From the moment you wake up until you go to bed, you interact with helpful machines. From crock pots to computers, from digital watches to dishwashers, technology has allowed humans to move away from many of our daily physical, time-consuming chores. When you start to count all of the helpful machines that are in your life, you begin to appreciate the ways that humans have outsourced unpleasant tasks freeing us to create poetry, paint, dance, sing, and learn.

Photo credit: Microsoft Corporation. (Producer). MP900442472 [photo of remote control pointing at tv]. Retrieved February 6, 2014 from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.a…

During the course, you will be provided with ample opportunities to explore what it means to be the tool-using animal: a human in a technological world. You will analyze the ways that you interact with and through technology, and you will also explore how the expression of our human selves has been altered, distorted, or more fully perfected in this online environment.

Learning online will put you into contact with a number of new technologies. Some of the tools that you will use will be easy to understand and even fun to engage with, but you may also encounter technology that you find frustrating. Technology can and does enhance learning, and technology can cause many distractions.

In this Assignment you will identify the degree to which you are a “tool using animal” and monitor and reflect upon your current levels of technology use.

To prepare for the Assignment:

• Review the Week 1 Notes and Readings, paying particular attention to Tool-Using Animals resource.
• Complete the Check your Tech Technology Inventory.
• Complete the Technology Back-up Plan worksheet.

Assignment Directions:

Submit a short (500+ word) paper that includes a summary of the results of your checklist that assessed how you are using technology. Include in your summary:

• What surprised you about your use of technology and the kinds of technology you use?
• Which, if any, of the technologies have more to do with your professional life than your private life?
• What does your technology and the way you use it say about you as a person?

Attach your Technology Back-up Plan as the last page of your Assignment by copying and pasting it into the last page.

PLEASE USE ATTACHED RESOURCES AND PROVIDE CLEAR AND CONCISE WORK WITH UNDERSTANDING.

REQUIRED READINGS

Notes and Readings

What are the Humanities?

Since this is a Humanities course, we should begin by understanding what the Humanities are. Humanities courses generally include arts, literature, philosophy, languages, and similar courses. What these all have in common is their focus on human expression and experience. According to the Ohio Humanities Council:

The humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of our lives and our world. The humanities introduce us to people we have never met, places we have never visited, and ideas that may have never crossed our minds. By showing how others have lived and thought about life, the humanities help us decide what is important in our own lives and what we can do to make them better. By connecting us with other people, they point the way to answers about what is right or wrong, or what is true to our heritage and our history. The humanities help us address the challenges we face together in our families, our communities, and as a nation. (Ohio Humanities Council, 2014)

One way of understanding the humanities is that they are various attempts to explore the question: What does it mean to be human?

WHAT DO THE HUMANITIES HAVE TO DO WITH TECHNOLOGY?

Humans have been intrigued by machines, and as we will see throughout this course, humans depend on their machines, sometimes too much. Many science fiction stories, such as in the film I Robot, have explored the possibility of machines taking over and controlling humans. But ultimately, the machines depend on humans. Technology is something we use to make our lives better, and we should not forget that, even when it seems to make life more difficult.

In The Green Hills of Earth, Robert Heinlein wrote a “future history” in which he speculated about what it might be like to be human in the distant future, when humans have moved into outer space. As you read the story, consider how Heinlein’s basic idea of humanity could have been set in any number of historical periods and in any number of places on Earth. Wherever and whenever humans exist, we have heroes, we sing songs, we work hard, and we sometimes have to face difficult choices.

Read: The Green Hills of Earth by Robert Heinlein, then listen to the Radio Drama version which aired July 21, 1957.

Text: Heinlein, R. (1966). The green hills of earth. In The Saturday Evening Post Reader of Fantasy and Science Fiction (pp. 29–38). New York, NY: Doubleday. Retrieved March 23, 2014, from https://archive.org/details/TheGreenHillsOfEarth

Podcast: Heinlein, R. (Producer). (1957, July 21). The green hills of earth [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/CBSRadioWorkshop

Although none of us are likely to venture into outer space in our own lifetimes, we are likely to encounter a future changed and dominated by new technologies. As you read these poems by Richard Brautigan and Tracy K. Smith, think about what kind of future you would like to encounter, and how the new technologies of today and tomorrow might fit into it.

Read the poem All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace

Brautigan R. (n.d.). All watched over by machines of loving grace. All Poetry. Retrieved March 23, 2014, from http://allpoetry.com/poem/8508991-All-Watched-Over…

Then, read Sci-Fi, a poem by Tracy K. Smith

Smith, T. K. (2011). Sci-Fi. Poets.org. Retrieved from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22254#st...

Then, read Tool-Using Animals, an online slide show by Rachel VanCott

VanCott, R. (2010). Tool-Using Animals. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/tool-using-ani…

Now that you have looked at some ideas about humans and technology, it is time to work with these ideas by writing about them and discussing them. You probably know how easy it is to forget what you have read. But through writing and discussing the readings, and applying them to your own experience and ideas, you will remember and understand how you can use these in your own life.

Document: Technology Back-Up Plan Document (Word document)
This is a template to assist you in developing a contingency plan for possible technology glitches.

Document: “Check Your Tech” Home Technology Inventory (Word document)
This checklist will help you take inventory of your daily technology use.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014b). Messages from graduates. [Media file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Note: This media piece is in the Week 1 Introduction. The approximate length of this media piece is 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014d). Technologyback-up plan.[Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Note: This media piece located in Module 3 of the Student Readiness Orientation.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014f). With one click you become…[Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Note: This media piece is in the Course Introduction. The approximate length of this media piece is 1 minute.

OPTIONAL RESOURCES

Note: Optional resources are not required, but are made available for those wanting to explore the topic more. If a link is not provided for a resource, you must locate the resource yourself through the Walden Library or other resources.

Document: eCommunication: Harnessing Cyber Civility (PDF)