Prezi Template

I spent the morning developing my Prezume. The final product can be found here.

And for the sake of simplicity, here's an embedded version:



I am still trying to decide how I feel about Prezi. My gut reaction was very negative. Although I understand the benefits of using graphics to convey a message, something about this program turned me off. It might have been the tutorial video that compared starting a business to climbing a mountain - I almost puked (and, yes, I've started a business and climbed mountains). My negative reaction might also be related to my experience and the concept of a Prezume. I've sifted through a lot of resumes over the last 20 years and I have a feeling that a Prezume might end up on the fast track to the round file with the resumes that contain misspellings and typos. Call me old-school. Or linear. I don't know. On a related note, I spoke to two close friends about Prezumes.  The first guy is in business development in DC and the second guy is in venture capital in Silcon Valley. Both asked the same question: Why would you use a Prezume when you could develop a LinkedIn profile? I think they have a point...

As for working with Prezi...well, I wasn't too impressed with that experience either. I thought the graphics tools were limited. For example, I couldn't stretch a shape into the size I wanted to use. I could only make the provided shapes bigger or smaller - no long skinny rectangles or ovals. Also, the small delay that occurred as I navigated around the page was annoying. Finally, I could not figure out how to simply highlight and delete the many text boxes provided on the template. After too many minutes, I realized if I typed text into these boxes I could then highlight and delete them. Enough Prezi bashing.

Have no fear, the technological marvel that is Prezi is not lost on me. I know there are lots of people in the world that love graphics and who don't think in the linear fashion to which I am accustomed. The fact that there is a program like Prezi out there and available is amazing. And it's easy for me to see the benefits of Prezi over programs like PowerPoint especially when it comes to developing presentations. Maybe someday all resumes will be Prezumes. Stranger things have happened.

Relationship to Standards - the Prezi Template exercise relates well to the following standards: 1(a) in that it promotes, supports, and models creative and innovative thinking - Prezi could definitely be used to replace PowerPoint or in place of a written book report; 1(b) in that it promotes student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking - Prezi provides endless opportunities for conveying different understandings; 3(d) in that it models the effective use of current and emerging digital tools to use information resources.