IGEN - General Engineering

This course actively presents the core theoretical elements relevant to technology studies. The concepts included in the program allowed analyzing the role of human and non-human agents in technological development. The participants are involved in a simulation of a socio-technical dispute in the Colombian context. This course provides the student with an approach to studying the links between technological change and social construction within the Colombian context. The course can be categorized as belonging to the academic field internationally known as Science, Technology and Society (STS) devoted to the study of social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of technology. It is given by professors of the Technology and Society Group– http://tecnologiaysociedad.uniandes.edu.co -  made up by the Schools of Engineering, Social Sciences and the CIDER. The program includes a general theoretical component developed through a practical methodology, based on the simulation of socio-technical disputes related to Colombian technological systems. The objectives of this course are: approaching the theoretical currents dealing with the study of technological change processes and society building, knowing the organization, current situations and tensions involved in the dynamics of change in two Colombian technological systems, developing a critical capacity with respect to the analysis, design and construction of technological systems within the Colombian background.

This course is intended to identify and discuss the links between globalization, technology and politics that drive questions to ponder over the complex processes that affect the country and its professionals in the contemporary world. http://tecnologyaysociedad.uniandes.edu.co. The course is part of a research program aimed to critically understand technological development and it is targeted to deepen and enrich our current concept about technology through the application of knowledge about historic problems and topics.

This project-driven course seeks to facilitate students, through active learning activities and case studies of innovation and the development of projects with a component based on science and technology, to identify characteristics of innovative projects, factors of success and failure, structuring of teams and technological surveillance, as a context to identify and take advantage of the opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship that as a professional future has to contribute to the solution of societal challenges.