Section Title: Technology: Shaped by or
Shaping Society?
Spring 2008
Instructor: Jan Pearce (pearcej@berea.edu)
Does technological change typically lead to improvement in society? Are some technologies morally wrong? Who decides? In this course we will look at liberal education—what it is, how technology is changing it, what you can hope to gain from it, and how you can contribute to it. In addition, we will turn our attention to discussing the interdependency of societal change and technological change.
This course is designed to help students with transitions from their past experiences to the challenges of college academic life and culture, also emphasizing writing, reasoning, and learning as foundations for continuing academic success in General Education and beyond. Each section of the course involves explicit, continuing attention to writing, reasoning, research, and reflective engagement with various texts, written and non-written. All sections initially address with students questions about the nature of education, liberal arts education, and links to lifelong learning and living.
This is a writing seminar, so expect to do a lot of writing. Writing is a process, and the best way to understand your own process and get it to work efficiently for you is by practicing it often. Be prepared, too, to share your writing with your classmates, because we will also be learning how to be good reviewers for others. Class structure will be a combination of discussion and workshop.