Clarification details
Updated November 2015. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
Consequences
Consequences are the impact of the development or implementation of a technological outcome on the made, natural and social world (result or effect of an action). Consequences should include those that are known and unknown, and intended and unintended.
Responsibilities of technologists
The discussions around responsibilities of technologists might focus on:
- collaboration between people and across disciplines, for example valuing knowledge for particular contexts
- engaging in constructive debate
- prioritisation of actions/reactions based on the use and findings of extensive functional modelling and multiple perspectives
- employing sophisticated decision making models.
The discussion might also include how codified knowledge serves to remind technologists of their responsibilities.
Specific fields and priorities
Example of these are given in Explanatory Note 4 - this list is not exhaustive and teachers and students may decide to investigate other fields and priorities.
Expectations
To achieve this standard, students should be communicating their understanding of how technological intervention can challenge people's views of what it is to be 'human'.
To achieve Merit, students must discuss and link how such responsibilities are influenced by the consequences of a technological development in a specific field.
To gain Excellence discussion is widened to discussing probable future developments.