What Is Prezi? Using Prezi for Effective Teaching

Presentation software is now a familiar tool for teaching and presenting. Beside PowerPoint and Google Slides, Prezi stands out for a fresh way of reaching learners, making lessons and presentations more lively and visual. In this article, MONA Media will help you better understand we explain what Prezi is and how to use it in teaching as effectively as possible.

What is Prezi?

Prezi is presentation design software. Users can present talks, reports and lessons in a lively, visual way. Prezi is widely used in business, education, projects and more.

Using Prezi brings many benefits, because the software works both online and offline. To use it online you do not need to download anything. All your work and data are stored on the internet, so your own computer does not have to hold much data. It is also well suited to for online teaching where everything happens online.

Prezi keeps updating and adds features so you can design more varied, more creative presentations. Features include transitions between slides with striking effects. It also supports interesting camera angles and zoom in and out effects that bring out key points in your content.

How do Prezi, PowerPoint and Google Slides differ?

Now you know what Prezi is, but many people still confuse it with similar software such as PowerPoint or Google Slides. Here is a comparison of Prezi, PowerPoint and Google Slides.

→ Learn more: How to make an e-lesson with PowerPoint

Key features of Prezi

Many themes and striking images

Prezi's first standout feature is that it gives users many themes with striking images. The themes are grouped by field to fit your purpose. Popular groups include business, education, marketing and training.

Each theme includes many ready-made templates. Each template comes with set features, colors and images, but users can adjust them as they like. With these templates you can create a presentation quickly, or use them as design references.

Improved effects in the Prezi tool

As noted above, Prezi's standout feature, and the thing that sets it apart, is zooming to show content from many angles. This suits lessons with lots of images, such as biology, geometry or technology, or analyzing an object or product.

Prezi also has lively transitions from one slide to the next, not the same stiff change between pages. Presenting with Prezi also ties the whole presentation together more closely in one layout, so viewers can follow the full content more easily.

Presentations made with Prezi are creative and professional

Prezi naturally makes your presentation look more professional. From format to style, it helps you make a strong impression and build a polished image. With its rich features and effects, Prezi will spark your creativity so you can make many original presentations.

How to log in and sign up for a Prezi account

Before you start using Prezi, you need to know how to log in or sign up for an account, as follows.

Step 1: First, you can use the offline version and download the software from Prezi's official website. Or you can use the online version and try everything on the internet.

After you open Prezi's main website at https://prezi.com/, choose “Get started” at the top right of the screen to start signing up.

Step 2: The screen then shows the sign-up form for a new account. Follow all the steps and confirm the account, and you can log in to the system.

Step 3: The website then shows the plans available. Choose the plan that suits you, for example Individual (personal), Student & Educators (for students and people working in education) and Business (for companies).

How to build a lesson with Prezi

After you finish signing up and log in, you need to answer a few questions from Prezi (you can skip them by clicking “Skip and go to my dashboard“). The interface then switches to the Dashboard (dashboard). Choose “Prezi Present” on the right-hand bar and then “Create from template” (create from a ready-made template) to build your lesson.

The system then gives you more choices, including using a ready-made template (Create from template) or creating your own presentation (Start from scratch). If you are just starting, we advise using ready-made templates to get used to the software's features, interface and effects.

Next, the system shows many themes for you to choose from. After you pick a template, you go to the dashboard to start designing your lesson. The dashboard has 3 control bars to note:

• First is the slide management bar on the left, where you work with and control your slides. It has familiar functions such as creating a new page, deleting, undoing and help.
• Second is the presentation bar, with controls such as going back to the main screen, zooming and moving between slides.
• Third is the editing bar, where you adjust the interface, fonts, colors, icons and more.

Next, you start writing your lesson . Prezi has functions and effects for adding text and images and creating paths. Paths let Prezi link the parts of your content and know where each one sits.

Finally, to save your file, choose “Save” at the top left of the screen. When you quit Prezi or turn off your computer, the files you saved are kept exactly as they were. Or you can present right away by choosing “Present”.

When learning what Prezi is, one important step you cannot skip is sharing a presentation with Prezi. To share a project, choose “Add Collaborators” in the menu bar and enter the email address of the person you want to invite to work with you.

Benefits of using Prezi in education

Using Prezi in education can bring surprising benefits. For one, the software is already widely used in schools abroad, in countries such as South Korea and the US. Let MONA walk you through the benefits of Prezi below.

Holds attention

With its specially designed interface and effects, Prezi holds the audience's focus without distracting them. It helps you highlight the content that matters and steer attention to it. When you teach or present with Prezi, you can worry less about whether people are paying attention. That protects the quality of the session and makes sure the content gets across. Try changing how you teach and see what new results it brings.

Encourages interaction between students and teachers

Presenting with Prezi also increases interaction between teachers and students. First, students do not have to take in lectures the traditional way, which can be boring. Second, the lively delivery holds students' attention. So interaction between learners, teachers and the lesson works better, which makes the subject more effective.

Varied lesson design that never gets dull

With many themes and a wide range of formats, features and effects, teachers can create highly creative lessons and enrich their lesson plans. Lessons no longer feel monotonous, as they did with the limits of older presentation software. The class gets livelier, and teachers and students both enjoy delivering and receiving knowledge.

There is no denying that Prezi is a very digital lesson planning software convenient tool today. Its slide transitions, layouts and templates are highly creative. We hope this explanation of what the Prezi tool is and how to use Prezi to build lessons has given you some useful information.

→ More related articles:

• How to design e-learning lessons
• How to write an online lesson plan