Course content

This course deals with the social impact of information technology. In particular, it deals with the controversial discussion between the pros and cons of technologies. This raises the question to which extent patient health data should be collected centrally (eHealth), as this can also have negative effects, or why GreenIT is important for the long-term conservation of resources. The fact that copyright law can no longer keep up with the digital world is as much a topic as Big Data and its effects in medicine and economy. Is Open Science just the wishful thinking of enthusiast and will lecture halls still be needed in the university of the future? Are digital skills as important as teaching German or mathematics, or is our educational system really at its end?

All these questions and many more will be part of this course, with the aim to show that all digital innovation can also have an aftertaste if society is not educated enough or does not know how to act/decide.

Learning goals

The learning objective is to acquire a critical attitude towards new innovative digital technologies.The advantages are usually offset by at least as many disadvantages. This assessment should be strengthened in order to act responsibly in tomorrow’s society.

Prerequisites

General open-mindedness towards digital technologies and general technical understanding

Course schedule

This course is held in 10 weeks. Each week, at least two videos are published by recognised experts on various topics. In an interview format, they try to put forward a thesis that is as provocative as possible and to justify it. The discussion forum offers the possibility to reflect, discuss or deepen these theses.

For each video, there is accompanying material in the form of web links, which help to deepen the content. A short self-assessment quiz at the end of each week allows you to consolidate what you have learned.

For actively participating in the course you will receive an automatic confirmation of participation (certificate) which includes your username, the course title, course duration as well as the hours required to complete the course. We want to point out that this certificate merely confirms that the user answered at least 75% of the self-assessment questions correctly.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons - gleiche Weitergabe 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Additional content

ECTS credits

NOTE: The MOOC is of course public and freely accessible, but in addition this MOOC is part of the course "Social Aspects of Information Technology" in the curriculum of the bachelor's degree programs for Secondary General Education, Computer Science and Software Engineering and Management. For this, it is necessary that you are a student in the development network or at TU Graz and register for this course. In parallel to the MOOC, there will be accompanying exercises in the context of practice groups. Below is the link to the course:

https://online.tugraz.at/tug_online/pl/ui/$ctx/wbLv.wbShowLVDetail?pStpSpNr=336337