Skills I Learned

I learned a lot this term! I didn’t know what to expect going into the term, but I am pleased with the results! I have never been very savvy when it comes to technology so it was helpful to take a class that walked me through the steps one by one. I learned how to create a blog which was very rewarding. I reread the course objectives and I believe that I met each objective. I really enjoyed reading the articles for the class discussions each week and researching the topics more in depth. I learned how to search for scholarly articles. I learned how to take a screen shot. I learned how to optimize images and how to format the text in my blog pages. I will apply the new knowledge to my education by keeping a blog during research projects. Blogs are great tools to help organize both information and thoughts. The teach projects I read really helped improve my technology skills when it comes to everyday activites. I want to be an elementary teacher so I will use the skills and knowledge I gained to create lessons that exemplify the feminist pedagogy. I believe this course exemplified the feminist pedagogy as it opened my eyes to different technologies and how they are viewed through a gender lens. The culture site project really embodies the feminist pedagogy. Through that project I  learned how women are viewed in the different scientific fields. I learned that women are capable of incredible scientific discoveries, however are not given nearly the credit men are given.

Teach Project Topic

Ideas for developing a learning module:

1. How to check online banking statements and transfer money to accounts
2. How to set up a prezi presentation
3. How to create an online photo book

Declaration of  topic:

• I will develop a learning module for how to create and order an online photo book

Technical issues to research:

1. There could be issues downloading pictures from a camera to the computer
2. There could be issues uploading the pictures onto the website
3. Some websites might be better than others
4. The quality of the photo book might not turn out as well as it appears online
5. The pictures might be pixelated when they are printed in the photobook format

Tools I will use:

1. I will use  the internet
2. I will use the website snapfish
3. I will create my presentation in an online prezi

I was excited when I read about the opportunity to set up Text to Speech capabilities on my computer! My computers “narrator” turns on automatically whenever I turn on my laptop and I have been wondering how to turn it off! It is nice to have text read to me, but only when I want it read aloud!

I have Windows Vista so I looked into setting up the Text to Speech capabilities. I learn best visually opposed to audibly so I learn best when I am reading text myself. However it was nice to learn how to set this up to control when my computer reads text to me. With this set up I can occassionally have something read aloud to me while I am working on something else.  I am all for multi-tasking!

The article was very helpful in taking me through the steps to set up TTS. The only thing I don’t like is the choppyness of the narrators speech, however I learned “An internal driver, called a TTS engine, recognizes the text and using a synthesized voice chosen from several pre-generated voices, speaks the written text.” I have been using the basic voice and there are many different voices with different accents out there! How neat!

To set up the program I went to the control panel and selected an the preferred audio output device. I previewed the TTS voice to find one I preferred. I changed the voice rate as the previous narrator would read very slow which made it hard to listen to. I visited the Microsoft Web site to help- http://www.microsoft.com/speech/evaluation/thirdparty/engines.mspx

I liked the idea of having the narrator announce things that pop up of the screen so I will be aware of what is opening on my screen.

I found the financial analysis project to be a very helpful planning, organizing, and bugeting tool. I have never kept a spreadsheet of my finances so it was helpful to begin to document my monthly income and spending. I was helpful to analyze how much money I make each month and where I spend my money each month. My “dream” has been something I have been wanting to do for a long time. This was a neat oppertunity to use different financial budgeting tools to get a realistic look at what it would cost to go on my deam trip. I was able to see that my dream really may become a reality with a little extra saving.

 List of ideas for teach project:

Teach others how to use a wakesurf

Teach others how to use a saddle

Teach others how to use a camera

Teach others how to use powerpoint

My Dreams

My Biggest Dreams:

1. Owning a house
2. Traveling to Africa, Isreal, and around Europe
3. Owning a horse
4. Going on a honeymoon to Costa Rica
5. Adopting a child one day
6. Paying for my future childrens college
7. Helping to financially support an orphange

Dream I will focus on: honeymoon in Costa Rica

I researched savings plans and found many incredibly helpful resources online!

Uploading Images

I am beginning to feel a lot more comfortable working on my blog. The Culture Site project really helped me explore blogging and improve my skills. I was nervous about optimizing and uploading images to the Culture Site pages, however I was able to figure it out pretty quick. I found that I quite enjoyed adding pictures to the gallery for each page and then dispersing pictures throughout the content I had written. I found quite a few awesome videos on Wangari’s life and work I really wanted to share, but unfortunately the files were too large to be uploaded.

I read ahead to the financial analysis project and here is a list of my ideas for the project: 

-Own a home in West Linn or Oregon City

-A three week trip to Isreal

-Honeymoon is Costa Rica

-Travel to any of the locations from this list for a two week vacation: South Africa, Greece, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Thailand, India, Indonesia,

Culture Site Process

Librarian Contact

I contacted the librarian to ask for any resources relating to current trends in environmental science as well as current trends in environmental education and business in Africa. The librarian was able to provide me with several very interesting resources. I forget what knowledgeable and helpful resources librarians are! I wish I had learned to tap into this incredible resource earlier in my college career! I realized that there is a wealth of information out there just waiting to be discovered! Next time however, I will make sure to ask even more specifc questions as to recieve more detailed information on my subject.

Culture Project Topic

I chose to do my project on Wangari Maathai:

Wangari was a leading voice in the continent of Aftrica. She worked to conserve the environment by teaching women to plant tress. Her technology was sustainable development and she worked powerfully in the area of environmental science. She passed away in the fall of 2011, but her work has left an incredible impact. Not only was she a “committed champion of the environment and sustainable development (http://www.cnn.com),” but she worked to improve women’s rights and demoncracy as well.

Wangari’s culture is different from mine in that she lived in Kenya and devoted herself to Africa. She also differed from me as in the area of status in that she was an “elected member of Parliament and an Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources (http://www.cnn.com).”

Since she has passed there won’t be a possibility of interviewing her, however there are many powerful videos and quotes that document her heart, her ideas, and her vision. She rose much awareness around the word concerning environment protection.

Week 2