| CODE | TET3009 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Technology, Society and Entrepreneurship | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Technology and Entrepreneurship Education | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This unit starts by explicating the relationship between technology and society during the modern era. It exposes the perennial debate about which entity is the driving source - technology or society - and the values cultivated by this relationship. The unit proceeds to give an insight about economic considerations of technology and its products and processes for our society. The unit also gives the opportunity to explore the formation and characteristics of non-professional technological communities: groups of people that get together to discuss or exhibit their technological products, skills and capabilities. Within this unit students will also explore entrepreneurship skills needed to turn their own technological product into a successful business enterprise. Study-Unit Aims: 1. To explore the ethical and value implications resulting from the interrelationships between technology and society; 2. To analyse the characteristics of technological communities; 3. To assist students in designing business plans for technological products based on the analysis of interrelationships between technology and society. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. Employ the tool of binarial hermeneutics to interpret the phenomenon of technology e.g. to ask questions such as: is technology utopian or dystopian? Is technology a product or a process? Is it visible or invisible to human consciousness? Which technologies to include in a technology curriculum 鈥� traditional or emergent?; 2. Employ a phenomenological approach to interpret the phenomenon of technology; 3. Analyse and discuss the formation and characteristics of technological communities, i.e. communities which form around a technological product e.g. community of motorbike riders, community of old car collectionists, community of model aircraft builders (Malta model aircraft flying association), community of model engineers (association of model engineers Malta), Malta robotics community 鈥� etc.; 4. Design a business plan for a technological product or process. This could be linked to the final year project work. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. Develop oral and written verbal argumentative skills and presentation skills; 2. Develop anthropological and qualitative research skills; 3. Develop skills for the philosophical inquiry of topics related to technological societies. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - HARPER, D. 1987. Working Knowledge: Skill and Community in a Small Shop, University of Chicago Press. - WILLIAMS, P. J., JONES, A. & BUNTTING, C. (eds.) 2015. The Future of Technology Education, Singapore: Springer. - DUSEK, V. 2006. Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction, Blackwell Publishing. Supplementary Readings: - FEENBERG, A. 1999. Questioning Technology, Routledge. - HEIDEGGER, M. 1993. "The Question Concerning Technology", translated by W. Lovitt. In: KRELL, D. F. (ed.) Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings. London: Routledge. - IHDE, D. 2004. Has the Philosophy of Technology Arrived? A State-of-the-Art Review. Philosophy of Science, 71, 117-131. - KAPLAN, D. M. 2009. How to read technology critically. In: FRIIS, J. K. B. O., SELINGER, E. & RIIS, S. (eds.) New Waves in Philosophy of Technology. Palgrave Macmillan. - MITCHAM, C. 1979. Philosophy and the History of Technology. In: BUGLIARELLO, G. & DONER, D. (eds.) The History and Philosophy of Technology. University of Illinois Press. - PETRINA, S. 2000. The Politics of Technological Literacy. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 10, 181-206. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Emanuel Mizzi |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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