Devry LAS432 2019 September Full Course Latest

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 1 Class Discussion

This week, the reading and lesson trace a number of ethical theories that we will encounter and explore this session. These include the following.

Utilitarianism

Deontology

Ethical Intuitionism

Virtue Ethics

Ethical Non-Cognitivism

Ethical Contractarianism

As we begin our discussion this week, select one theory of ethics to apply to the case study in Chapter 2 ("Evaluating a Case Study: Developing a Practical Ethical Viewpoint"). Based on your selected ethical theory, what are the main ethical concerns?

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 2 Class Discussion

VALUE AND DUTY

In the reading for this week, Onora O'Neill suggests, "Most of us agree that we should value the environment, or at least some bits of the environment; fewer of us agree why we should do so. Leaving aside answers that appeal to sheer prudence or mere preference and looking at some of the array of answers offering under the heading of 'environmental ethics' leaves a great deal obscure" (Chapter 4: "Environmental Value, Anthropocentrism, and Speciesism").

How can we define environmental ethics in the contemporary moment? What are the factors involved in creating an ethical scaffold for understanding the natural world and its resources? What is the role of duty and obligation?

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 3 Class Discussion

INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES

This week, Chapter 2 considers the relationship between individuals and communities. Oftentimes, this discussion is at the center about debates over technology and ethics. When considering the relationship between individuals and communities, Michael Boylan suggests that there are two main considerations ("The Self in Context: A Grounding for Environmentalism").

The way that individuals understand their role and ability to act

They way that individuals see and understand their actions within a larger social context

Using this schema as a guide, what is the relationship between the individual and his or her environmental community? What are the individual roles and responsibilities to act ethically when considering technological impact on the environment? Be sure to illustrate your response using a concrete example of a technology and key formations from the reading for this week.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 4 Class Discussion

ETHICS, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

This week you are reading about the connection between the worldview of ecofeminism and social justice. This week, we will utilize the case study "The Commercialization of Life Forms" by Wanda Teays from the textbook as a point of departure for discussion. As you study this section, consider the following.

What is the relationship between ecofeminism and environmental ethics? What are some of the key points?

How do technologies related to microorganisms suggest ethical conflicts?

How do these conflicts relate to social justice?

Remember to provide specific examples and references from the reading to help support your ideas.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 5 Class Discussion

CLIMATE CHANGE

This week's reading focuses on the relationship between climate change, leadership, and ethical responsibility. What is the relationship between leadership and ethical standards? How does advancements in technology complicate or simplify this relationship? Utilize at least one form of technology discussed in the reading to help illustrate your response.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 6 Class Discussion

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

In the reading for this week, Alan Gewirth and Randall Curren discuss the roles of human rights and sustainability, respectively, when considering environmental ethics and technology. In the 21st century, what is the relationship between sustainability and human rights? How does this impact the development of new technologies? Consider a key current technological example and apply to readings for this week to create a simple case study to serve as an example of your reasoning.

 

 

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 1 Team Discussion

EXPLORING TOPICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES - A TEAM

 This week you will begin to engage with your team to brainstorm ideas for the Course Project. First, it is important for you to get to know each other within your team and collectively explore your interests. For your initial team post, explain what you think the role of environmental ethics is in society. As part of your response, highlight one key technology that you think illustrates your ideas.  

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 2 Team Discussion

FOCUSING YOUR TOPIC - A TEAM

This week you will be working with your team to create your Course Project proposal. This week you will need to do the following.

Finalize your topic.

Draft a basic definition of environmental ethics.

Outline key problems and solutions related to your selected technology.

Identify key elements of your project and assign team responsibilities.

Begin to develop your collective point of view.

What will be your strategy for the week? Use this space to share initial ideas with your teammates and develop an action plan.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 3 Team Discussion

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES - A TEAM

This week, you will be submitting individual annotated bibliographies to help build a foundation for your research process and develop your ideas. To begin the discussion with your team this week to ensure clear collaboration, explain the elements(s) of the project that you will be investigating. What are some research questions you will explore related to your subsection?

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 4 Team Discussion

OUTLINING YOUR PROJECT - A TEAMThis week, you will work with your team to develop a collaborative and cohesive outline for your team paper. To get started this week for your initial post, provide a summary of your section and an outline that details the following.

Main idea

Key points of evidence

Preliminary analysis of evidence

Conclusions and recommendations

References

This will help your team highlight similarities and differences in content and structure to begin conversations about streamlining content and project design.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 5 Team Discussion

INDIVIDUAL DRAFT PEER REVIEW - A TEAM

This week, you will complete your individual draft assignment of your section of the Course Project. To help promote collaboration and support your team members, you will post your draft for review by your team. Please preface your draft with a brief summary of key points and any issues you would like assistance with. Response posts should provide a cohesive review of the draft. Remember, your teamwork is important to both your individual and collective success so be sure to provide thoughtful and detailed feedback.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 6 Team Discussion

DRAFT PEER REVIEW - A TEAM

This week you will complete your team draft assignment. To help promote collaboration and support your team members, you will post your revised individual draft for review by your team. Please preface your draft with a brief summary of key points and any issues you would like assistance with. Response posts should provide a cohesive review of the draft. Remember, your teamwork is important to both your individual and collective success so be sure to provide thoughtful and detailed feedback.

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Week 7 Team Discussion

REVISING AND REFINING - A TEAM

As you prepare to submit your Final Paper as a team, work together to revise and solidify your assignment. Begin this week with explaining what areas of the project you will focus your revisions on.

 

 

 

LAS432 Technology, Society, and Culture

Course Project

The Capstone Assignment

Objectives

This Capstone Course concludes with a research-based team Course Project that starts during the first week of the session and continues throughout the duration of the course. It culminates with the submission of a formal, written report and presentation in Weeks 7 and 8.

For the project, students will work together in teams to identify and explore and analyze the social, cultural, political, and economic impact of an emerging or existing technology. The technology selected should have complex applications, impacts, or potential controversies when deconstructed.

Topic examples can be found throughout material covered in this course and could include, but are in no way limited to, a specific technology that intersect with one of the following ideas.

Course Projects will address the technological, historical, social, cultural, moral, and ethical issues presented by their selected topic.

Guidelines

The primary focus of this assignment is to research and assess the issues associated with a specific emerging technology. It requires that students work collaboratively on individual sections of a team paper to produce an APA formatted 20 to 25-page final paper during Week 7. Teams will also create a formal presentation of approximately 15 slides for a 20 to 25-minute presentation in Week 8.

The paper must be well researched and utilize scholarly resources (refer to the Week 7 APA Paper Template and the APA Guide tutorial found in the Writing and Research Help area (in the Introduction & Resources Module).

The final product should include the following components.

A title page, including each student's name (individual submissions should include the submitting student's name highlighted)

In addition, student names should appear in the header of each page to identify which specific areas of the paper individual students completed.

An abstract

A table of contents

An introduction, including a clearly defined thesis statement (roughly one page)

An historical timeline that details key predecessors and ideologies foundational to the technology that includes a written assessment on how these technologies influenced the development of the current technology (roughly two pages)

An analysis of the technology's influence on society considering all of the following components (roughly four pages)

Social

Cultural

Political

Economic

Environmental

An evaluation of the ethical considerations associated with the technology in relation to its impact on humanity (roughly two pages)

Concluding remarks that include concrete recommendations for future development, regulation, and ethical responsibility (roughly one page)

In text citations and a reference section in APA format

Appropriate statistical graphs or visual aids to support the paper

Best Practices

Review the video tutorials found in the Writing and Research Help area in the Introduction & Resources Module.

Communicate with your professor regularly if you have any issues or questions.

Consider the following thoughts when working on the required sections of your Impact Analysis.

Social

How has this technology been received, accepted, or rejected? Why? Is it feared or favored? What is the attitude toward change? How are the developers trying to sell the technology to the general public? Look at attitudes, feelings (emotions), behaviors, personality, and the ways humans change as a result of this technology. What is being thought and why? Is the human mind impacted? How? Are interactions between people changing as a result? Who is included or excluded, and why?

Look at groups and organizations that have arisen and prospered because of this technology. Are these groups supportive or antagonist, and why? How does the technology change society, or how does society change in response to the technology? What factors in society led to the development in the first place? What do class, gender roles, race, norms, and so forth mean in this context? Who will benefit from the technology, and who might be harmed (this might also belong in ethics and morals section)?

Look at the workplace, new companies, and/or jobs created, jobs lost (or save this for the economics section). Look at roles—subgroups and people's interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.

Cultural

Consider the elements that comprise the culture and subcultures. Think about technologies in relation to their global impact and reach. What role does technology play in globalization? Global movements and politics? Universal ethics?

What cultural products are a result of emergent technology? How have art, music, film, and other forms of artistic expression adapted and shifted to address advances or concerns over technology, ethics, and environmental impact? How is artistic production an important mirror through which to glean insights about contemporary realities?

Political

Look at government policy, government intervention, government involvement (support or lack of support, funding), both nationally and internationally. Consider Congress, the president, the Supreme Court (decisions), the rate of change, liberalism, conservatism, legislation, litigation, and so on. What political factors are at work in the progression or regression of the technology (e.g., lobbyists, special interest groups, partisan views, vocal advocates, or spokespersons)?

What are current political debates that your selected technology intersects with? What are potential impacts and resolutions?

Economic

Consider production, consumption, costs, variables of supply and demand, corporations, private enterprise, and the impact on the nation's economy (employment, displacement, and outsourcing). Are certain industries impacted more than others?

Look up financial projections—expectations for growth, startup companies, the stock exchange, and the like—anything related to business and the U.S. and global economies. Who are the chief players in the business environment, and what are their roles? How much has been invested in research and development? How will the price fluctuate? What economic trends are to be observed? Who will make money from the technology?

Consider the politics of development. Who is funding the research and development? Who controls the purse strings, and why? Look at foundations and charitable organizations, the outcomes, and the nature of consumers.

Be sure to use charts and tables and quantitative data in this section. Tables, figures, data, and statistics must be current, valid, and used appropriately.

Environmental

Consider such things as dangers to humans, the depletion of resources, air and water pollution, discovery before inventions, impact on wildlife and humans (health and safety), long-term and short-term effects, waste disposal, and aesthetic considerations (how the technology changes the landscape).

Consider the positive effects (savings of raw materials or fossil fuels, low environmental impact, and enhancement of the environment).

Practice makes perfect. Please be sure to practice your oral presentation to ensure that you are comfortable with the material and can stick to the time constraints.