Thinking about engineering practice: a change in technological activity

The following paper puts forward a distinction in the way of understanding the idea of the ‘technological phenomenon’ from a vision of the concept considered as a traditional artefact and seen as a tool, machines, processes and efficient transformations, to a global view that can serve the technical, organizational and cultural aspects of technology. On the other hand, it puts forward a series of proposals pointing to the incorporation of this new conceptual approach to the engineer formation so that he/she can be aware with a critical and responsible sense of the implications that the technological work bears passing from a technological activity to a technological practice as such. Invited paper written after a communication at the XVIth Chilean Congress of Engineering Education.