After the course, the student knows the basics of how social scientific thinking and perspectives can be applied in engineering and design work. Especially, the student learns how technology, society, and culture are in a profoundly reciprocal relationship, shaping each other, and therefore, technology should not be seen as a separate from society or culture.
The course is designed for engineering and design students who want to learn a societal perspective on technology. The course provides an overview of how the social sciences see the world, especially when it comes to technology and society. The course also sheds light on the social science methodology, namely how a variety of methods are used in social sciences to study technology, its design and development processes, use and broader societal implications. The course does not aim to convert students into social scientists, but rather intends to explain how engineering and design work is inherently societal, whether the engineer or designer acknowledges it or not.
Satu Rekonen
Readings, lecture materials listed in the course web pages.
Lectures, workshops, participating to group discussions, reading literature, preparing group work and other self-study.
Recommended prerequisites: This is a master's level course, so it is assumed that the students have a bachelor's degree or similar level of studies done.
The course teaching consists of weekly lectures, workshops and group discussions, supported by readings. The grading is based on participation to classes, group work prepared for the workshop, and an independent writing task.
The teaching time and the location of the course can be found at Sisu information system
From the blue bar, click Lecture and open the Groups and teaching times tab to see the teaching time and the location of the course. Exam times can be seen by clicking Exam.
The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the exam submissions starting from the exam date.
MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.
Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses
More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.
Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below:
Course registration
Registration for this course starts on 8.12.2025 at 9.00
Registration for this course ends on 29.12.2025 at 23.59
It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.
The number of participants is limited to 3.
This course is organized by the Aalto University School of Science.
The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules
You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course.
Instructions for activating your Aalto user ID
Once you have activated your Aalto user ID, also enable multifactor authentication. Some of Aalto University's services require multifactor authentication.
Läs mer om frågor relaterade till studier vid Öppna universitetet. Behöver du personliga studiearrangemang av hälsoskäl? Hur kan jag navigera på campusområdet? På sidan Studier vid Öppna universitetet har vi samlat användbar information om studier.
