The origami has been forgotten for a few days. I decided to redo the simple duck using blue paper -I struggled to get there and had to discard two attempts before I succeeded. The more complex version is still alluding me and after an hour I decided it was time to do something else. As an aside I tried to make the simple duck with a smaller piece of paer and was unsuccesful. What was interesting is the paper was thicke and coarser in texture which and did not crease quite as easily as the larger squares.

A blog is an example of an embodiment of thought which would otherwise most likely exist in it's thinker's head - or those that heard it and thought it worthy of memory space.

 

Well week 1 is over and we’re into week 2 and the first reflection is how I’ve failed to keep the planned blog, which I know will help me with the studying (I used one in my first module and not in the second and noticed the difference).   I could link this to work being really busy too but that’s just me making excuses so here’s an attempt at encapsulating the starting points for my thinking.

• The way in which the course is structured to give us (as students) ownership of both content and direction of the course – and what this means we have to recognise as our responsibilities to ensure a successful programme
  • And to a lesser extent the tutor’s role in supporting/facilitating this work
• The way in which technology is portrayed in films and books and how this might influence the way in which we perceive it in reality
  • Do we see truths in the films or do we question and disagree with them?
  • What are the implications of films portraying the negative/challenging sides of the relationship between humans and technology?
• Why we chose to adopt particular technologies
  • What of our choice is linked to design?
  • How are we influenced by our peers?
  • How is Apple influencing the spectrum of early adopters? How do their design choices represent a consideration of the market?
• The way in which our use of social media develops
  • Rise and fall of facebook
  • Does the use of social software ebb and flow – and if so what’s causing the tide to change? Is it all just linked to popularity and fashion or is there something more fundamentally linked to function?

I worked through the introduction and this took me to a section that explained the symbols used in the book for the various folds and moves. I was able to understand this reasonably well until I came across the inside and outside crimp. Still I was reasonably confident and decided to have a go with my current knowledge.

 

The tips were very useful and one was to use larger  pieces of paper to start with. I have two sizes of paper nine and three quarter inches sq which is coloured oneside and white  the other and  five inches sq (came with the book) coloured bothsides.

THe first thing I did was to create a kite base with the larger paper using a red piece first. After the base had been created I produced the simple duck. I struggled wioth the diagram a little but perseverance paid off and I took some photographs of the model (model taken from Origami Kit  for Dummies). I then tried to create the more complex duck and this is where I was unable to fully understand the diagram at this point. After struggling for ten minutes I had a break. The overall session lasted 30 to 45 minutes and was partially successful.

The paper became vey crumpled with my efforts and I was left with a duck with a flat body, so it is time to try again.

First attempt Duck 1

Collapsed attempt Duck 2

I am currently studying for an MSc in e-learning at Edinburgh University. I am on my fourth module which is understanding learning in digital environments. One of the assignments is a learning challenge and this blog will outline my experiences, thoughts and feelings whilst performing the learning challenge. I am going to learn how to create origami paper models. My previous attempts have got little further than paper darts or paper planesI tend to be all fingers and thumbs with these types of exercise.

I have chosen to learn how to make Origami figures for this challenge. Ther initial aim is to create a dragonfly (medium difficulty) and a beetle (challenging). I have decided to learn by 1) Working through the Origami Kit for Dummies by Nick Robinson - published John Wiley 2008. 2) websites and 3) videos from sites such as you tube.

The book is broken into three main sections

Introduction

Part 1 Coming to the crease: Basic Techniques

Part 2 Folding on: The Models

Part three: The part of Tens

I first looked atpart three which consists of three chapters 1) Ten Top Tips 2) Ten Origami Styles and 3) Ten Incredible folders ( a summary biog for ten famous Origamists)

It gave me a feel for the subject and those who excel at it. This also points the way to a number of websites which I have not looked at yet.

Lets get on with the folding!!!

have to think about what am going to use this blog for...but it's really too late in the eveining now so am going to bed.

Welcome to a new academic year, and to the holyroodpark.net blog space, one of the core environments for the MSc in E-learning! Please don't hesitate to get in touch with Jen Ross, the programme technical co-ordinator, if you have any questions or need any help getting set up.

 

Her contact details are in the technologies handbook.

a test post to ensure integration with bubbl.us.

a bubbl.us brainstorm can be given as a read-only url: see here for an example - this works best for larger diagrams

alternatively, for smaller diagrams, exporting it from bubbl.us. as a jpeg, it can then be uploaded to your holyroodpark.net files and then inserted as an image like so (recommending a size of approx 500x500):

 

 

 

 

 

i hope this links up ok

linking from hp