Concordia Course Web Sites

ENGR 392/EE (Fall 2025): IMPACT/TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY

How do technology and society influence one another? And why would this question be so important that it is required throughout engineering programs, not just in Canada but across the world? It turns out that there is a great deal of scholarship related to these questions – and how to teach about the relationship. That’s in part because the answers are often counter-intuitive and complex. We’ll spend the semester discussing some of the most consequential aspects of these answers.

This course emphasizes and develops the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) graduate attributes of Ethics & Equity, Communication Skills, and Impact of Engineering on Society and the Environment.

The Communication Skills attribute is defined by the CEAB as: An ability to communicate complex engineering concepts within the profession and with society at large. Such abilities include reading, writing, speaking and listening, and the ability to comprehend and write effective reports and design documentation, and to give and effectively respond to clear instructions.

ENGR 392/G (Fall 2025): IMPACT/TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY

ENGR 392/Q (Winter 2025): IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY

How does technology impact our lives? What is the initial intention and purpose in developing new technologies, and media? What are the social and ethical impacts of our creations? Science and Technology Studies (STS), a cross-disciplinary field, posits that science and technology always exist in relation to and are co-created by broader social forces, political contexts, and histories. We will examine how knowledge, technology, and understandings of ourselves and “the other” are produced through complex relationships, histories, biases, and social constructs and contexts.

Instead of asking whether scientific claims are true or false, objective or subjective, this course will examine the power and potential of innovative technologies and knowledge production within our broader socio-political conditions so that we might better understand the complexity, challenges, implications of our interactions. This course will focus on building students' knowledge, skills, and capacity for curiosity, inquiry, and critical evaluation in their respective disciplines so that they might apply these learnings to their field and practices.

ENGR 392/S (Winter 2025): IMPACT/TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY