Module: Technology & the Person

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title	Technology & the Person
Module Code	NS230 (ITS) / PSY1003 (Banner)
Faculty	Science & Health	School	Z-Nursing
Module Co-ordinator	-
Module Teachers	-
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	Not Available
Co-requisite	Not Available
Compatibles	Not Available
Incompatibles	Not Available

None

Description

This module will explore the human technology interface and the emerging psychological, social, ethical and clinical debates and dilemmas.

Learning Outcomes

1. Critique the roles, uses and impact of technology in health, illness and disability
2. Discuss the role of the body and embodiment in health, illness and disability
3. Examine the personal impact of living with and depending on technology for health and wellbeing

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Lecture	24	Attendance at weekly lectures
Group work	15	Reviews of peer-reviewed journal articles including identification, reading, review and preparation of in-class presentation
Assignment Completion	50	Essay preparation including the collection of case study data and integration of relevant theory and research
Independent Study	36	Self-directed reading
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Typologies of health technology: Life sustaining technology; life lengthening technology; life enhancing technology; enabling technology, information and communication technologies; point of care technologies; preventative (screening) technologies.

Definitions of the body: where does the body end and begin? The technologised body; living through technology; embodiment; body image.

Impact of technology on understanding of health: how does technology influence our discourses and understanding of what it means to be well?

Technology and issues of self-identity; How technology influences the user’s relationship to their own sense of self and how they interact with themselves.

Personal impact of living with and through technology for health and wellbeing.

The role and social impact of health technology in society; What technology use indicates about cultural norms and how culture influences our understanding of technology.

Ethical dilemmas and decisions that technologies can bring about; living at risk.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	0%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total
Course Work Breakdown
Essay	A case study of an individual who uses or has used Assistive Technology and that integrates theoretical, conceptual and empirical research. A proposal for the case study must be submitted and approved in advance.	85%
Group assignment	In groups, students will identify, prepare and present reviews of two peer-reviewed journal articles.	15%

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories: Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module. Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module. Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category -

Indicative Reading List

Lauritzen, S. O & Hyden, L. C. (Eds.): 2006, Medical Technologies and the Life World: The Social Construction of Normality (Critical Studies in Health and Society), Routledge, London, 978-0415364348
MacLachlan, M.: 2004, Embodiment: Clinical, Critical & Cultural Perspectives, Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 978-0335209590
MacLachlan, M. & Gallagher, P.: 2004, Enabling Technologies: Body Image and Body Function, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 978-0443072475
Bauby, J. D.: 2004, The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly, Harper Perennial, London, 978-0007139842
Cole, J.: 0, Still Lives: Narratives of Spinal Cord Injury, MIT Press, MA, 978-0262532846
Frank, A. W.: 1995, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 978-0226259932
Scherer, M. J.: 2003, Assistive Technology: Matching Device and Consumer for Successful Rehabilitation, American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 978-1557988409
Swain J, French S, Barnes C, Thomas C.: 2013, Disabling barriers – Enabling environments., Sage, London,

Other Resources

None