800903 VU Technology in Society
winter semester 2020/2021 | Last update: 13.10.2020 | Place course on memo listStudents, like many of the universities they attend, are often siloed in their education, with at best a handful of elective courses under their belt when they graduate. This course is designed to counter the effects of that situation in two ways. Outside academia, students in their chosen professions will often have to collaborate with professionals from various different backgrounds and mindsets. This course aims, to bring together students from diverse disciplines to cooperate and learn together on a project in an emerging technology as they will likely do once they are in the workforce. The course also aspires to provide those diverse students with an opportunity to gain an appreciation of the emerging multidisciplinary nature of most modern professions through an interdisciplinary course examining the intersection of technology in society. This course is designed to be of interest to students from a spectrum of backgrounds, from medical, to legal to the humanities.
The students will be given the chance to elaborate and discuss a variety of topics at the intersection of technolgy and Society. These topics can include, but are not limited to the following:
1. Introduction to technology and society
2. Privacy in emerging technologies focusing on the life sciences and the medical humanities
3. Genetic engineering
4. Biotechnology
5. Big data and predictive analytics -focusing on the life sciences and the medical humanities
6. Advanced health technologies
7. Intellectual property in the biopharmaceutical space
8. The Medical Device internet of things
The class is taught by introducing an example of a technology as a use case and then working through the intersection of that technology and society with the students. Particular effort is made to take examples of technologies from either pop culture or from recent newsworthy events to make the examples more novel, interesting and timely. Digital tools are used to provide an incentive for students to interact in class, and to participate. These tools, which allow the students to participate anonymously, have been shown to be of particular value when the students lack confidence in the subject matter to otherwise participate in debate during class.
reading list, active participation, short paper.
Students are assessed via a participation grade as well as through a paper. The paper is intended to cover a technology not presented in the course, but which requires the students to apply the skillset they acquired in the course to examine the intersection between society and the particular technology.
The participation grade consists of a reading list, in class digital tools that ask for student feedback throughout the lectures and discussion and take home surveys, conducted via Google Forms.
- Interdisciplinary and additional courses
- SDG 3 - Good health and well-being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
- SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
- SDG 12 - Responsible consumption and production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Group 0
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Date | Time | Location | ||
Tue 2020-10-13
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Thu 2020-10-15
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Tue 2020-10-20
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Thu 2020-10-22
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Tue 2020-10-27
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Thu 2020-10-29
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Tue 2020-11-03
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Thu 2020-11-05
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Tue 2020-11-10
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online | ||
Thu 2020-11-12
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15.30 - 17.45 | eLecture - online eLecture - online |