Students’ Experiences in Learning and Using Prezi in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper aimed to investigate students’ opinions about learning Prezi and their first experiences in using Prezi in Higher Education. In this exploratory, qualitative case study, a total of 13 students were chosen through a purposeful sampling method. They responded to 10 interview questions that were later analyzed by two researchers using content analysis. The results demonstrated that students’ experiences in acquiring practical knowledge of Prezi and creating Prezi presentations could be categorized into four major themes: usability, usefulness, arrangement and drawbacks. Eleven sub-themes emerged from these major themes and they were identified as the following easiness, difficulty, future use, collaboration, accessibility, attractiveness, zoomable user Interface & infinite canvas, effectiveness & efficiency, customization, cost and language. This study showed that, although the price and limited language options of Prezi are the drawbacks, the innovative features of Prezi convert presentations from a boring and linear fashion into a stimulating, impressive, effective and nonlinear fashion. The study also revealed that learning and using processes of Prezi are straightforward for even students who have only used traditional presentation tools such as PowerPoint.