Week 2: What is Technology/ The History of Technology
Premise:
Under and overgeneralizations are often made regarding what is
and what is not considered ‘technology’. The technology themes
in chapter 17 of Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession
in conjunction with student initiated research provide a solid
foundation for understanding both the history and the definitions
of technology. This discussion gives us a common language through
which to communicate the values technology represents.
Purpose:
To gain a greater understanding of what constitutes technology.
To learn how technology has evolved. To appreciate how technology
has been applied in this discipline. To understand how each individual
conceptualizes technology differently.
In Class Exercises:
Students will participate in a small group activity to enhance
the understanding of what is technology and allow for the incorporation
of different learning styles. This activity asks students to
create an artistic or physical representation of what is technology
categorizing different types of technology (i.e. communication,
information storage, information sharing). These representations
will be integrated in the final project. Following this activity
we will discuss different interpretations of technology.
In the spirit of consolidating a diverse collection of literature
on technology, we will discuss and analyze each article’s abstract
to categorize the literature according to the themes we will encounter
in the course.
Readings to be completed before class:
Read online abstract submissions assigned for homework at the
conclusion of class 1. Be prepared to discuss in class.
Go to the library’s e-reserves and locate the following chapter:
Barratt, W. (2003). Information technology in student
affairs. In Susan R. Komives and Dudley B. Woodard, Jr. (Eds.)
Student services: A handbook for the profession (pp. 379-396).