Ribbit Ribbit!

As part of the selection process for a job I recently applied for I have to teach the interview panel something, anything at all in 10 minutes. That’s a pretty scary concept as you can easily get bogged down with the detail of the topic or overcome with the enormity of the task and not do yourself justice. So I first thought what do they want to see from me? Answer, more than likely is how clearly I explain / teach people something so I decided to go for a simple concept – the origami hopping frog. However, in customising my template and deciding how I would best explain the construction of said frog I felt it wasn’t showing my understanding of technology enhanced learning. So this blog illustrates one of my attempts to make an origami hoping frog an online learning experience:

How to make an origami hopping frog:

For this you will need a rectangular frog template which you can download (You may also download instructions)

Step one:

Fold the paper in half lengthways then open it back up

Step two:

Fold each of the two top corners towards the middle your fold lines should look like the do in the photo

Step 2 repeat on both sides

Step three:

Fold your paper backwards at the point where the diagonal folds cross and then open it back up – the folds should now look a bit like the Union Jack Flag pattern.

step 3 part 1

step 3 part 2

Step four:

Hold your template on the red dots and gently pull the edges in towards the middle (blue dot) – the folds should help with this … then flatten the top into a triangle like this.

step 4 part 1

Step 4 part 2

Step five:

To make the frogs front legs, fold each corner of the triangle’s top layer towards the centre so they sit side by side or the tip of the triangle.

Step 5

Step six:

Now fold each side towards the middle.

Step 6

Step seven:

Fold the bottom part upwards (in half) so the top meets the bottom of the frogs front legs.

Step 7

Step eight:

Now fold this flap back on itself so it looks like this.

Step 8

Step nine:

Now flip it over and you have your own funky hopping frog – to make your frog hop, push down on the frogs back and let go.

Step 9 – your hopping frog

Teaching online and offline:

When you present an activity like this face to face you can immediately answer people’s questions, you can show things that are not clear and you can interact with the material and the learners. Online, in this format, I have had to take pictures, adjust the template and give written instructions that I hope you can follow. I have also created a downloadable pdf of the instructions which again had to be constructed in a different way. To be a good instructional designer, e-learning strategist or learning technology manager you have to be aware of what the benefits and consequences are of using technology for learning. What formats work for delivering different types of learning activities and which don’t. I don’t think the frog blog works brilliantly for transmitting this type of practical information so I am now off to make a video and see how that works …

About Sarah-Louise Quinnell

Dr Sarah-Louise Quinnell is a social scientist, specifically a human geographer with a diverse range of research interests from international environmental politics, development practice and management - specifically issues pertaining to capacity-development and geographies of cyberspace. Sarah is also interested in the digitisation of the academic research process. Sarah is a trainer for the King's College London Graduate School Researcher Development Unit where she delivers training on how to use social media in academic research and researcher development. Sarah gained her PhD from the Geography Department at King's College London in 2010.

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