Universität Wien
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190062 PS Concepts and Constructions of Humans (2017W)

Making a mechanical man: Technocratic concepts and strategies in education

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 19 - Bildungswissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 35 participants
Language: German, English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 03.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 10.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 17.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 24.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 31.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 07.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 14.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 21.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 28.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 05.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 12.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 09.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 16.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 23.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
  • Tuesday 30.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Seminarraum 1 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The primary intention of the seminar lies in the development of the subject knowledge as within the module, however also in the improvement and acquisition of required methodological competencies. The students will learn about diverse technological concepts and technocratic strategies in education and identify the underlying anthropologies and constructions of the human being. This is, the students will get to know the ways in which human being and learning was understood in the times of technological sublime and increasing scientific expertise in education during the past century. In the course of the seminar, the students will improve the skills of critical and problem-oriented reading of texts and sources, learn to historically contextualize the concepts of human being and learning, as well as get acquainted with the “history of the present” approach to current developments in education through historical and cultural lens.

Assessment and permitted materials

The seminar (2 SWS; 5 ECTS) will take place every Tuesday from 15:00 to 16:30. Together with the regular presence at the class, the students have to get engaged with other activities in order to pass it. Active participation in the group projects will earn students 25% of the grade, as well as continuous participation in the discussions throughout the course (25%). 50% of the grade is allocated to a written presentation (essay) or oral presentation of the students (choice is made by the students on their own) as their final course work.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Major part of the seminars, with the exception of the introductory, concluding, and few intermediary ones, will start with a short presentation by a small group of students (2-3 people) on the basis of the required reading(s), further opening the discussion with either content-specific or general-problematic questions by the presenters to the listeners. The discussion portion of the class will gradually shift towards the introduction of new material by the course supervisors, towards the end of the class followed by a short writing task about the newly introduced matter, in order to engage every student individually. While having articulated the new material problematic in individual language, either group or class activities will be foreseen to conclude the class towards an open question that the texts for the following class will deal with.

Examination topics

Reading list

Caruso, M., Kassung, C. (Hg.). (2015). Maschinen. Jahrbuch für Historische Bildungsforschung, Bd. 20. Bad Heilbrunn: Verlag Julius Klinkhardt.

Frank, H. (1969). Kybernetische Grundlagen der Pädagogik (2 Bde.). Baden-Baden: Agis.

Gerovitch, S. (2007). “New Soviet Man” inside Machine: Human Engineering, Spacecraft Design, and the Construction of Communism. Osiris 22, pp. 135-157

Hacking, I. (1986). Making up People. In: T. C. Heller, M. Sosna, & D. E. Wellbery (Eds.), Reconstructing Individualism: Autonomy, Individuality, and the Self in Western Thought (pp. 222-236). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Heyck, H. (2015). Age of System: Understanding the Development of Modern Social Science. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

Introducing History of the Present [Foreword to the journal]. (2011). History of the Present 1 (1), pp. 1-4

Landa, L. N. (1974). Algorithmisation in Learning and Instruction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. /
Landa L. N. (1969). Algorithmierung im Unterricht. Berlin: Volk und Wissen.

Latour, B., Wollgar, S. (1979). Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts. London: Sage

Popkewitz, T. S., Diaz, J., & Kirchgasler, C. M. (2016). Curriculum Studies and Historicizing the Present: The Political and Impracticality of Practical Knowledge. Special Issue: Knowledge Cultures 4 (2), pp. 11-18.

Rabinbach, A. (1992). The Human Motor: Energy, Fatigue, and the Origins of Modernity. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Association in the course directory

BM 11

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:37