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This course is open only to students enrolled in the Master PSTS .
In case you, as a student from another master’s programme, want to participate in this course, please contact the PSTS staff, at least two weeks before the start of the course: y.c.h.dethouars@utwente.nl or m.e.tijhuis@utwente.nl
This course connects to the final qualifications K1, K3, K4, S1, S2, S3, S4, S8
The TechnoLab project is a first introduction to the kind of integrated projects of a graduated PSTS person in a professional role. The skills and insights that are acquired in the TechnoLab project can be compared to learning how to work as a journalist who wants to inform a high-educated audience about a new technological development. The journalist aims to give several perspectives (technological, engineering sciences, social sciences and PSTS), thus setting-out a typical ‘High tech – Human touch’ approach, which will be a typical skill of a graduated PSTS person. A journalist has to collect information, formulate relevant questions, understand and interpret what she sees and hears, reflect on those findings, and communicates them to the public in intelligible language and as a coherent whole. In so doing, she needs to have relevant frameworks and perspectives that will enable her to do so. Attaining these frameworks and perspectives is part of TechnoLab and PSTS as a whole.
The learning objectives of the TechnoLab course
- Students will learn to investigate and write about a technology-related societal issue.
- Students will develop a realistic view of scientific research pertaining to technological application contexts.
- Students will learn how to get to know and understand an unfamiliar technological domain through PSTS relevant methods, including close reading, case studies, and expert interviews.
- Students will learn to apply the acquired philosophical accounts and perspectives acquired in previous PSTS courses to the themes investigated in the TechnoLab course.
- Students will learn to work and do research in project groups and thereby get acquainted with various aspects of project-management and group-dynamics.
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In the TechnoLab project course, students get acquainted with technological developments for which research is performed in (UT) Engineering Sciences disciplines and research institutions. Students get to understand scientific research practices (i.e. engineering sciences) that work towards these technological developments, as well as their social and political contexts and settings. Different approaches will be taken in developing this understanding, such as studying brochures, websites and scientific articles, but also interviews with researchers in order to learn about the content and approaches of their scientific work. Based on the understanding of a technological development that has been gained in the first quartile of this course, PSTS topics are explored in the second quartile. In this way students are encouraged to apply PSTS topics of PSTS courses to concrete cases in Technolab. Three PSTS courses run in parallel: Philosophy of Technology, Science and Technology Studies, and Ethics and Technology I, while classes on the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology I will be integrated in Technolab.
Assignment:
In the Technolab course, student groups (consisting of 3-5 students) will write magazines/reports that must cover:
- a specific technology developed to address a specific societal issue
- engineering/applied science(s) research underlying the development of this technology
- how PSTS themes apply to the use/development of the specific technology under consideration
The length of the magazine/report should be = number of students in the group x (2000-2500) words.
Teaching method:
There will be weekly meetings in which the progress of the magazine will be discussed with the teacher. There will be also occasional guest lectures on skill training. Written and oral feedback on intermediate versions of the magazine will be provided by the teacher and by students of other groups.
Attendance is obligatory for those class sessions as indicated in the handout of the course.
Assessment
The final course grade in the Technolab course will consist of the following components: a group project grade (50 %) (i.e. all students in the same group will get the same project grade) on the submitted magazine/report; and an individual project grade (50%) on the parts (i.e., papers, sections, or chapters) written for the magazine/report. Each of the above grade-components must be ≥ 5.5 for a passing (or sufficient) final course grade.
The group project grade will be based on the following aspects, which will count evenly:
- Discussion of the technology-related societal issue.
- Discussion of the technology and the engineering/applied science(s) research relevant to the technology-related societal issue under consideration.
- Discussions of PSTS related topic(s) relevant to the technology-related societal issue
- General quality of the magazine/report, including structure, flow of text, argumentation, clarity and attractiveness to readers.
Skills
Students will be able to develop the following skills:
Research skills
- identifying sources on technoscientific developments)
- Interview skills•
Reviewing a set of texts, composing outline, reconstructing and assessing lines of argumentation, methodology
- Writing for lay audience (magazine, glossary)
- Peer reviewing
Communication skills
Professional & reflective skills
- Collaboration skills & Time management
- Translating academic research findings
- Identifying opportunities for using own
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Having completed successfully the PSTS courses
• Philosophical Theories and Methods (201200059)
• Philosophy of Technology (201200063)
• Science and Technology Studies (201200064) |
| Master Philosophy of Science, Technology and Soc. |
| | Verplicht materiaal-Aanbevolen materiaalCourse material| Will be announced on Canvas |
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WerkvormenColstructie| Aanwezigheidsplicht | | Ja |
| Hoorcollege| Aanwezigheidsplicht | | Ja |
| Werkcollege| Aanwezigheidsplicht | | Ja |
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ToetsenProject
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