Technology and Values
The Components within the Technological Practice strand
Brief Development
This component allows students opportunity to understand the values of others as they identify an authentic need or opportunity based on a comprehensive exploration and critical analysis of a context, associated issues, and a wide range of stakeholders' desires.
In defining specifications, students will be required to understand a range of different values in order to ensure that fitness for purpose is established in its broadest sense. Stakeholder values from the wider community will therefore need to be analysed and compared, and any areas of contestation identified and resolved. Through such analysis the brief can be developed in a way that is acceptable to all key stakeholders and for those who may be impacted on indirectly or in the future.
Having the opportunity to work with students who were wheelchair-bound allowed this student to develop empathy for others as she came to appreciate specific challenges they face. Valuing the perspectives and values alongside the physical requirements of her client group were essential in developing a brief that guided the development of an outcome that was empowering for the client group and not merely functional.
Planning for Practice
This component necessitates that students have a strong focus on caring for the environment as they develop capability to manage resources efficiently, and make ethical decisions around sustainable development. Ongoing reflection and evaluation of past practice is critical to this component, ensuring the exploration of their own and others values, and developing an understanding of how these values impact on decision making. In order to work most effectively, ethically, and responsively, specific planning mechanisms need to be recognised as of value throughout the developmental work.
When planning how to upgrade the school toilets, the students spent a lot of time exploring why the current toilets were not valued by the users and in turn how misuse of them impacted on others views. A key aspect of developing a successful plan was that of incorporating a focus on educating the users on the impact of their actions on others and the environment.
Outcome Development and Evaluation
This component allows for a strong focus on students achieving excellence and showing perseverance in producing an outcome of worth. Not all Technological Practice results in technological outcomes. This component therefore allows for a range of creative and innovative ideas to be taken to various stages appropriate to the context. Such a focus allows student to arrive at a 'no go' decision when there is no defensible reason to use resources for a particular purpose.
Decisions underpinning the selection of particular outcomes for further development rely on extensive reflective and critical analysis of what is of value and why. This helps students to develop their capability in ethical decision making and acting in accordance with these decisions. Exploration of materials in terms of functional and aesthetic value against environmental cost should be undertaken as extensively as possible in order to interrogate designs and resourcing prior to the selection of materials and the development of any final outcome.
Outcomes, and the practice undertaken to develop them, should be critically reflected on and evaluated from a range of perspectives to ensure 'fitness for purpose'. This in turn provides opportunities for students to explore stakeholder responses to outcomes and to understand these in terms of the values that are embedded in them. Justification of decisions made will provide opportunity for students to clearly identify and articulate their own values and explain how these are reflected, or not, in other social groups.
The development of souvenirs for the Te Papa store provides a range of examples of how the students had to explore and understand a range issues associated with values in order to develop prototypes of souvenirs appropriate for their clients. Not only did they need to understand what was of 'value' for New Zealanders, they also needed to understand the values of potential customers across a range of ages and cultures. Issues associated with economic worth and profit margins were also critical in the discernment and development of high quality but affordable souvenirs.
