Over the next $8$ weeks, you will develop your course project in several steps, with each week's assignment helping you deeply explore and critically analyze a selected technology. This week, you'll carefully select your technology. We recommend choosing something from one of the following areas: environmental technology, medical technology, artificial intelligence technology, or economic$/$financial technology.

Assignments will examine ethical considerations, establish historical context, and consider cultural, social, and economic implications as we prepare a recommendations report to help leaders maximize benefits while minimizing negative implications of the technology. To be practical and effective, your selected technology must be researchable as well as focused and specific enough to explore deeply.

Instructions

To get started, carefully read the Course Project Overview page in the Introduction & Resources Module. Then begin to consider ideas for your project. What contemporary technologies are interesting or important to you? What technologies are foundational to your professional industry or community?

After generating ideas and exploring a few topics, select the technology you will use for your Course Project and conduct some exploratory research. Once you have a sense of your topic, address all of the following in your initial post: $($TIP: To keep things clear and concise, use numbers in your post, but do not copy the questions into your post.$)$

What is your chosen technology? Remember to choose a specific technology $($e$.$g$.,$ surgical robotics$),$ not a too$-$broad area of technology $($e$.$g$.,$ technology in medicine$)$ or a too$-$specific technology device $($e$.$g$.,$ the da Vinci robotic surgery system$).$

What is your purpose in writing about this technology? What do you want to learn? Why is it personally or professionally relevant for you?

Discuss your initial impressions and assumptions about your technology in the form of a simple SWOT analysis. In other words, briefly describe the technology's current strengths and weaknesses and its future$/$potential opportunities and threats. Try to consider the technology's impacts on a variety of people and places, cultures and communities. No research is required, but you are welcome to begin looking at quality sources. Be sure to cite anything from a source, whether you copy and "quote" words or just paraphrase the ideas.

In your follow$-$up posts, please provide specific and useful feedback to your peers. You may wish to seek out students whose topic choices are similar to your own.