Monthly Archives: May 2022

TikTok, It’s Origami Time!

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TikTok is commonly known for its popular dances and random videos posted by social media influencers. One side of TikTok that I really enjoy is the educational videos. I often find teachers on TikTok discussing classroom layouts, lesson ideas and class management strategies.

This week I decided to explore the social media platform of TikTok to find origami tutorials! I was hopeful because TikTok only allows videos to be posted, so I figured that this would be a great way to expand my folding skills as opposed to simply reading instructions. 

Screenshot of my search

First I began the search. I typed in “Origami tutorials” within the search bar and hit enter. The following photo is what I came across.

After I started scrolling through, I found myself feeling a little bit disappointed. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I was hoping to begin creating more animals. Many of the videos that  I found were showing how to create boxes, envelopes, or shapes I have already made before. Eventually I did end up finding a few tutorials that I was excited to try:

  1. The paper dinosaurs: This tutorial posted by Origammaray, was very fun to follow. My first attempt I felt was going okay until I had my finished product. My folds looked a little bit rough around the edges, and for some reason the legs stuck out to the side too much. Therefore, the dinosaur I created was not able to stand firmly like the one in the tutorial appeared to be doing. 
Dinosaur

After looking at my creation, I decided to attempt the dino one more time. This time I used a small (sticky note size) piece of paper. To my surprise, I think I found using a smaller piece of paper to be easier to work with! My second attempt turned out better and stronger than the first, plus the dino was able to stand strong on its two back legs! One thing I would like to improve on is making the two front little arms more defiant as they are barely noticeable in my opinion. 

Swan
  1. Swan: I created a paper swan using a tutorial form an account called kimigami. This was a good tutorial, but did not require many folds and I found it was more simple than I was hoping for. This would have been a great video to watch and follow during my first week of the learning project! This being said, I was happy to follow along and I think that the finished product turned out just like the tutorial.
Turtle
  1. Sea turtles: I found a really cute tutorial while searching origami on how to make a turtle. This was a video I couldn’t pass by without trying! The TikTok was created by kimigami, the same creator that I used for the swan, and it was a very straightforward tutorial. The shell for some reason was uneven, so I had to fold in different amounts on each side. Im thinking that this mistake was due to an uneven fold. I found the finished product to be really cute and I enjoyed making this creation. I found the turtle to be simple to make and would work great for anyone at the beginner level, or young students within the classroom. 
Cute baby turtle

Because I found using a smaller piece of paper easier for making the dinosaur, I decided to use the small paper once again to create a baby turtle. One thing that was a little bit tricky was folding the head of the creature as I didn’t have a lot of paper to work with. Overall I am happy with the results.

This week I explored a new (to me) video editing tool called InShot. Using this tool/app, I created a video that demonstrates my Origami skills and provides a tutorial for viewers to follow along with the turtle making process.

NOTE: please see my blog post titled “Exploring New Tools” for a review on the editing tool that I used. 

Review on TikTok:

TikTok is an okay tool to use to find information on how to do things. I found the videos for origami were very simple, so if you are wanting to utilize this app, I would recommend using it for a beginner level. I did find myself having to sort through many videos to find ones that I would like to create, or that didn’t just show how to create boxes/containers. Because of this, I would rate TikTok a 6/10 as a resource for learning the skill of origami. I also do not think that this resource is great for tutorials as many of the videos are quite short, meaning that they are fast paced. Similar to what I said last week, I would still recommend “paper kawaii” as the tool to use when teaching students as it requires less time to sort through tutorials to find what you would like to create.

Extra:

This week’s TikTok exploration went well, but I was looking for more of a challenge. I decided to revisit the paper kawaii website from week one and attempt the lotus flower once again. I used the same paper as I did in week one and had the same results (ripped paper, not able to make the folds). I personally think that the paper rips because there are too many folds in one area. I thought that perhaps by using a larger piece of paper (30cmx30cm instead of 15×15) it might fix my problem because then I would have a larger piece to work with. 

After attempting with a larger piece of paper, I found it to be difficult getting the first folds started, and I ran into the same problem with my paper ripping when trying to make the petals. This paper lotus is a challenge for me and my goal is to be able to create this by the end of the learning project.

Question: I am thinking that a different type of paper might be better for this creation. Do you have any ideas on what kind of paper I can use that can be folded many times without ripping?  

  • Small piece of paper
  • Large piece of paper

Tech resources used:

What I learned:

  • Using a smaller piece of paper can sometimes be easier and can create stronger shapes
  • TikTok has some good origami resources, but you may have to search and sort through videos to find ones you want
  • InShot is a great tool to use to edit videos
  • Using a larger piece of paper did not help make the lotus flower any easier to create
  • I have realized that for many of the origami figures, the same folds are used at the beginning (fold diagonally both ways, then fold in half one way and the other way). Because of this I think that I am getting faster at the beginning steps! I can notice my improvements each week and I look forward to moving onto more interesting shapes that require more folds (as well as eventually master the lotus flower)

Exploring New Tools

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This week the EDTC class was tasked with finding a tool that can be used to document progress for our learning projects. I took a look at Animoto, shotcut and InShot. InShot is the tool that I ended up going with, and below I created an in depth review of how to use it!

Animoto seemed to be a great resource, until I began using it. For some reason I was unable to drag photos or videos into the area it said to (i’m thinking that this was a glitch on my end). Another thing I wanted to include was a voice over, but the free version did not allow for this. Lastly, Using the free version, I was unable to create a video over 30 seconds in length. 

Note: Voice over is only available if you pay $16 a month

Next, I chose to explore Shotcut. WOW was this overwhelming. I think that this would be an excellent tool for an individual who has more experience with video editing. For me, I was completely lost and didn’t even know how to add more than one clip! Shotcut is extremely advanced and was way outside of my comfort level.

Here is a screenshot. Apparently I had a voiceover, but it wouldn’t play. I was so confused!

Lastly, I decided to download an app on my Iphone called “InShot”. This app was free and incredible to use! I would highly recommend this to anyone who is wanting to edit a video in a simple way, looking to edit a photo, or wants to make a collage, as the app is very straightforward to use. I also love how one can speed up and slow down videos, as well as include voice over, music, sound effects, pictures, stickers and gifs. You can also make different edits such as cuts, filters and crops. 

How to use:

  1. Download the app
  2. Open the app. Three different options will appear “video” “photo” or “collage”
  3. When entering it asks if you want to allow access to photos and videos. Click “allow”
  4. Once you allow photos and videos to be accessed, you can then choose which items you would like to upload. When the items of your choice are uploaded, you can begin editing! (see the uploaded video below on how to complete the process).

Note: If you click the “video” option when entering the app a green square will appear that says “new”. Click on the green square and then choose which videos/ photos you would like to use.

Once the video, photo or collage is to your liking, you can save it to your device. Save by selecting the square with an arrow located at the top right corner of the screen. The app also provides an option to upload onto different platforms such as twitter, instagram, facebook and YouTube. If I were to rate this app, I would give it a 9/10 for meeting basic editing needs for an individual who is exploring video edits for the first time. I took one mark off due to the fact that ads do pop up within the app.

The following is a screen recording taken on my iphone on how to use the InShot app to edit a video:

The following video is a  brief overview on how to edit a photo and create a collage:

I then edited and created a tutorial on how to make an origami turtle! The turtle is a creation that I learned this week using the platform of TikTok for my learning project. 

Note: Please see my learning project update this week for more details!

Classroom use: As a teacher I would definitely use this as a resource in the classroom. I can create tutorials to show students how to complete things such as assignment expectations, and possibly different art projects (just an idea). I would also recommend this app to students as it is free to download on google play, as well as the apple app store. Students can use this editing tool to complete projects as it is straightforward and requires little instruction! This app allows you to easily save the edited materials to devices which makes using this tool even better! By being able to record audio right on the app, as well as search gifs and stickers, it will save students time as they will not have to continuously upload different attachments. One thing that teachers have to keep in mind is that ads do appear within the app when using.

Question: Is there a way to ensure ads don’t appear when using an app?

Where this app/tool fits in the SAMR model:

When looking at the SAMR model, I believe that the implementation of InShot within the classroom would fall under the category of substitution. I say this, because it is a video editing tool that can be used as a way to present information to the class. Instead of reading about how to do something, students can watch a video that the teacher created demonstrating how it is done.

INSTAGAMI…

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What I found when using search

This week I chose to explore the famous social media platform of Instagram to find tutorials on origami creations. My thought was that this would be an excellent resource to explore as I have seen reels of origami in the past. I began by using the search option, and typed in “origami art”. The results looked promising as many videos and pictures of origami appeared. 

The first reel that I followed was a tutorial on how to make a butterfly which was posted on an account with the handle “kar_dasti_ba_man”. I found that this was an excellent tutorial and straight forward to follow step by step. I would highly recommend if you would like to learn simple origami, that you begin with this as I think that they turn out beautiful and does not require many folds. One thing I really like about the video that I found is that when viewing on my computer, the video could be paused as well as the playback speed could be adjusted to slow down. Because of this, I was able to follow along with the video without falling behind.

Left is newspaper, right is origami paper created by myself

Because I enjoyed creating the butterfly, I decided that I should take the opportunity to make the same piece using a different type of paper and compare! For this, I cut out a square piece of newspaper and then began making the folds. I found that the newspaper was a lot thinner than my regular patterned paper that I have been using. Because of this, it was easy to make folds, but I found that the light paper made it difficult for the folds to hold in place. I think because the butterfly is a simple design that the newspaper worked well, but if I were to be making something with more intricate folds, the paper would perhaps rip/tear easily. 

Creating Two Butterflies

Next, I found a video tutorial on how to make a rose! This piece was posted on an account with the handle “origami_ideas_”. I was excited to try this as I had the perfect red paper to use for it. Again, I was happy with the way that the tutorial was created, and I found I was able to follow along. I definitely had a couple of moments where I was confused on how the creator made the folds because the video was a timelapse (very fast paced), but in the end I was able to produce a finished product. This tutorial I would recommend to individuals who are wanting a little bit of a challenge but not ready to do anything too extreme.

Rose created by myself

As I continued exploring instagram, I came across a tutorial on creating a flower. This video was interesting as it was an instagram live created by the account handle “orogamialama”. The other two creations were timelapses which I think was used to save time for the length of the video. I was grateful for the saved instagram live as the video was in real time and I was able to follow along with minimal pauses throughout. The creation was a mix of fun and challenge! The tutorial creator spoke a language that I do not know, so her verbal cues did not come in use. However, the video itself was enough to follow along

Flower created by myself

Lastly, I decided to attempt an intricate crab which was a tutorial posted by the handle “krujok”. The video below is my attempt. This tutorial I would not recommend as it is a timelapse, that does not provide a pause button or playback speed option like the tutorials listed above had. Because of this I was unable to follow along and ended up very confused on how to create the folds. I was unable to produce a finished product.

attempt at creating a crab

Review of resource: Instagram has a lot of content, but I found it difficult to find whole tutorials that show how to create something from start to finish. In other words, instagram is more catered towards showcasing finished products as opposed to an educational tool. I found it more difficult to follow the tutorials as most of them were timelapses which was too fast for me as a beginner. During my search I had to filter out a lot of videos that would not work in order to find the ones that I used. Most of the videos I used from instagram were straight forward, but I definitely preferred the website that I used last week titled “paper kawaii”. I would not use instagram as a learning resource on origami within the classroom as I feel that students would perhaps face confusion, like I did when trying to follow videos that are too fast. 

Tech resources used:

What I learned:

  • Instagram has lots of content on origami, but is not necessarily useful for learning the skill
  • Newspaper is fragile but thin so it makes good folds
  • Instagram is not my preferred way of learning origami
  • Origami takes time and patience

My plan and goals moving into next week:

  • Explore the platform of TikTok for tutorials
  • Explore using magazine paper
  • Begin creating more animals (this is something I wanted to get to this week, but was unable to find doable tutorials for my skill level)
  • Become more confident with folding skills and perhaps revisit the crab tutorial

Question:

Do readers of this blog have any suggestions on a technology resource that can be used to help me learn the skill of origami? Let me know in the comments below!

Danica’s Thoughts on Twitter…

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After spending a week on twitter, I think that I am slowly becoming more comfortable with the platform. Twitter is a social media account that I don’t really have much experience with (besides using it to make 10 tweets in my KIN 110 course in 2019). Hashtags are an important part of twitter, and is something that I have never really understood. When I make a tweet I am not always sure which ones I should be using. Another thing that can at times be frustrating, is the 280 character restriction. I find this difficult as I tend to type lots when sharing my thoughts and ideas! Although, having a character limit may be a useful tool as it can help me with communicating my thoughts in a way that is direct and to the point. 

One thing that I find great about twitter is having the ability to connect with others and share resources! Within the last two classes, Dr. Katia Hildebrandt has taught us useful tips and tricks on how to use twitter in an effective way, and because of this, I am starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with using this platform on a daily basis. I believe that the more I use twitter, the more I will begin to enjoy all that it has to offer.

An article from Search Engine Journal titled 20 Amazingly Cool Twitter Tricks & Tips shares interesting tips such as how to pin a tweet, keyboard shortcuts, how to save data when using the app, changing the order of your newsfeed and more! The article is designed for business people so some of the tips may not be as useful as others, but I would suggest checking them out.

My thoughts on the live chat: This past Thursday EDTC300 was introduced to the #SaskEdChat. This was an incredible opportunity that I felt fortunate to be a part of. Through this communication, it allowed myself to see the level of support and guidance the teaching community has to offer. The mediator of the discussion was very kind and welcoming. Through the questions that were asked, I felt free to express my opinion and was able to read highly educated, professional teachers’ thoughts. The chat was very fast paced, which made me feel overwhelmed at times, but I think that after a few minutes, I started to get the hang of it! It was also really exciting that so many educators were on the chat all at the same time! The #SaskEdChat has taught me that there is a network of people and resources around me and by using this platform I am able to further educate myself by learning from others. 

An answer expressing my thoughts on student voice #SaskEdChat

Twitter in the classroom: I think that twitter is an excellent tool for teachers that can be used to find resources for educational purposes. A fellow EDTC classmate brought up that twitter can perhaps be used within older grades. As students begin thinking about their future careers they can use twitter as a platform to begin networking. Besides using this tool for older grades, I cannot see twitter being a useful tool to use in the classroom. Social media is often not seen in the classroom, and if students are looking for information on a certain topic, I think google provides that. This being said, I am hopeful that I learn more about twitter which will possibly change my mind on implementing twitter in the classroom.

What are your thoughts on twitter being used by students in the classroom?

ORIGAMI AND….PODCASTS?

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After reading the title of this weeks learning project update, you might be thinking… HUH?

This week I spent many hours in the tractor helping my family farm. During this time I thought that I should perhaps look up origami podcasts on Spotify. To my surprise there was a couple of podcasts! The following is a screen shot of what I found when searching.

I decided to listen to a podcast done by Stuff You Should Know titled “Origami: Folding Goodness”. Within this episode the hosts of the show provide the history of origami as well as different tips, tricks, and resources.

What I learned: 

  • to get a good crease when folding, you can use a paper clip
  • Animals are very common to make
  • Modular origami uses different sheets of paper, making the same shape and then bringing them together to make one big shape
  • There are lots of different kinds of origami such as action, jewelry and tessellations.

The podcast recommends that people who are learning Origami should check out an online resource called Paper Kawaii. 

After listening to the podcast, I then visited the Kawaii website where different resources such as diagrams and video tutorials are available and I decided to focus on this resource for the week. 

Paper I purchased for this project

Next, I purchased a pad of square paper from Walmart and got started on my folding journey. The Paper Kawaii website has a menu titled “beginner” and this is where I started. My first creation was a woven heart! This was fun to create and required two pieces of paper, although mine did not turn out a perfect heart shape, like the video tutorial displayed. Because of this, I tried to make the heart again. The second attempt turned out a little bit better, but I did not have as much paper to work with as what the person doing the tutorial had… I’m thinking I maybe missed a step?

Woven hearts

Next, I decided to create the famous paper crane! This was very simple to create using one square piece of paper! One thing I did notice is that the tail on my cranes sticks straight up, and I would have liked it to have gone a little more outwards, however, I am very happy with the way it turned out!

Paper Cranes

After completing the crane, I moved on to a more difficult shape which was a lotus flower using one piece of paper. I chose to create this shape as I thought it looked beautiful and I was feeling confident with my skills. Turns out, I was feeling a little bit ambitious. I tried four times to create the flower using a tutorial video from the website and each time I ended up ripping the paper and got very confused on what I was supposed to be doing. I then took a step back and decided to create a more simple 8 petal flower that was posted on the website as well. This flower was simple to make and I am proud of the way it turned out.

8 Petal Flower

My sister joined me for an evening this past week and we decided to make hearts. This heart is different than the first woven one I previously created. The one we chose to do used one rectangular piece of paper 15cmx6.2cm. This was my favourite shape to make this week as I found the tutorial to be straight forward, but also added challenge as the folds in the centre are very tiny.

Hearts

Lastly, I chose to try an intermediate level of difficulty and created a mandarin bird! I had a blast creating these birds, however, the tail was very confusing and took multiple tries to figure out. The first bird I made, the tail was pointing the wrong direction and I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong. I decided that I would try again and eventually I figured it out and got the tail to point more upwards which is what the tutorial looked like! I also really like the blue bird as it reminds me of the twitter icon.

Mandarin Bird

The following video shows how I created the paper crane, heart, and blue bird:

Review on the website titled Paper Kawaii: I believe that this is the perfect resource to start out on. The website has many different categories to help you create something of interest to you. I also really appreciated the fact that the website is broken down into levels of difficulty. The tutorials inform the viewer what sizes of paper is appropriate to use, and the size that is being used in the actual video. This is a resource that I could see myself using in the classroom. As a teacher, I would display the videos using a projector or smartboard and have students follow along together.

Tech resources used:

  • Spotify
  • Website: Kawaii w/ embedded YouTube videos
  • iMovie to create video of my creations
  • YouTube to upload video of myself

What I learned: 

  • There are many different kinds of origami
  • This skill is not as easy as one may think
  • Origami takes patience
  • It takes practice (many attempts!) to actually learn the skill

My plan and goals moving into next week:

  • Explore a new platform: Instagram to find tutorials
  • Try using different types of paper (newspaper)
  • Attempt the difficult flower once again and not give up
  • Create more animals to become more confident with folding

Let The Journey Begin!

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Photo of myself!

Hello everyone, my name is Danica Finlay and I am from a small town called Vanguard which is situated on Treaty 4 land in the south west corner of Saskatchewan. Growing up I was raised by my loving parents along side my older brother and younger sister. From the time I was little I have always enjoyed the process of learning and experiencing the “aha” moments I feel when I acquire a new skill or begin to understand a new concept. If you would like to know more about myself, my education journey, and my beliefs, please feel free to explore my website and visit the About Me tab. 

I am very excited to have the opportunity to take part in this spring EDTC 300 course and learn alongside my fellow peers. One thing I have always wanted to do is begin an online blog, but I never knew how to get started. A blog that has inspired me is called  Teach Me Style by Holly Horvath. This lady is a grade 1 & 2 teacher from Regina Saskatchewan and blogs about lifestyle, fashion, family and more! The way she runs her blogs are very professional and engaging. If you are interested in checking her out, I would highly recommend!

 To be honest, I am very nervous beginning this blog as I do not feel confident with technology. Are you as a reader feeling the nerves of beginning a blog as well? 

When thinking about my own education technology experiences, I feel very limited. This being said, I was provided the opportunity to participate in an Early Childhood Education class where I learned how to create a Bitmoji classroom and learning invitations using google slides! This was a valuable learning experience that I know will be implemented within future teachings. 

My Virtual Science Classroom
A learning Invitation I have created!

As I have previously mentioned I really enjoy learning and I know that I have lots to do in this class, which is exciting! My hope is that I create a fun/engaging blog and twitter feed for readers to visit and take interest with as I embark on a path of learning the true values that the world of technology has to offer. Please follow my twitter account @danica_finlay as I will be sure to share different resources that I come across within the next couple months. I am also excited to see what everyone else in my EDTC class has to share 🙂

On that note, I am off to explore the tech world to discover what fun activity/skill I can develop and share with you throughout the remainder of this spring term!

Take care,

Danica

Bring on the Folding!

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Okay everyone, after many hours spent looking into different activities (I truly mean hours, I am a very indecisive person), I have finally come to a decision to begin working on the skill of oragami! 

Some of you readers may ask, what is origami? The following definition is what I found when googling this question:

To be completely honest with you, I have always wanted to do this! When I was in grade 3, my teacher read us a story that I will never forget titled Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. This book is about a young girl who was diagnosed with lukemia as a result of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Sadakos goal was to make 1000 paper cranes as a legend said that it would grant her one wish and she wanted to use this wish to help her survive. Sadly, Sadako lost her battle and passed away.

Because of my core memory of being read this story, I have purchased origami paper on two, yes you read that right, TWO different occasions. But did I ever get around to teaching myself this  beautiful way of creating art through paper? Unfortunately, I did not. I have always set it aside/put it off and eventually I gave away my paper to a friend who I knew would use it. FINALLY, because of this class, my day has come to focus in on this skill and take the time to truly learn the techniques. During my journey I will explore a different platform each week such as YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, apps, websites and possibly podcasts. Am I missing any platform that would have tutorial videos or information? If you have any suggestions, please let me know! 

Through this experience I hope to document my improvements! Wouldn’t it be so cool if by the end of this I can create something SUPER intricate with lots of folds? I would also love to impress my mom and gift her one of my masterpieces (well… hopefully a masterpiece HAHA). I am going to create videos and take pictures throughout my journey that will show you how I created the pieces. I will also be sure to show you the ones that did not work out so well so you can giggle along side me! By making videos I will be able to document the time it takes me to create something, and then I can go back and remake the piece and see if my time improved. I will also try to increase the level of difficulty throughout by using different sizes of paper as well as different types (Newspaper, magazine paper, printer paper)! I think by changing the size and type it will become trickier, what do you think?

The following is a quick overview:

What am I doing?

  • Learning the art of Origami

What are my goals?

  • To learn how to create art using paper and folding techniques
  • To improve the time it takes to create pieces
  • To increase level of difficulty each week
  • To be able to notice improvements!

What Resources will I use? – each week I will be exploring a new resource/platform

  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest
  • Podcasts
  • Websites
  • Other apps

What materials will I need?

  • Paper
  • Internet connection
  • Device to access the internet