Introduction to Technology and Policy
MIT's Engineering Systems Division offers this course on how policy gets made around technology, covering agenda setting, problem definition, framing debate, and evaluating outcomes through lenses of economics, law, and management. Students learn methods including cost-benefit analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and system dynamics modeling. The course includes simulation exercises, case studies, and group projects built around real engineering systems problems that involve multiple stakeholders, competing values, and high uncertainty. Emphasis falls on practical skills: negotiation, team building, group dynamics, and leadership when managing multiple actors with conflicting interests. Materials come from MIT OpenCourseWare and include assignments and project structures used in the original course, free to access under a Creative Commons license with no certificate offered.