BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Technology affects the way we live, the way we work, the way we spend our leisure time and the way we think.

COURSE SYLLABUS

ITEDU 100 Technology and Society

Instructor: James J. Kirkwood

Phone: BSU: 285-5647
Kirkwood home: 282-0793 8 AM to 10 PM.

Comments

 

 

A study of technology examines ways humans design, use, produce, and assess technical artifacts and systems.

I. Texts:

Volti, R. (1995). Society and Technological Change.
Naar, J. (1990). Design for a Livable Planet.
Custer, R.L. & Weims, A.E. (Eds.) (1996). Technology and the Quality of Life. 45th Yearbook of the CTTE.
Other readings will be provided.

II. Prerequisites: None.

III. Catalog Description:

An investigation of the history, development, production, use, and assessment of technology and an examination of its effects upon resources, individuals, society, and environment.

IV. Technology and Society: A Rationale

In order to be a fully-functioning person in any society, he or she must understand its technology. Technology is the practical application of the principles of math and science, pervades social interactions and communications, and is the hallmark of the ways in which society has interacted with and controlled the natural and human-made environments. A study of technology examines ways humans design, use, produce, and assess technical artifacts and systems of the past and present. Historically, a person who was not knowledgeable about technology could not take advantages of the benefits of the society and in more primitive societies, would have a short life. In modern social systems technology is pervasive. It affects the way we live, the way we work, the way we spend our leisure time and the way we think. The relationships among humanity, society, and technology must be understood in order to understand human adaptation to the natural world and social progress. An interpretation based on historical evidence is used to avoid past mistakes and provides a direction for action when dealing with present day problems and provides directions for future human progress.


V. Course Objectives:

Upon satisfactorily completing this course, the student will be able to:
1. Develop an appreciation for the historical evolution of humanity, society, and technology.
2. Recognize the interdependence of people, society, and technology.
3. Categorize the resources, processes, and applications critical to technological systems.
4. Recognize the various uses for technological systems.
5. Identify different societies' needs for technology.
6. Understand terminology related to technological systems which have an effect upon environment and society.
7. Compare and contrast the benefits or limitations of a variety of technological systems.
8. Formulate informed choices and decisions which relate to the application of technology to societal and individual problems.
9. Research evidence of the impacts of various technological innovations upon humanity.
10. Research the importance of technological innovation to humanity and society.
11. Describe the social, environmental, and economic relationships between technological systems and society.
12. Communicate, in several ways, the relationship between humanity, society, environment, and technology.
13. Develop creative solutions to present and future technological obstacles.
14. Assess and evaluate technological systems.
15. Understand the responsibilities of the user of technological systems.

VI. Course Content:

FIRST SECTION: ONE-TWO WEEKS
A. Nature of Technology
1. Definition
2. Technological Advance
3. Technology and Rationality

B. Differential Effects of Technological Change
1. Luddites
2. Technology ownership
C. Technology Values
1. Problems of technology
2. The appeal of technology

SECOND SECTION: THREE WEEKS
A. Sources of technological change
1. Great breakthroughs
2. R&D, with emphasis on D
3. Social context of technological change
4. Market economies and technological advance
5. Planned economies and problems of technological development
6. Noneconomic sources of technological advance
B. Scientific knowledge and technological advance.
1. Historical separation of technology and science
2. Contemporary science and technology relationships
3. How technology differs from science.
4. How technology stimulates scientific discovery
5. Indirect effects of technology on scientific advance.
6. Commonalties of science and technology.
7. Translation of science into technology.
C. The Diffusion of Technology
1. International diffusion of technology
a. Copyists
b. Adaptation and adoption
c. Japanese example
d. Appropriate technology
2. Business firms and technological diffusion
a. Economic motives and technology transfer
b. Efforts to restrict the diffusion of technology
c. Patents and the diffusion of technology
D. Technology, energy, and the environment.
1. Fossil fuels, air pollution, and climate change.
2. A planet under stress.
3. Technology: problem or solution?
4. Technological “fixes” of the past.
5. Alternatives to fossil fuels.
6. Doing more with less
7. Economic systems, government policies, and the environment.
E. Medical and biological technologies.
1. The dilemmas of new technologies
a. Kidney dialysis.
b. Replacing broken hearts.
c. Halfway technologies.
d. Diagnostic technologies
2. The genetic fix
a. Commercialization of DNA technology
b. Controlling biotechnology.

THIRD SECTION: TWO-THREE WEEKS
A. Work in nonindustrial societies
1. Earliest tools
2. Work and leisure in technologically primitive societies.
3. Work and the development of agriculture.
4. Farming techniques and patterns of work.
5. Ironies of progress.
6. Artisan and craft work
7. Guild organization and technological change
8. Slavery and the inhibition of technological development.
9. The measurement of time and changed working patterns.
10. The clock.
B. Technology and jobs.
1. Threat of machine-made employment.
2. Technological threat in historical perspective.
3. A case for optimism.
4. How technology creates jobs.
5. Indirect effects of new technologies on employment.
6. Technology, jobs, and the changing structure of the economy.
C. Technological change and life on the job.
1. Industrial production
2. Machine-paced labor
3. Blaming technology.
4. Industrial technology and the division of labor.
5. Scientific management, revisited.
6. Industrial work and recent technological developments.
7. Technological change and white-collar work.
8. Smart technologies = dumb jobs?

 FOURTH SECTION, COMMUNICATION: THREE WEEKS.
A. Printing
1. The printing revolution
2. Printing and the expansion of knowledge
3. Printing and the rise of Protestantism.
4. Printing, literacy, and social change
5. Psychological effects of printing
6. Newspapers.
7. Circulation wars and the shaping of public opinion.
B. The electronic media.
1. Invention of radio.
2. Origins of Commercial radio
3. Rise of TV
4. Federal Government regulations.
5. Problems of regulation.
6. Social and Psychological consequences of TV.
7. Violence on TV and its consequences.
8. TV, information and news.
9. TV and politics.
10. TV’s place in modern society.

FIFTH SECTION, TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION: TWO WEEKS.
A. Weapons and their consequences.
1. Military technology in the ancient world.
2. Military technology and the feudal order.
3. New weapons and the decline of feudalism.
4. Gunpowder.
5. War and the centralized state.
6. Technological change and naval culture in the era of the battleship.
7. Weapons and the making of the modern world.
B. How new weapons emerge and how they may be contained.
1. Action and reaction.
2. Social structure and the development of military technologies
3. Organizational interests and the air weapon.
4. Social revolution and the enlargement of war.
5. Industrial technology and the service of war.
6. Controlling military technologies.
a. Historical attempts to limit new weapons
b. A successful example of arms control
c. Gun control in old Japan.
7. The control of nuclear weapons.
a. Deterrence, but no more.
b. The perils of proliferation.

SIXTH SECTION, THE SHAPING AND CONTROL OF TECHNOLOGY: TWO WEEKS
A. Technology and its creators: who’s in charge of whom?
1. Technological determinism.
a. Technological advance and cultural lag.
b. Convergence theory.
c. Technological change and social relationships.
2. Experts and expertise.
a. Engineers and the control of technology.
b. The work environment of engineers.
B. Organizations and technological change.
1. Technology as a cause of organizational structure.
2. Technology as a consequence of organizational structure.
3. Intgerorganizational relations and technological development.
4. Entrepreneurs and organizations.
C. Government and the control of technology.
1. Government actions and the shaping of technology
2. Is it necessary?
3. Government institutions for the guidance of technology
4. Processes.
5. The democratic control of technology
6. The challenges of the future.

VII. Course Format and Instructional Strategies

Lectures, discussion and demonstration are the main formal teaching strategies. Lectures and discussions will be aided by demonstrations, films, videos and field trips to relevant technology sites. (A tour of a nearby factory, or a trip to a construction site are examples of field trips to technology sites.) There will be both individual and group activities. Students are expected to do outside research, reading, and writing, commensurate with course objectives. A list of expected strategies are:
• Films
• Videos
• Lecture
• Field trips
• Individual reports
• Individual projects
• Laboratory demonstrations
• Group interaction /Seminar
• Discussion / Question and Answer

VII Course Calendar:

VIII.

IX. Optional Information:

Rules and Regulations:

X. Methods of Student Evaluation

A. Major Activities/Tasks and Deadlines

Information regarding your progress in this class will be provided after grades are distributed for each assignment, test, quiz, or other activity. You will receive a personal grade report indicating your letter grade for the current assignment as well as a numerical score for each previous assignment, test, quiz or other activity; a cumulative numerical score; and a percentage of the total; so that you will be aware, at all times, of your progress in the course. I will attempt to communicate with you via VAX mail. You must have a VAX number to use this process. Please feel free to use VAX mail to communicate with your instructor. Generally you will receive a reply in less than 24 hours. VAX mail is the surest way to get a message to your instructor!

B. Grading System/Scale

As a rule, your reading assignment from all handouts begins the first week of class and continues to the last week. Read handouts the day they are given. All handouts will be covered in the exam or quizzes.
Both subjective and objective evaluation techniques will be used. All objective grades will be group referenced to all sections. (I.e. "curved" so that the above grading will apply to percentages.) Objective evaluations will be made on such things as constructing projects (if any) to specifications, e.g.: proper length and width, quizzes and tests, and whether or not you have completed an assignment. Subjective evaluations will be made on such things as creativity, skill, demonstration of intelligent thought and expression, and value of projects to the stated objectives. Subjective evaluationdoes not mean you are being evaluated against each other nor does it mean that your personality is being scrutinized for its supposed value or lack of value. Subjective means that your work is being evaluated on objectives that are stated or implied by both the student and the instructor and against the possible alternatives, given different time allotments, materials used, and your own entering skill levels.

GRADING POLICY

A = 92.6- 100%
A- = 90-92.5%
B+ = 87.6-89.9%
B = 82.5-87.4%
B- = 80-82.4%
C+ = 77.5-79.9%
C = 72.5-77.4%
C- = 70-72.4%
D+ = 67.5-69.9%
D = 62.5-67.4%
D- = 60-62.4%
F = 0-59.9%

XI. Methods of Course Evaluation:

Each class will be evaluated using the departmental course evaluation form at mid term so that the instructor can incorporate any necessary changes for the second half of the term. A student evaluation, following departmental, college and university guidelines, will be held towards the end of the semester.

XII. Texts and Resources

Possible Texts: Volti, R. (1995). Society and Technological Change.
Naar, J. (1990). Design for a Livable Planet.
Custer, R.L. & Weims, A.E. (Eds.) (1996). Technology and the Quality of Life. 45th Yearbook of the CTTE.

XIII. Laboratory Experiences and Hours:

Although lecture is the main method of instruction for this class, there will be several activities which will require a few hours of outside work, usually 3 -6 hours. Open lab times will be posted. The regularly scheduled class period will be reserved for lectures and demonstrations. All make up work must be handed in on time according to the class schedule.


XIV. References/Bibliography

Barbour, I. G. (1980). Technology, Environment, and Human Values. New York, NY: Praeger.

Brennan, R. P. (1990). Levitating Trains & Kamikaze Genes. New York: Harper

Burke, J. (1985). The Day The Universe Changed. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company.

Burke. J. (1978). Connections. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company.

Cross, G. and Szostak, R. (1995). Technology and American Society. Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice Hall.

DeVore, P.D. (1980). Technology: An Introduction. Worcester, MA: Davis .

Hutchinson, J. & Karsnitz, J. (1994). Design and Problem Solving in Technology. Albany, NY: Delmar.

Marcus, A. I. & Segal, H. P. (1989). Technology in America: A Brief History. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Schwartz, M. (1990). Machines, Buildings, Weaponary of Biblical Times. Old Tappan,NJ: Revell.

Stephenson, L. and Byerly, H. (1995). The Many Faces of Science: An Introduction to Scientists, Values & Society. Boulder, CO: Westview.


XVI. Laboratory Use Policy:


XVII. Audit Policy:


XVIII. Special Needs Students:


If you have any special needs—handicaps, problems, or any other factors that may affect your performance in class or require special instructional strategies—if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with during the first week of the course. My telephone number is 285-5647, my usual office hours are 9 am-noon and 2-5:30 PM. I can be contacted at home at 282-0793.

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Page Updated: May 12, 1997