Wow! What a busy spring term this has been. I can’t believe that we are coming to an end already. After spending many weeks folding paper, experiencing some highs and lows, I am finally starting to feel like I am getting the hang of this skill of Origami. Each week I pushed myself by increasing levels of difficulty, and created some beautiful pieces using exclusively free online resources! I have a wonderful collection of various folded items, of which I am proud of. The skill of patience is hard to document, but let me tell you, this is a great skill that I have definitely improved on. Tutorials and videos have been posted to my blog each week that highlight my new folding abilities. I am so amazed with how far I have come in just seven short weeks! One thing I can definitely say is that using technology to learn new skills is definitely possible and convenient for individuals.

Throughout my journey I explored many different learning platforms and followed along tutorials that demonstrate various levels. Through these I was able to review, and find out which tools are best to use when learning Origami. I believe that my posts demonstrate the confidence and ability that I now have, thanks to this project, for seeking out information/resources, and implementing them to create something unique and visually appealing (through video tutorials as well as photo/video editing apps). 

Overview of the weeks

Week 1: Bring on the Folding… During this week I explored different activities that could be used for my learning project and decided to go with the skill of origami. This is a skill that I have always wanted to learn since grade three when my teacher read to us the story titled Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Within this post I outlined my tentative plans for the duration of this learning project which was to explore a different platform for learning each week. Different platforms included YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Various Apps, Websites and possibly Podcasts. My goals were set within the post which was the following:

• 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!

Week 2: ORIGAMI AND…PODCASTS.. Week two I spent many hours driving the tractor helping my family with farming. During this time I took the opportunity to find a podcast  done by Stuff You Should Know titled “Origami: Folding Goodness”. Next I explored the website Paper Kawaii and followed tutorials to create a woven heart, paper crane, 8 petal flower, hearts, and mandarin birds as well as an unsuccessful attempt at the  lotus flower.

Tech resources used:

• Spotify to listen to the podcast
• 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

Week 3: INSTAGAMI…This week I chose to explore Instagram to find tutorials on origami creations. Using this I created the butterfly, rose, flower and an unsuccessful attempt at the  crab. I also decided to try creating the butterfly using newspaper to compare it with normal paper.

Tech resources used:

• Instagram to find tutorials
• Imovie to create videos of my creations (See week 3 post to view)
• YouTube to upload videos of myself

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

Week 4: TikTok, It’s Origami Time!… This week I used TikTok as a source to find tutorials and make different shapes such as paper dinosaurs, Swans, and Sea turtles. To add to my new learning skills I first followed the tutorials using large pieces of paper. Then I created the same shapes using a significantly smaller size to compare. Within my blog post I included different images as well as a tutorial that I created using a tool called InShot. Near the end of the week I felt the need to return to the attempt at the lotus flower. I tried the flower two times, using different sized paper.

Tech resources used:

• TikTok to find tutorials
• InShot to create my own video tutorial
• YouTube to upload InShot video
• Website: Paper Kawaii to view lotus flower tutorial

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
• 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 could tell  that I was getting faster at the beginning steps!

Week #5: Hopping along with this project…This week I explored YouTube. By using this tool I learned how to make two different kinds of elephants (Elephant #1 & #2), and two different kinds of frogs (Frog #1 & #2). Lastly I followed a YouTube tutorial to attempt making a Kangaroo. This Kangaroo was unfortunately too difficult for me for where I was at in my learnings.

Tech resources used:

• YouTube App to find tutorials
• InShot to create photo collage
• YouTube website to upload video
• Bitmoji Extension
• Iphone to take pictures and video

What I learned:

• There are multiple ways of making things
• It takes time to ensure folds are made correctly
• More difficult tutorials does not always mean it appears more detailed
• Creating the kangaroo was beyond my skill level

Week #6: Practice Makes Perfect!…For my latest post I decided to create an “under the sea” theme. First I downloaded various apps (see a review of 5 different ones within the post) and made a dolphin with my mom using a picture tutorial from the app titled “HowToMakeOrigami”. Then I took to pinterest to follow and complete a fish, shark,  seahorse and another dolphin (to compare to the one made using the app). Lastly I went back to instagram to follow the  crab tutorial from week three that I was unsuccessful at to see if my practice has paid off and if I would be able to follow the tutorial… and I did!

Tools Used this week:

• Pinterest– to find tutorials, see above for information
• Apps – to find tutorials, see above for information on each one
• Instagram– see week 3 for a review on this platform
• Iphone- to take pictures and screen record
• YouTube– to upload screen recordings and crab results, see week 5 for a review on this platform
• PhotoBooth– to record my own tutorials that did not end up saving to my computer ?

What I learned

• practice makes perfect!
• Apps for Origami are not the best
• Pinterest provides awesome tutorials for Origami
• Technology does not always work perfectly
• Things that seem difficult get easier over time
• I have become much faster at creating different animals, due to many hours of practice!
• I can create WAY more difficult things (such as the crab) than when I had started

Chart Summary of What I learned

Review of Technology I used to learn the skill of origami

Review on the website titled Paper Kawaii (used in week 2): 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.

Review of Instagram (Used in week 3) : 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 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. 

Review on TikTok (Used in week 4): 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. 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.

Review on YouTube; Website(Used in week 5): YouTube is a phenomenal resource to use when learning new skills. When I used the search function at the top of the page, I was immediately provided with hundreds of results making things easy to find and very helpful. I really love the fact that you can slow down video by changing the playback speed which can be found on the bottom right hand corner of any given clip. I would definitely recommend using this as a tool to learn the skill of origami, and definitely see myself using YouTube as a learning tool in the classroom with future students!

Review on Pinterest (Used in week 6): Pinterest is an amazing tool for finding ideas! When searching “origami” I found hundreds of posts. I would definitely recommend using this tool when learning origami, and would say that this is just as great of a tool as YouTube! I like that you can easily pin things that you like and save for later, as well as make specific categories to save items under!

Review on using Apps: Apps can be a great tool for learning. Unfortunately many of the apps that I came across came with a price…literally. I wasn’t interested in spending money during this project (besides purchasing the necessary paper) to demonstrate that a 6 week learning project can be done at an affordable price making it more of an inclusive skill for students to learn in the classroom. Other difficulties I found when using the apps is that they didn’t include video tutorials, just photos instructions. This made it significantly more difficult to follow along as opposed to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram etc. 

Tools used to demonstrate learning

Review on InShot (Used week 4&5): This is an excellent app found on the apple app store that I used to edit videos and create collages that added creative/appealing visuals to my blog post content. The app is simple to use and appropriate for most ages (grade 5 and up). I love that you can easily save creations and upload onto different platforms such as YouTube and Twitter straight from the app.

Review on PhotoBooth (Used week 6): This tool I used to record myself creating various Origami sea creatures. At first I found it simple to use, so  I shot over an hour worth of video! When I was done recording I hit the “end” button and the footage did not save. I am not sure why, but I would not recommend using this tool that is freely available for Apple Mac products. Especially if you are wanting to record longer length videos, as the length of my footage may have been the issue to it not saving.

Review on YouTube; App (Used throughout): YouTube was a fun and easy way for me to showcase my learnings. I would recommend using YouTube as a tool to anyone wanting to highlight/demonstrate thoughts and understandings. I personally used the app on my phone.  When opening the app I saw a “+” button at the bottom middle of the screen. From here I chose the video I wanted to upload, and then created a title for the video! I love how straightforward and simple this is to do!

iMovie: iMovie was an excellent tool that I used to edit videos throughout my learning journey. Typically I used this to combine different clips and to add sound to videos to make it more engaging for viewers. Before using this app I had little to no experience with editing videos. Because of this tool my confidence has gained significantly. I would highly recommend this tool to anyone looking to edit videos! 

Bitmoji Chrome Extension:  To make my posts more visually appealing to the audience and assist with showing my thoughts, I downloaded the Bitmoji Chrome Extension! When I wanted to add a bit of pop to a post, I would search something on the Bitmoji, and copy and paste it into my writing. Students in school would love this tool as it is very fun to implement.

Closing Comments 

What an incredible journey this has been. Thank you everyone who has followed my posts, offering guidance, tips and support along the way. Please know that your words were valued and deeply appreciated. Dr. Katia Hildebrandt, thank you so much for this opportunity that will never be forgotten. Going into this project, I was terrified. I saw examples of posts and thought to myself “there is no way I can do that”. Thank you for showing me that I am more capable than I had thought, and that many things are possible if you set your mind to it.

Take care,

Danica