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

I am feeling very accomplished with this learning project update! After learning the new skill of origami, and slowly increasing my level of difficulty each week, I decided to end off my learning project by creating an origami theme! For this theme I chose to do “under the sea”. Throughout this project I found myself really enjoying making little animals, so this week I took to pinterest and different apps to find tutorials on living things that are found within the ocean. I also chose this so that I could demonstrate my improvement (hopefully) by creating the crab that I attempted on week three but was not able to finish due to the level of difficulty.

Similar to other posts I have made, I really enjoyed this week’s learnings, but it took a lot of time and patience. Like think a lot, and then think more! Learning the skill of patience throughout this learning project has also benefited me greatly, as this is something that I do not always demonstrate within my everyday life. Therefore, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work on this each week!

Apps:

To begin my week, I began by searching the app store. To my surprise, after typing in “Origami”, I found many different apps! I chose to download five different ones to see if I could find tutorials that would help me with my theme. 

App #1: Origame.

Origame is a super cool app, but was something that I was absolutely not looking for. Watch the video below to find out why! 

App #2: Origami.

This app had a section titled “sea”, so I was very excited to explore different tutorials. I was sad to find out that even though the app was free to download, in order to access the tutorials, I had to pay money. Therefore, I did not end up using this app either. 

App #3: (korean writing?) This app had a ton of tutorials! I was so excited to try it out. When I finally chose a fish to create, I was unable to follow along as I ended up very confused with what I was supposed to do… The tutorials are pictures only and include no written description.

App #4: Origami. Similar to app #3, Pictures were used for instructions. One thing that was better than app #3 is that the pictures moved to show which direction to fold! I really like this app because of this, and also because it has the level of difficulty shown in the preview of the tutorial which I think is a great feature. Unfortunately, this app does not have any sea creature tutorials, so I chose to not use it this week.

App #5: HowToMakeOrigami

Finally I came across an app that was free of charge and had many different tutorials (including sea creatures!). I was excited to try out this app, so I invited my mom to make a dolphin with me! Together we followed the app step by step and the following is our results.

My mom and I both agreed that we would prefer to watch an actual person show how to make something. We also both agreed that videos are way easier to follow than photos. This app shows animated photos and has written descriptions to go along with it. At times my mom and I faced confusion and wished that we were able to slow down  the animated fold to figure out what we were doing. Although I used this for my learning project, I would not recommend this app to be used in the classroom as students would find themselves confused, just like I did. Because of my confusion, I was unable to complete the back side of my dolphin.

Pinterest:

Next, I took to pinterest to see what I could find. First I found a cute fish tutorial. After viewing, I decided to create! This tutorial was very fun to follow and my fish turned out great! I was surprised when I was finished because I thought that the fish would sit flat, but instead it was more 3D like which made this piece even better. I would highly recommend this video to anyone wanting to learn the skill of origami. One thing I would like to have done a little bit better on is ensuring that the folds are done in the correct place so that white paper is not showing. I will definitely be making this again!

After completing the fish, I found a tutorial on how to make a shark. I didn’t like the size of the dolphin I created with my mom, so I decided to use a smaller piece of paper for this. This was another excellent tutorial and I really enjoyed creating something of a smaller scale. However, I am not too sure if this looks like a shark…maybe because I made it small. I think it kind of looks like a baby fish. What do you think?

Right after completing the shark… I came across another dolphin, one that looked more realistic than the one I made using the app. So I attempted to create it. This was a challenging tutorial that I would say is for an intermediate level. I found that it took a lot of time to create, but it was well worth it in the end.

For my last pinterest creation, I decided to create a seahorse! This was very time consuming. In total I took about 1.5 hours to create this little guy. I was unable to make the head exactly like the tutorial, but I am still happy with the way it turned out. I would like to continue practising using this tutorial, and hopefully one day I will have it 100% mastered

Grand Finale:

This week I made it my mission to sit down and finally complete the crab tutorial from week three that I found on Instagram. WOWZA. Let me tell you, this was such a hard creation for me. But… I was finally able to complete it! After about 5 attempts and many frustrated hours, this week I was able to sit down and complete the tutorial from start to finish. I am so proud of myself! And I am proud of the fact that my origami practice is starting to show!

Review on Pinterest: Pinterest is an amazing tool for finding ideas! When searching “origami” I found hundereds 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!

Video of an origami tutorial Created by myself:

This week I discovered that technology doesn’t always work out. I decided to take 1hour worth of videos using the tool “PhotoBooth” on my computer. This is a tool that is new to me, so I did a couple test runs to ensure that the video feature worked. The test runs included a recording of me just starring at the screen LOL! But I found the tool easy and straight forward to use, so I then began recording a tutorial that I wanted to post this week. During the folding process I checked on the tool to make sure that it was still recording. I clicked the “end recording” function when I was done.. then went to watch the video, only to realize that no footage was not actually taken… 🙁 I was so upset and frustrated!

I have taken this as a learning experience that using technology does not always go as planned. I am proud of myself for trying something new, and happy that my phone was still able to capture photos and videos of my creations that are included within this post.

Question: Have you ever used PhotoBooth to record videos? Have you run into this issue?

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

We are on the home stretch with these learning projects, and I can honestly say that I am having a lot of fun! I will admit, I have faced moments of extreme frustration, but I have not let this hold me back. Once I recover from these moments… I usually end up having a few giggles…

Let me guess, you are thinking hmmmm Danica, what is this?? 

Well, you will be very surprised to know that this is my attempt at a kangaroo…Although I’m thinking I should tell people that I was trying to accomplish a lizard, because to me, that’s what this kind of looks like

________________________________________________________________________

This week I chose to explore the wonderful platform of YouTube. Let me tell you, this was like a breath of fresh air. YouTube has it all! Anything I wanted to create, I just used the search function at the top of the page, and BOOM, I have multiple video tutorials! When watching the tutorials, I often slowed down the videos by changing the playback speed, which can be found on the bottom right hand corner of the clip. 

As I have previously mentioned, the end of my learning project journey is slowly creeping up, so I decided to try and up my folding game! This week I looked for videos that looked interesting, but more complicated then what I have attempted in the past. 

First, I decided to attempt creating an elephant, as this is an animal that I have always really liked. When I used the search bar, I was happy to find that many different looking elephants can be made. Because of this, I followed two different tutorials so that I could compare.

The first tutorial was posted by the YouTube channel “First art & craft” and the video was titled “Origami Elephant:Amazing Paper Elephant Making Step-by-Step|Origami Elephant Craft Ideas”. As I read through the comments on this video, I found one that said “Honestly, this was a very hard tutorial to follow, especially for beginners. I’ve been doing origami since I was a child, but this was made harder than it looks”. Because of this comment, I decided to take the challenge and test out me new learned skills. To my surprise, I was able to follow along! This goes to show that the hours of practice I have put in to folding is finally paying off!

One thing I did not like about the elephant is that the back half didn’t seem realistic to me. I tried adjusting the tail so that it folded down more, but to me it just seemed kind of “off”. In total this took me about 40 minutes to make from start to finish. This may seem like a long time, considering the tutorial video is 7min 40sec. But I always take a long time to make sure that my folds are done correctly. This tutorial I would recommend to an intermediate level origami creator as it was tricky to follow along, but it is definitely doable

Next, I used a tutorial posted by “easy origami” titled “How To Make A Paper Origami Easy Elephant”. I chose this one, as it seemed to look more realistic. I found this tutorial to be easier than the first elephant and took less time to make, which surprised me because of how detailed it appeared. This goes to show that more difficulty does not always look better! I was happy with the tutorial as it was straight forward and easy to watch all of the steps. One thing that I would have liked to have done better is to have more of a flat line at the top of the head, as well as a longer tail. The tutorial shows a longer tail, so I am not sure where I went wrong. When I went into the comments to see if others had this problem, I saw someone had mentioned that they didn’t end up with a tail at all! So this must be a common mistake that folders make.

Overall I definitely like my second elephant the best. What do you think?

Next, I wanted to create something that functioned, as this is something I had yet to try. What better to make than a hopping frog? For this creation I decided to follow a tutorial titled “Origami Jumping Frog Instructions: www.origami-Fun.com”  completed by the account “origamifun”. This tutorial was super fun to follow and one that I will definitely use again in the future. Once I was done following the steps, I pressed on the back of the frog and watched it jump! 

After creating a simple frog, I decided to create another one, but increase the level of difficulty. For this I decided to follow a tutorial titled “ORIGAMI JUMPING FROG (Traditional model)” as this frog looked more realistic. The content creator “Origami with Jo Nakashima” did an excellent job showing a step by step walkthrough of how to make this frog. I did find the creation took more time to make than the first time as more folds were required. I really like the final piece, but was disappointed that the frog barely jumped when attempted. I think that the frog had a difficult time getting air because of the additional folds compared to the first one. The folds made the frog hard to compress together before releasing. 

Overall there are definitely things to both frogs that I enjoy. I like the simplicity of the first frog, that I can create it easily and that it jumps high! I also like the detail and challenge of the second one! Which one do you like better?

Lastly was my attempt at the kangaroo following a the tutorial “Origami Kangaroo (Jo Nakashima)” by “Origami with Jo Nakashima”. The thing that made me laugh the most, is I really thought that I was doing a great job… until I paused and took a closer look to compare with what the tutorial was showing… 

This was very hard to make and I was unable to finish due to the fact that my folds were not looking that spectacular! Oh well, I know that learning this skill takes time, and my hope is to one day be able to accomplish this 🙂 I think that the tutorial was created in a way that is excellent for people to follow, it was just too advanced for me right now.

Its interesting how each week I have great success and then a couple of fall backs… kind of like the saying “one step forward and two steps back”. But I do feel like I am learning lots, and this is something worth celebrating.

Review of YouTube: I will keep this part short, as I have mentioned above how I really enjoyed this platform for following tutorials. The videos were easy to find and very helpful. I would rate this resource a 10/10, this is my new favourite tool to use to help me learn the skill of origami and would definitely see myself using this in the classroom with students. 

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

Goal for next week:

• Reattempt making a crab (from week 3)
• Explore more intricate creations using pinterest and apps 
• Follow an “under the sea” theme
• Demonstrate the skills I have learned over the course of the semester!

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. 

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. 

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. 

2. 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.

3. 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. 

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?  

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
• 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)

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.

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. 

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.

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

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.

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:

• Instagram to find tutorials
• Imovie to create videos of my creations
• 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

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!

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. 

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?

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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