Final Thoughts on Gender and Technology

Evolution © Leibovitz A. 2009

I really enjoyed this class. I was really dreading having to sit through a boring computer science class that would teach me a bunch of how-to computer stuff I already knew how to do, so when I saw the opportunity to do a technology class related to gender I was very excited. This class was a great outlet for me, and my feminist views; I thought looking at technology thru a gender lens sort of stimulated different parts of my brain with feminist thinking… I really enjoyed the part of the class when we studied the cyborg myth. That whole concept that by including so much tech in our lives that we become that technology, in theory. Very cool. This course surpassed the course objectives I was expecting. I feel like I will be able to share what I learned in this class with my family and friends. My Aunt Becca is going to school to be a computer science teacher, and I can’t wait for winter break so I can converse with her about what I learned here… I will apply the knowledge I gained about creating websites and using programs like Microsoft Excel in the other courses I will be taking over the next few years  as I trudge towards finishing my degree. And I certainly believe this class used feminist pedagogy. We were all treated in an egalitarian fashion, and the discussions and projects brought up important gender and class issues, so that they were not ignored. I feel like I can try and model my own future classes in this style to include a feminist pedagogy in my classes.

Lovely! Great class!

Teaching project ideas

For this next project, I had kind of a tricky time trying to narrow down what I wanted to teach to the world. Some of my ideas included:

 

~How to sew a felt friend

~How to connect a keyboard to a computer, and thusly a music program, like garageband

~How to copy a vinyl record to MP3 format

~How to create a goofy comic image in photoshop

~How to make a regular people hooded sweatshirt, into a hooded sweatshirt for my dog

 

 

Spoon Getting a Tummy Rub © Westendorf 2009

Even though I love my dog Spoon, and I know how much she would love a new sweatshirt, I think I will focus on how to convert a vinyl record to MP3 format that can be put onto itunes and downloaded onto an MP3 player of your choice!

 

 

Money, Money, Money

I am a poor student. A poor student am I!! I have learned a great deal this week. I have utilized new software to my advantage, but also to my dismay, as I am beginning to realize just how much money I spend on useless crap, and on legitimate, but huge expenditures!! I found Excel to be a breeze once I got the hang of it, and it was ultimately very helpful to see all of my finances laid out so clearly.

cheekies

Tank Girl © Hewlit 1993

Some thoughts on my hopes and dreams…

Life is something very crazy, and it never stops. So to me it seems like financial planning is the only way to really get a grasp on how I can really accomplish my hopes and dreams, ya dig?

Here is a list of some of my “biggest dreams”

*Get my music education degree (possible women’s studies minor), and get a job teaching in remote rural Oregon, like in the Trask mountain range above the coast.

*Buy a large piece of land and build a solar powered house – all inclusive with rain-water collecting system, large veggie garden, the works. In this dream I would like to have enough land to be a part of a pit bull rescue, and also to house a few farm animals, perhaps llamas.

*Travel back to Germany, this time with my husband, and spend a few years working and living there either teaching music or English.

*Buy a pipe organ, so much cooler than the doinky electric ones

*Buy an old VW Westfalia Camper bus

*Learn how to sew

*Buy kiln for my husband

 

I think for this project I will focus on the dream of completing my degree. It would be nice to see it all laid, just what I am working to accomplish here. I think I will look up what classes I need to take and calculate what the expenses would be to finish my degree, including the gas money it takes for me to commute and hour and an half to campus every day. It should be enlightening, perhaps frightening!

Week 6 afterthoughts

I really enjoyed this project – I found the whole experience to be quite eye-opening!

I had plenty of success finding media for my project. I wanted to have my work look professional, and I think imagery really helped to do that. I really enjoyed learning about how to embed links – this is something I will definitely use in future classes!

 

Keep on truckin ya’ll!

 

Draft 1 completed!

Holy cow, I went all out on this project and I am mentally exhausted, but also pleased with all the info I was able to get out of this. I enjoyed reading all the articles about Maria, and I hope everyone enjoys reading about my findings.

Also, the Librarian did email me back with several very helpful links I was able to use for my project! Hope everyone is not going crazy with midterms!!

Librarian Help

I tried two different methods for asking questions to a librarian. I started by trying to email Jane Nichols, the Women Studies librarian about three days ago, and noticed no response as of yet, so I decided to try another method. I decided to chat with a librarian, which I had more success with. I learned that this program works by employing librarians in a kind of cooperative service. The librarian I spoke to was actually in Ohio, but was still able to answer my question.

I wanted to know how to get copies of articles that were listed in EBSCO, but that OSU did not have a full copy of the article and he directed me to a interlibrary loan form which I could use to order the article I needed at other libraries and have it sent to me, found here: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/ill/

I found the chat to be very helpful, and something that was particularly good for the online classroom setting, where you wouldn’t have normal access to  a physical library. If I do hear from my email I sent I will post more about that, but again the chat was a good thing, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who was stuck on their project – you get immediate feedback!

Maria Telkes

Just making sure I meet the weekly requirements here. I officially will be researching Maria Telkes, the Hungarian Bio chemist who was known as the “sun – queen” for her contributions in solar technology. Maria was born in Budapest Hungary, where she attended college eventually earning her Ph. D in chemistry in 1924. She eventually moved to New York, where at the New York University College set up a whole laboratory dedicated to solar research, and where many of her discoveries ( like the ones listed in my first post about her) were discovered. Unfortunately, she passed away in 1995, so there is no chance of me being able to interview her.

Week 2

All is going well working with my blog, I am not having any trouble following instructions to fix up my page to meet requirements.It was fun messing with the blog settings this week. I wish I had more themes to choose from, but I like the look of my page. I enjoyed the discussions this week… very thought provoking. 

 

Hope everyone is having a good week! 🙂

Inventor Ideas

So after much deliberation here, I think I will write my culture project about Maria Telkes, who discovered many inventions having to do with solar energy, including a solar still that converts salt water into fresh water, a solar home heating system, as well as air conditioning systems that worked by collecting cool air from the night before, and using that to cool the home during the hot summer days. . She was a hungarian biophysicist , but did live in America when a lot of her inventions were taking place… I am curious if she will fit the requirements for the assignment?