Learning Technologies for Good and Evil

Catalog description

This course starts from the assumption that good outcomes of new technology for education and society are never guaranteed but rather that the use of technology for learning, or any other purpose, always entails ethical tensions-a struggle between "good" and "evil." The course provides a practical angle on these issues for learning technology designers, educators, and researchers. The course is organized into three parts. Part 1 provides initial conceptual frames for thinking about ethical issues in technologies for education and learning, including basic moral theory, utopian/dystopian thinking, and guiding values. Part 2 surveys a range of contemporary issues in technology and ethics that are relevant to education and learning. For example, the course considers issues of surveillance, engagement and addiction, and debates over profit-seeking. Part 3 focuses on drawing conclusions for practice, with application to individual students' professional contexts.