Please introduce yourself, and your field in education!

I am Curtis Tappenden, Further Education lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), Rochester, Kent, UK. I have been in post as a 2 day per week lecturer for 20 years, and teach all aspects of foundational drawing and painting, critical and contextual studiesfor learners who have just started their Further Education at the age of 16+.

I also facilitate a successful non-curricular creative writing group, for students from further,higher and postgraduate education. Students experiment with their writing and thinkingskills and meet together on a weekly basis to lead sessions and share what they learn witheach other and apply new found skills in their major study areas. The group is now in itsfourth year; the recent UCA funded Learning and Teaching Research project collaborationwith Northbrook College has encouraged members of the group to log on to Prezi as a tool to assist their thinking and planning for creative writing engagement.
When I am not working in the school of Further Education I teach in various other schools ofthe University and assist a postgraduate teacher-training programme.
Outside of my work as a teacher/researcher within the university context, I am an author/illustrator, painter, performance artist and poet, journalist and editorial artist for a UK national newspaper.

How did you first hear about Prezi?

I was introduced to the tools by fellow UCA researcher, Marie-Therese Gramstadt, whose ongoing work with digital technologies in learning and teaching excited me with thepotential for our creative work at the University. Marie-Therese blogs about research into image tools for teaching. 

What were your first experiences when you started to use Prezi yourself?

I was worried that I would not be able to adapt quickly enough to the tools, but I was very surprised at the ease with which I adapted to the 'zebra' and its integrated sections. I was frustrated not to find quite as wide a range of font styles as can be found in the Microsoft Office suite and PowerPoint, but it is still a program in early infancy by comparison andadaptations are happening all of the time.

How did your students react to your first Prezi?

They were very excited and many wanted to log on, get set up and have a go. They could see a range of potential for these new presentation tools and not just for presentation. One student is using it as a digital repository and means to plan and map the sections of her dissertation.

How does Prezi help you in your work?

Although the manual wizard and CSS editor enables a wide range of fonts, colours, and styles, I would really like to be able to select more than three different fonts and styles at one time, and within the same text box.
also the infinite canvas assists me in my already non-linear teaching techniques, by offering clarity to my students for their divergent and conceptual thinking.

Anything you might recommend to teachers getting startedwith Prezi?

Involve yourself with others, in collaboration with other tutors and students, so that you can learn to use the tools and tailor them most appropriately to your learning needs.

Practical tip: keep file sizes small.
Curtis Tappenden MA PGCE FHEA MIfL QTLS.
UCA Teaching Excellence Award, 2010.
Lecturer, Extended Diploma in Art & Design; Creative Writing Group.Rochester Campus, University for the Creative Arts.
Member of the British Association of Journalists
Portfolio">http://www.artprofile.co.uk/imagetable.asp?artist=Curtis%20Tappenden&alph... on Brighton Illustrators
Create, curate, collaborate! Expanding student responses to the V&A museum through the juxtaposition of creative writing and non-linear presentation technology, 1 October 2011 to31 July 2012, more information here.