The Prezi Presentation Paradigm

Every student has, at some point in his or her academic life, been required to give a presentation, and in recent years, class presentations have needed to be tied increasingly to multimedia. It is here where Prezi offers a dynamic means of creating a multimedia-based presentation that can actively engage students, particularly in the smart board context where touch navigation is a key component, and one that allows for carrying out a variety of activities from within the same presentation. Prezi use also promotes active learning, with strengths of the presentation platform providing a unique way to establish interest in key topics, direct attention to various subjects, motivate and engage learners, and draw on the creative talents of students as they start to design and develop their own Prezis. The pedagogical possibilities arising from the use of the Prezi presentation paradigm in the context of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) are offered, along with an overview of instructional strategies, tasks, and activities suitable for multimedia presentation development with learners. Tutorials on how to get started with Prezi are included, along with photocopiable handouts and templates, evaluation techniques, and a comprehensive resource list.