Well, during this Spring ECI 831 Social Media & Open Education class I decided to take on learning and teaching myself how to embroider. I am a visual learner so using Social Media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. worked well for me. Especially if they had videos or step-by-step pictures.
I am a creative, artsy, hands on type of individual. I have done some basic sewing with a machine in the past, I crochet, and am able to mend a hole, and do a basic stitch to sew things together. I figured embroidery would be an easy hobby/art form to learn. I had my learning cut out for me and am still learning.
I enjoyed using TikTok and YouTube as I was able to watch a video, pause it, re-watch, and then try out the stitch that I was trying to learn. I came to learn as I watched more videos that I appreciated the ones in which the creator explained the steps of the stitch as they did it. The ones in which they were doing it and there was music were okay to watch but I found myself having to pause and re-watch them over and over again. When I was able to visually see what to do along with having the auditory cues it made it easier to figure things out.
If I were to teach myself how to do something again I would use these platforms again as I found them user friendly and it was great that I could save the ones in which I liked using so that I could go back to them at a later time.
I think that moving forward I might start up a club at school in which we can do some basic embroidery on items that the students bring form home like shoes, clothing, bags, or cloth that we can purchase. Now that I have a toolbox full of videos to teach the basic stitches I could use them to help me in teaching the students. I could also do some step by step pictures along with directions for students that learn better from pictures and explanations.
At the end of this project I am feeling very much relaxed and excited for all the learning that has taken place and will continue to take place in the future. Each person learns in a different way. I would definitely recommend using Social Media to teach yourself how to do different things as you can find a variety of sources and will be able to find one that best suites your learning style. The one big downfall is that you can quickly go down a rabbit hole of ideas. I would recommend allowing yourself a designated amount of time to look for resources and then try those out before looking for more.
Until next time!