Along with the rest of the senior class, Brad Ross is weighing the best options for presenting his senior project. Since his project includes drawing sketches and presenting them digitally, one of the options he is considering is Prezi.

Prezi is “zooming sketches on a digital napkin.”  This web-based program allows anyone to create a presentation full of uploaded media like video and pictures while it freely moves across the screen.  And JC has taken an interest in this relatively new tool.

Ross was first introduced to Prezi in his AP Government class when he and his classmates had to create a presentation for an assignment.  “It was relatively simple to create the presentation, which was more pleasing to the eye than a normal PowerPoint,” said Ross.

History teacher Brian Powell uses Prezi in his classroom and first learned of the program from Fine Arts and Latin teacher Richard Wojewodzki when he introduced it to a few teachers in the tech community.

Powell was interested in the tool because “it’s fluid and constant –  it moves. [My] initial draw was that I always used the same slideshows; it’s something different. [Also, because it’s] web-based, and [it] allows me to access it from any computer in the world.”

Powell came to JC from a tech-based school much like how JC has recently become and “had always been a little on the edge of technology.”  He tries to introduce a new technology with a new lesson in the classroom other than the basic programs used at JC.  “It’s not all about what’s in the textbook,” said Powell.  “It’s good to encourage the students to see what’s out there.”

Ross also encourages others to use Prezi and said, “One can alter how professional the presentation appears so it can be used for basically any assignment.”

Taylor Schafer can be reached for comment at [email protected].