GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education
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The module examines the relationship between technology, society, and people. It provides students with conceptual tools and theoretical frameworks to explore how technology shapes society and how society shapes technology in order to achieve a balance view of the power of technology and its impacts on our lives in different settings.
Students learn key concepts and theories for understanding the relationship between technology, society, and people, and apply them to a wide range of domains, including Energy Technology, Climate Change, Medical and Biotechnology, Information and Communication Technology.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. Appraise the relationship between technology, society and people;
b. Evaluate the impact of rapid technological development on daily life;
c. formulate ideas on how we can engage with technology properly to improve our quality of life; and
d. illustrate the development of technology in the 21st century.
1. Introduction and overview
1.1 The nature of technology
1.2 Why do we use technology?
2. The process of technological change
2.1 The sources of technological change
2.2 The diffusion and adoption of technology
2.3 Inventions and Innovations of technology
3. The impact of technology on daily life
3.1 Technology, energy, and the environment
3.2 Medical and biological technologies
3.3 Technology, Internet and Social media
3.4 Technology and the transformation of work
3.5 Technological change and challenges on modern human’s daily-life
4. The shaping and control of technology
4.1 Technology and its creators
4.2 Organizations and technological change
4.3 Governing technology
4.4 Technological change on Social and Cultural perspectives
1. Class participation (10%)
2. Group presentation (20%)
3. Assignment (20%)
4. Final essay (50%)
1. Albert, H. T. (2013). Technology and the Future (12th Edition). CA: Wadsworth.
2. Brey, P., Briggle, A. & Spence, E. (2012). The Good Life in a Technological Age. New York, Routledge.
3. Floridi, L. (2014). The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Gore, A. (2013). The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. London: W.H. Allen.
5. Johnson, D.G. & Wetmore, J.M. (2009). Technology and Society: Building Our Sociotechnical Future Cambridge. MA.: The MIT Press.
6. Labatt, S., White, Rodney R. & Whittaker, M. (2007) Carbon Finance: The Financial Implications of Climate Change. New York: Wiley.
7. Mayer-Schönberger, V. & Cukier, K. (2013). Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
8. Nye, D.E. (2007). Technology Matters: Questions to Live With. Cambridge, MA.; The MIT Press.
9. Rifkin, J. (2011). The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
10. Scharff, R.C. & Dusek, V. (2014). Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition: An Anthology (2nd Edition). Malden, MA.: Wiley-Blackwell.
11. Sismondo, S. (2010). An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies. Malden, MA.: Wiley-Blackwell.
12. Verbeek, P.P. (2005). What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design. University Park, PA.: Penn State University Press.
13. Verbeek, P.P. (2011). Moralizing Technology: Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
