NEWS
What is a MOOC ?
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online courses that anybody can take, and those who complete the course can earn an official certificate for a fee. Top universities around the world offer MOOCs, and the total number of registered learners on the Coursera and edX platforms has reached more than 130 million. Along with self improvement, learners are using MOOCs to improve their professional skills, and the individually validated certificates are helping learners advance in the workplace and make career changes.
Featured Courses
Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Humans
This is the fourth course in the “Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture” series, which focuses on the fourth facet: humans. Economic miracle, environmental problems, bubble economy and its collapse, information technology and globalization, earthquakes, population decline, pandemic... The nearly 60 years between the two Tokyo Olympics, 1964 and 2021, was a turbulent time for humans in Japan. During this period, how has architecture changed? And what happened to humans that architecture was supposed to have supported? This course on “Humans” will review the works of those architects who have attempted to conceptualize humans through their architecture and examine the changes over the last half century as well as the issues for the future. Hiroshi Hara, Toyo Ito, Osamu Ishiyama, Kengo Kuma, Satoko Shinohara, and Sou Fujimoto visit their buildings to discuss the ideas behind their respective works.
Contemporary Japanese Society: What Has Been Happening Behind Demographic Change?
The main aim of this course is to give an overview of how contemporary Japanese society has been stratified, from the perspective of changing demographic, familial, and socio-economic structure. Basic statistics will be presented to provide a concrete idea of the changes that have taken place in Japan. By the end of the course, students should have an awareness of similarities and differences across nations regarding social issues including ageing population, gender gaps in work and family, and socio-economic inequalities.
Interactive Computer Graphics
Computer graphics can be a powerful tool for supporting visual problem solving, and interactivity plays a central role in harnessing the users' creativity. This course will introduce various interactive tools developed in computer graphics research field with their design rationales and algorithms. Examples include enhancements to graphical user interfaces, authoring tools for 2D drawings and 3D animations, and interactive computer-aided design systems. Rich live demonstrations and course assignments will give you insights and skills to design and implement such tools for your own problems.
Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture: City
This is the third course in the “Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture” series, which focuses on the third facet: city. After the 1970s, Japanese architects are said to have stopped conceptualizing cities and instead focused on designing the individual buildings that make up the cities. However, as cities continue to undergo significant transformations in response to globalization, the advent of information technologies, and so on, Japanese architects are once again engaging the city, and doing so in unique ways. This course on “City” will review the works of those architects who have attempted to conceptualize cities through their architecture and examine the changes over the last half century as well as the issues for the future. Fumihiko Maki, Itsuko Hasegawa, Riken Yamamoto, Kengo Kuma, Jun Aoki, and Atelier Bow-Wow (Yoshiharu Tsukamoto & Momoyo Kaijima) visit their buildings to discuss the ideas behind their respective works.
Got a Minute?
Your opinion matters to us, and we would love to hear about your recommendations on interesting UTokyo courses/lectures that could go worldwide. It would help us create high-quality MOOC courses.
TAKE OUR SURVEY