these types of presentations before and always wondered how they were created...now I know. I will definitely be using this in the future.