Technology and Human Values Course Descriptor

Course Overview

The course introduces students to fundamental ethical and societal issues through an exploration of how these issues are manifested in real world contexts. Issues considered include the relationship between technology and humanity, the social dimensions of technology, and ethical issues raised by emerging technologies. Among the aspects of the real world considered are emerging technologies such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. In bringing students into contact with philosophical thinking about these issues through such real world contexts, the course cultivates students’ ability to bring abstract considerations and reasoning skills directly to bear on the world in which they live.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage you in your studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

1. Interactive lectures/seminars

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Sandler, Ronald (2016). Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Springer.
• Coeckelbergh, Mark (2020). AI Ethics. MIT Press.
• Jasanoff, Sheila (2016). The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future. WW Norton & Company.
• Vallor, ed. (2020). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology. Oxford University Press.
• Scharff, & Dusek, V. (2014). Philosophy of Technology : The Technological Condition: An Anthology (second edition). Wiley-Blackwell.
• Driver, J. (2006). Ethics: The Fundamentals. Wiley-Blackwell.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below is used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Biotechnology
• Artificial intelligence
• Privacy and data
• Ethics of autonomous robots
• Reproductive technologies