Undergraduate Bulletin

Understand Technology (TECH)

Arthur C. Clarke wrote that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Educated people must seek to understand how this "magic" works. The advent of nuclear energy, for example, offered a clean alternative to old methodologies, but with shortcomings that have become apparent. The internet offered instant access to mountains of information, but without distinguishing the incendiary and inaccurate. We buy increasingly complex cars, houses, and electronic devices in the 21^st century, and we are naively asking others to exploit us if we don’t learn as much about technology and the built environment we live in as we can. Even a single course in one technology can teach us how to go about understanding others and give us the confidence to do so.

Learning Outcomes for "Understand Technology"

1. Demonstrate an ability to apply technical tools and knowledge to practical systems and problem solving.
2. Design, understand, build, or analyze selected aspects of the human-made world. The “human-made world” is defined for this purpose as “artifacts of our surroundings that are conceived, designed, and/or constructed using technological tools and methods.”

Standards for "Understand Technology"

1. Courses must satisfy both learning objectives.

For a list of Stony Brook courses that satisfy these learning objectives and standards, complete a course search at this link.