Week 10!!! Cant believe it came so quickly. Today was going to be our last official teaching class. The following two weeks were going to be filled with group projects. Seems like yesterday when I first walked into the doors of SMU and walked first into my first class at university - TWC. And now I'm already here writing my last class blog post.
Moving on from the sadness, we did have a very productive last session. The topic we were doing was technology assessment and forecasting. Right from our first class, we had been studying interesting and emerging technologies. We understood how technology has the power to create a significant impact on society and drive world change. However, we also learnt that if not controlled properly, this change can be destructive rather than fruitful. Hence, the main focus of this class was to develop a framework within which we can control the current technology, while also managing future technology as well. This 'control' would include considering all the implications the technology may have and also deciding how viable this technology is.
We watched a few videos, by SIEMENS and Microsoft, which showed us glimpses of the future and what it may look like. We also studied the difference between technology forecasting and technology assessment. Technology assessment is to do with the current, existing technology and how to monitor and improve it. Technology Forecasting however, is to do with future technology, and predicting the next steps and development of technology and preparing it to be feasible in all situations and full fill all criteria in being a good and effective technology. We also exploited the needs to develop a framework for these technologies. Some of the drivers included:
- A large range of new technologies being constantly produced.
-Also there is a need to understand the kinds of changes it will bring- in economics, social, ethical and environmental aspects.
- There is also the question of resource allocation and ensuring we don't waste our resources and use them effectively on technologies that will bring change.
Through our readings we also discussed how different companies and countries are ow moving towards being more proactive when it comes to decisions on technology. We also discussed possible techniques to assess as well as forecast technology. We did conclude, that no current solid methods exist as it is quite difficult to predict what is going to come tomorrow.
These were the last round of presentations for the semester, and I was one of the five presenters. My presentation was based on an interesting TED Talk, which talked about technology having a 'Long Tail'. This basically stresses on the long lifeline that all technologies have and the different stages they go through. The method elaborated on in this video, suggested that if we were able to monitor these stages, we would be able to predict the future of technology. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this presentation and I hope it was insightful.
And with that we did wrap up the last official class of TWC. This was undoubtedly, my favourite class this semester. (no buttering intended Prof :p). What I liked the most about the lessons were the versatility and relevance each topic had. I also enjoyed the method in which the classes were conducted. I feel the idea of not having a strict syllabus to study makes it so much more informative and educative. Every time I attended this class, I didn't feel disconnected with the world at all, and really did feel like I was gaining knowledge rather than just studying.
Really awaiting the next two weeks and all the group presentations.
My ratings: 8/10
Waiting for the Viral to hit again. :)
Moving on from the sadness, we did have a very productive last session. The topic we were doing was technology assessment and forecasting. Right from our first class, we had been studying interesting and emerging technologies. We understood how technology has the power to create a significant impact on society and drive world change. However, we also learnt that if not controlled properly, this change can be destructive rather than fruitful. Hence, the main focus of this class was to develop a framework within which we can control the current technology, while also managing future technology as well. This 'control' would include considering all the implications the technology may have and also deciding how viable this technology is.
We watched a few videos, by SIEMENS and Microsoft, which showed us glimpses of the future and what it may look like. We also studied the difference between technology forecasting and technology assessment. Technology assessment is to do with the current, existing technology and how to monitor and improve it. Technology Forecasting however, is to do with future technology, and predicting the next steps and development of technology and preparing it to be feasible in all situations and full fill all criteria in being a good and effective technology. We also exploited the needs to develop a framework for these technologies. Some of the drivers included:
- A large range of new technologies being constantly produced.
-Also there is a need to understand the kinds of changes it will bring- in economics, social, ethical and environmental aspects.
- There is also the question of resource allocation and ensuring we don't waste our resources and use them effectively on technologies that will bring change.
Through our readings we also discussed how different companies and countries are ow moving towards being more proactive when it comes to decisions on technology. We also discussed possible techniques to assess as well as forecast technology. We did conclude, that no current solid methods exist as it is quite difficult to predict what is going to come tomorrow.
These were the last round of presentations for the semester, and I was one of the five presenters. My presentation was based on an interesting TED Talk, which talked about technology having a 'Long Tail'. This basically stresses on the long lifeline that all technologies have and the different stages they go through. The method elaborated on in this video, suggested that if we were able to monitor these stages, we would be able to predict the future of technology. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this presentation and I hope it was insightful.
And with that we did wrap up the last official class of TWC. This was undoubtedly, my favourite class this semester. (no buttering intended Prof :p). What I liked the most about the lessons were the versatility and relevance each topic had. I also enjoyed the method in which the classes were conducted. I feel the idea of not having a strict syllabus to study makes it so much more informative and educative. Every time I attended this class, I didn't feel disconnected with the world at all, and really did feel like I was gaining knowledge rather than just studying.
Really awaiting the next two weeks and all the group presentations.
My ratings: 8/10
Waiting for the Viral to hit again. :)
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