233031 KO Discussion Class Knowledge and Technology Cultures (2025S)

The aim of the discussion class is to interactively deepen students’ knowledge of the concepts and cases introduced in the lecture. The discussion class builds on discussion and the active participation of all students. For each workshop one group of students will act as 'workshop leaders'. A discussion workshop generally has four phases:- go through the texts in smaller groups and discuss their key points (max. 30 minutes); the workshop leaders should be the moderators of these discussions;- bring the results to the plenary (50 minutes); we go through each text and elaborate out the key issues;- reflect on what we learn across the papers and how they relate to the overall topics of the lecture (max. 30 minutes);- feedback on how the workshop worked. Further, each student will read a book related to the lecture topic and write a book review of 1200-1500 words. The review should not be a chapter-by-chapter description of the book, but rather give the reader a good overall idea of the topic and the argument of the book. Try to identify the author’s main thesis or concern and describe how she/he develops it in the book. Describe which central concepts the author uses, how they are defined, and how they are used (e.g. in debating empirical material). Concluding the review, (a) comment on whether the book presents a convincing and well-rounded argument (that is, whether it comprehensively answers the questions it outlines), (b) comment on how the book’s argument relates to the overall topic of the class and (c) give a personal opinion of your reading experience.

To pass the discussion class, students are expected to: Read the literature for the respective discussion workshop; Participate actively in the in-class discussions; Facilitate one workshop with your group; and Write a book review. This course uses the plagiarism-detection service Turnitin for larger assignments.