Syllabus:
ITDPT 406: Technological Decision Making
Department of Technology, Ball State University
Muncie, Indiana, USA
This document can be found at: http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/rlo/406syl.htm

Description | Objectives | Rationale | Content | Format | Bibliography

Course Description

"Focuses on technology assessment techniques used to differentiate the potential impacts of alternative technological decisions. Policy development in the public and private sectors, and at the personal level, are examined"

Objectives

2. Analyze how individuals and organizations adopt and use technologies.

3. Analyze product usability; design, perform, and report on original usability research.

4. Describe usability engineering and apply its principles and techniques to improve usability.

5. Analyze a problematic technological/social situation and develop alternative policy options to address the problems, performing a formal technology assessment using forecasting techniques to predict future outcomes and impacts of technological decisions.

Rationale

Technology assessment is an important tool for industry, agencies, consumers, and citizens to ensure that technological decisions are sound and appropriate. In this course, students assess the impacts of technology on the environment, society, and the individual.

Content Outline

A. Intro, Who's Who
B. Logging in to the course Webpages
C. Syllabus

2. Introduction to technological decision making

A. Intro
B. The scope of technology
C. Issues in using technology
D. Issues in technology assessment

3. The study of the use of technology

A. Activities to teach about use
B. Trends in using technology
C. Learning to use technology
D. Instructions for users

4. Product design & usability

A. Introduction
B. Product design criteria
C. User-centered design
D. Product users
E. Anthropometrics
F. Application of anthropometrics or  ergonomics
G. Universal Design

5. Usability engineering & research

A. Introduction
B. Usability engineering
C. Usability tests
D. Planning usability tests
E. Conducting usability tests
F. Reporting usability test results
G. User surveys
H. Other

6. Introduction to technology assessment

A. Introduction
B. Definitions
C. Examples
D. Resources
E. Environmental impact assessment

7. Performing a technology assessment

A. Introduction
B. Logistics
C. Technology assessment techniques

1. Risk analysis 
2. Brainstorming
3. Interpretive structural modeling 
4. Trend extrapolation 
5. Opinion measurement 
6. Scenarios 
7. Checklists 
8. Relevance trees 
9. Cross-effect matrices 
10. Simulation models 
11. Sensitivity analysis 
12. Probabilistic techniques 
13. Benefit-cost analysis 
14. Export base models 
15. Decision analysis 
16. Policy capture 
17. Life cycle analysis 
18. Force field analysis 

8. Review

A. Review of the study of using technology
B. Review of technology assessment
C. Other issues and directions

Format

Bibliography

Texts (not required)

• American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
• Armstrong, J. E., and Harman, W. W. (1980). Strategies for conducting technology assessments. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
• Ayers, R. U. (1969). Technological forecasting and long-range planning. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Baskin, Y. (1998). Winners and losers in a changing world. BioScience, 48(10), 788-792.
• Blohm, H., and Steinbuch, K. (1972). Technological forecasting in practice. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, D.C. Heath & Co.
• Boroush, M. A., Chen, K., and Christakis, A. N. (1980). Technology assessment: Creative futures. New York: North Holland.
• Braun, E., Collingridge, D., and Hinton, K. (1979). Assessment of technical decisions- Case studies. Boston: Butterworths.
• Bright, J. R., and Schoeman, M. E. F. (Ed.). (1973). A guide to practical technological forecasting. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall.
• Burgess, J. A. , and Walsh, A. J. (1998). Is genetic engineering wrong, per se? The Journal of Value Inquiry, 32, 393-406.
• Calishain, T., and Nystrom, J. A. (1998). Official Netscape guide to Internet research. Scottsdale, AZ: The Coriolis Group.
• Campbell, C., and Laherrere, J. (1998). The end of cheap oil. Scientific American, 278(3) 78-83.
• Cetron, M. J., and Bartocha, B. (Eds.). (1973). Technology assessment in a dynamic environment. New York: Gordon and Breach.
• Cetron, M. J., and Ralph, C. A. (1971). Industrial applications of technological forecasting. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
• Chertow, M. R., and Esty, D. C. (1997). Environmental policy: The next generation. Issues in Science and Technology, 14(1), 73-80.
• Colwell, R. (1998). Balancing the biocomplexity of the planet's living systems: A twenty-first century task for science. BioScience, 48(10), 786-787.
• Dourmant, D. (1986). The ABCDs for managing choice. In Introduction to performance technology (pp. 238-256). Washington, DC: National Society for Performance Instruction.
• Dumas, J. S., and Redish, J. C. (1993). A practical guide to usability testing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
• Eckersley, R. (1999). Is life really getting better? The Futurist, 38(3), 23-26.
• Frey, T. J., and Frey, D. L. (1998). Inventing the future. The Futurist, 36(6), 46-49.
• Goldemberg, J. (1998). Viewpoint: Leapfrog energy technologies. Energy Policy, 26(10) 729-741.
• Hetman, F. (1974). Society and the assessment of technology. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
• International Technology Education Association. (1996). Technology for all Americans: A rationale and structure for the study of technology. Reston, VA: Author.
• Konner, M. J. (1999). One pill makes you larger: The ethics of enhancement. The American Prospect, 42, 55-60.
• Lawless, E. W. (1977). Technology and social shock. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Molitor, G. T. T. (1998). Trends and forecasts for the new Millenium. The Futurist, 36(6), 53-58.
• Morgall, J. M. (1993). Technology assessment: A feminist perspective. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• Olesen, D. E. (1999). Technological breakthroughs for the next decade. Executive Speeches, 13(3), 1-5.
• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (1974). Social assessment of technology. Paris: Author.
• Orr, D. W. (1998). Technological fundamentalism. The Ecologist, 28(6), 329-332.
• Porter, A. L., Rossinni, F., Carpenter, S. R, Roper, A. T., Larson, R. W., and Tiller, J. S. (1980).A guidebook for technology assessment and impact analysis. New York: North Holland.
• Rice, B., & Bennett, R. (1998). The relationship between brand usage and advertising tracking measurements: International findings. Journal of Advertising Research, 38(3), 58-66.
• Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of usability testing: How to plan, design, and conduct effective tests. NY: Wiley Technical Communication Library.
• Ruskulis, O. (1998). May I help you? Technical enquiries services in the 90s. Appropriate Technology, 24(4), 21-23.
• Scott, A. (1996). Appropriate technology: is it ready for - and relevant to - the new Millenium? Appropriate Technology, 23(3), 1-4.
• Wertheim, A. H. (1998). Working in a moving environment. Ergonomics, 41(12), 1845-1858.

Online

• Online resources related to the study of the use of technology have been compiled for students at: http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/rlo/linus.htm
• Online resources related to the study of the technology assessment have been compiled for students at: http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/rlo/linta.htm