Bangladesh - Renewable Technology Opportunities for Women

Opportunity for Women in Renewable Energy Technology Use in Bangladesh. This was initiated in 1999 with $175,000 from ESMAP as a project in Char Montaz, a coastal island in Bangladesh:


Grameen Shakti, Bangladesh, Micro-finance Solar Home Systems

Bangladesh Microcredit and Mobile Phone

In Bangladesh, one of the least developed countries in the world, Microcredit from Grameen Bank has brought mobile phone services to the most isolated villages. Poor rural women now operate small businesses. Here is a sample to one of my favorite accomplishments by the women in developing country, like Bangladesh:


Single most factor in Bangladesh, infact all other developing countries, for increasing the ability for girls and women to take advantage of technology is education. Most women users of technology (rather ICT) in developing countries are a small part of urban educated elites.
In 1993, the World Bank supported a stipend program to help families meet the costs of secondary education. Today, there are more than 3.9 million Bengali girls in secondary school.

Web 2.0: Closing the Gender Gap

I will be presenting a session at the Online Teaching Conference on June 12, 2009. The theme of the conference: Digital Native or Immigrant? Preparing 4 R New Generation of Students

Here's what my session will cover in a nutshell:
Web 2.0 is transforming not only the way we use technology, they are also helping the gender gap globally. We'll first look at some Web 2.0 technologies, such as blog, wiki, social bookmarking, social networking , etc. and how they are implemented from a live online course. This course is called Women in Technology and is offered fully online by Evergreen Valley College as part of their core class in Women's Studies as well as Educational Instructional Technology. The audience will see how these technologies are shaping the ways both genders learn and they will gain an understanding of each technology. They can also apply this information to their own distance learning program by:

• analyzing how Web 2.0 can empower genders globally
• exploring the pros and cons of these technologies
• creating lesson plans utilizing these technologies
• reviewing how Web 2.0 can be integrated to their areas
• gaining overall understanding of how to teach with Web 2.0

Ning: Create New Social Network

In Unit 7, we will begin a new adventure with Ning, where you can create and discover new social networks for the most important people and interests in your life. Here is the Ning that I created for this class:
http://nataliebatalha.ning.com/
Please follow the instruction in How to create your new social network to create your Ning social network. Once you receive your web address from Ning in your email, please copy and paste it in your own blog as a new post with some comments or views on Ning and how you think you would like to use this new social network.

I plan to use this for our final project which I will post soon.

Good luck with Ning!!

Connections with Women in Developing Countries

Please view the following video to respond to the discussion forum question on the topic: Women Connecting Globally



Working with the support of Microsoft, Trestle Group Foundation's Empowering Women IT Entrepreneurs Partnership Program supports Luna Shamsuddoha of Dohatec New Media -- a woman-led software company.

Teach Topic: How to Post a Video on Blog from YouTube

1. To post a video from YouTube, just visit the YouTube video page

2. Copy the code in the "Embed" box next to the video in the YouTube page



3. You can find the "Embed" box in the "About This Video" box when you're watching the video

4. To embed a YouTube video within a blog post, first click "Edit HTML" from within the post editor

5. Click the Preview link to confirm that you copied the code successfully

Myths in Gender Gap in Education

Based on this week's topic on Feminist Pedagogy, I would like to share with the class some interesting report about the differences in how girls and boys learn and achieve in education. Experts discuss the findings and how they might help educators better address issues of learning and gender.Click here to view this interesting report:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=21052008&seg=4

Here's another report from Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Thomas Sowell who argues that economic differences between working men and women are not generally due to employer discrimination.

Women's History Month: Women in Technology Panel

March 12, 2009 is a historic day in my life. I was able to present the panel session on Women in Technology at Evergreen Valley College to celebrate Women's Herstory Month. I have been planning for a while and finally it came to reality. I was fortunate that two extremely talented technology empowered women accepted my invitation. They are both busy professionals, yet they were generous enough to take time off from their busy schedule to enlighten the students, faculty and staff of Evergreen Valley College with their knowledge and life experiences.

I am delighted to present professor and scientist, Dr. Natalie Batalha, and Silicon Valley engineer, Ms. Susmita Bhatacharya who you all can now learn from by viewing the video excerpts.

Global Economy and Gender Gap

The topic for Week 4 and 5 deals with global gender gap.

The readings provide information about the change in developing countries and the importance of technology globally in women's lives. How technology helps in making the gender gap shorter in the developed countries since technology helps women all over the world gain the same experiences, education, and careers as men. Moreover, the articles not only identify the main obstacles to women's participation in technology, but they also confirm the benefits that women derive from the developed countries by using technology at work and at home. Thus, these women in turn may find ways to help women who live in the under developing countries to find effective ways to go through their barriers in life. We will be discussion from our readings issues such as:

• the myths about 'glass ceilings', and other limitations for women in technology industries.
• in a male-dominated industry, do you have to act like a man in order to succeed?
• the literacy rates in developing countries and what is being done to close the education gap? Why is closing the gender gap around the globe important especially with regard to technology? (Gender Gap Explanation).
• how do social factors affect technology?
• what is the point of technology and who benefits?

Women and Blogging

Hello and Welcome to the Women and Web 2.0 Technology with Emphasis on Blogging!

This lesson has been introduced so the participants will each create their own blog web site to post their experiences from the beginning of this online class. I hope this will be a fun learning experience for all. I have uploaded a picture for the class from one of my presetations. This is from my visit to Bangladesh, my native country, on Januay 2009. The was a presentation on Online Teaching and Learning at the Presidency College sponsored by the Bangladesh English Language and Teaching Association (BELTA). One of my topics of presentation was also how women in third world country can connect with each other through blogging and its impact on enhancing reading and writing skills.