As can be seen from older blog posts on this site I had no problems embedding a Prezi before. However in December 2012 Prezi.com changed their embed code.

After searching for a fix I found the following blog post by Panos:

• Inserting Prezi docs

The update at the bottom of the blog post is great – it simply tells you where Prezi have moved the ID to since December. This works fine in most Web browsers however in some Internet Explorer browsers (my work computer has a particularly old version of IE) you get annoying scrollbars at the right and bottom of the Prezi. Eventually after searching I found the fix was to add style=”position:absolute”:

• Need to remove scrollbar displaying in IE8 for embed player

So the completed code required to make it work now looks like this:

The “prezi_id=mewlfkbikpeq can be found at the beginning of the Prezi embed code: <iframe src=”http://prezi.com/embed/mewlfkbikpeq/

The effect is like:

Also something I do incase the Prezi doesn’t display on a particular device is to add the following:

The Prezi can also be accessed here: http://prezi.com/mewlfkbikpeq/introduction-to-ar/

• able to have multiple simultaneous editors with clear colour indicators during the editing process
• ease of access on multiple devices including options for collaborators without a Google account
• ease of use in terms of the interface and the ability to download in different file formats

So I guess I had high hopes for Google Docs Presentations (I have written about this before here: Google Docs presentations reconsidered).

Normally I do a Prezi presentation, but in this case a PowerPoint was required and because three of us in disparate locations were collaborating I thought it worth trying Google Docs Presentations. These were the issues:

• I uploaded an existing PowerPoint file – there were formatting issues – some images didn’t import, 1 slide had an animation which no longer worked
• I didn’t find the user interface as intuitive as Microsoft PowerPoint which slowed me down
• I didn’t find there were enough advanced features which made me appreciate Microsoft PowerPoint more as I have obviously just become used to certain functions e.g. image formatting features
• when uploading a YouTube clip a screenshot appeared that you had no choice over and in one case was extremely poor resolution; once downloaded the link to YouTube was lost
• when I tried to download a Presentation as an editable file and open in PowerPoint it came up with error messages – these error messages repeated several times although in the end I was able to open the file (I tried this both with Presentations started from scratch in Google Docs and ones I had uploaded)

How did we resolve these issues? Well we couldn’t meet up so in the end we used Dropbox to transfer versions of PowerPoint between us – much faster and easier. Finally we also used Dropbox to share the PowerPoint (as it was too large a file size) with the conference organiser.

Please share your experiences of using Google Docs Presentations, maybe there are some secrets to using it properly that I am missing out on? or maybe not?

Result from Google Search for Marmite

Do people either love or hate Prezi?

Personally, I love Prezi (and I love Marmite), but the point of a presentation is the audience and so I care about what other people think. Two different comments about the same Prezi I gave recently:

1. I hope there won’t be too much pointless zooming, rotating and jumping around the screen.

2. After all the PowerPoints finally a Prezi!

The blog post Prezi and ‘Death by motion-sickness’ from January has also led me to this reflection. See also this blog post I just discovered titled Prezi, the Marmite of presentation tools from way back in October 2010.

Exploring the analogy with Marmite a little bit further. I guess that you could say Marmite comes in different containers for different purposes, from plastic squeezable…

Squeezy Marmite

… to sterling silver lidded glass pots of Marmite.

I am thinking both of how PowerPoint and Prezi can be used for different purposes (see also these comments by a Learning Technologist) and by extension, how Prezi can be adapted for different purposes.

Currently I use Prezi for:

• The thinking process in creating a presentation/resource – this is different to PowerPoint (whether it shows or not in the final result I don’t know!)
• Presentations e.g. http://prezi.com/xcqeco9iazaa/kaptur-dhc-2012/
• Interactive poster e.g. http://prezi.com/c-l7qxvwafvb/create-curate-collaborate-interactive-poster/
• Learning resource e.g. http://prezi.com/aitprjdioxj7/kaptur-workshop-version-1-0/
• Instead of a video to describe a project e.g. http://www.vads.ac.uk/kaptur/

So do you love or hate Prezi? and if you use Prezi – how do you use it?

Checkland building, University of Brighton. Photo: MTG

Delegates entered the room to the sound of Johnny Cash’s ‘I Walk the Line’ LP. They were asked to select an object and accompanying postcard from Jac’s amazing and inspiring collection:

Items from the collection of Jac Cattaneo. Photo: MTG

The overarching framework for the session was purposefully presented within a PowerPoint; this was in order to avoid ‘Prezi’ overload!

After the background to the project, Curtis performed his Prezi poem: ‘Prezi Hesi Tate‘ and talked about some of the theories and writings that had inspired our practice.

Jac led a group activity on free writing using the objects and postcards. I had pre-prepared a Prezi with the images of the objects so when a number of them were selected by the audience I was able to type up the phrases into a live Prezi and create the group’s collaborative ‘found’ Prezi poem. Curtis selected a member of the audience to perform the poem and this worked really well.

We had lots of positive feedback on the session from attendees as well as useful discussion about Prezi and Creative Writing. Next steps: to write-up the final report, due 14th September 2012.

The ‘Lessons Learned’ Prezi is available here:

Unfortunately due to several factors (which will be discussed in our final report) we were unable to arrange a second visit to the V&A Museum, London. However it was possible to gather additional data from the Creative Writing Groups which will be analysed with the questionnaire data and presented as part of our project findings.

Fil de Fer by Catellani and Smith (lighting in the Gamble Room, V&A Cafe, London)
Photo: MTG

A really productive meeting at the V&A in April led to an application for the UCA Research Fund which was submitted in May. Other bits of news:

• The Creative Writing Groups had their last sessions for the teaching year in May.
• We are looking to arrange a second visit to the V&A for the end of June.
• Curtis and Marie-Therese will be presenting at a UCA Seminar in June, Epsom campus.
• The three of us will be presenting at the University of Brighton Learning and Teaching conference on 13th July.
• Our UCA Learning and Teaching Research Grant funding will complete by the end of July.

Background

Following the day at UCA Rochester when I had the opportunity to meet Curtis Tappenden’s Creative Writing Group and talk about Prezi with them, I then had a chance to visit Jac Cattaneo’s Creative Writing Group at Northbrook College Sussex. The aim of the visit was to give the students a chance for a hands-on session with Prezi following their introduction to Prezi at the V&A. I based this session on the approach I had taken with the ‘Mappa Mundi’ brief.

The Prezi
(the Prezi is also available via this link – I recommend that the volume is put on mute)

Lessons Learned
The following reflection has been written around two months after the session was given:

• The computer room was very well equipped and laid out (including a touch-screen whiteboard which I wasn’t expecting), it was also a good size group to work with (12 people).
• Although Jac had spent time arranging for educational email addresses for the attendees, logging into Prezi was still time consuming and not as straightforward as expected.
• Once everyone was logged-in I was able to demo a few features and by the end of the session all of the participants had created their first Prezi.
• With the Creative Writing Groups at both UCA and Northbrook College the things that make them so effective for Creative Writing can be detrimental to learning a new technology; that is the groups are: extra-curricular, and very diverse with a mixed range of skills and interests. As quoted in our Interim Report to UCA (April 2012):
  

  As the Creative Writing Groups are both extra-curricular this has had benefits as well as disadvantages; for example students (in the questionnaires) liked that this was something they weren’t being assessed on which they could just enjoy. As the sessions are entirely voluntary this means that the students are more engaged and from a range of diverse backgrounds enabling collaboration across courses and disciplines within each institution; however this diversity also means that there is a wider range of abilities and interests and that the number of students attending the sessions and visits can vary.

Background

About 70 FE students (16-17 year olds) were working on an assessed project about maps called ‘Mappa Mundi’; I was invited to give a workshop to them about using Prezi in this context (3 x one-hour sessions in a computer room).

The Prezi
(link here if the Prezi doesn’t display below – recommend playing with volume on mute)

Lessons Learned
(taken from an email written to a colleague on 20th March)

• I think it would have been better if I could have thought of a better way to break the ice at the beginning of the session and a more memorable way to end the session too.
• I didn’t appreciate how much help they would need logging into Prezi (it didn’t help that Prezi have recently changed their interface again so my screencast is already out-of-date.). Next time I would allow more time and instruction for this.
• I didn’t realise that many of the students wouldn’t know their email addresses – this was resolved by displaying guidance on the board about how to access their email.
• Prezi maybe uniquely was okay with students on Facebook as I could mention what the pluses and minuses were i.e. if they logged in via Facebook instead of UCA email they’d get less storage and only be able to have public Prezis.
• If I’d had any examples of the students’ own Prezis to demonstrate I think this would definitely have enhanced the session.
• A lot of one-to-one help was needed i.e. spending time going from student to student and asking them how they were getting on and what I could do to help.
• Finally the students needed a tighter brief for ‘creating a Prezi’.

This has inspired the following new list of pros and cons with Prezi:

Prezi is perfect for …

• telling a story
• providing context
• opening up new modes of thinking – ideal for research thinking
• providing a canvas, which is great for creative people
• Prezi really works beautifully with PDF, SWF and FLV file formats
• even though more and more people are using Prezi it is still possible to provide that ‘wow’ factor, which is always a bonus

Prezi could improve …

• stop showing the bracket frame and ‘Double-click to add text’ EVERY time you select ‘blank canvas’ from the templates dialogue
• allow more than three types/styles of font at one time
• give clear warnings if the file sizes are too large which makes Prezi crash (Prezi’s that download for offline use at about 25 MB or less seem okay, but 40MB + just doesn’t seem to work)
• part of me thinks it would be great if Prezi could enhance tools like editing images and creating shapes; but the other part of me appreciates the simplicity i.e. you can do effects in other programmes and then import them – but maybe more integration with the Adobe family of products would be good (e.g. this is something Extensis Portfolio offers for example)