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
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.
Contemporary Garden City Concept from Asia
The course focuses on contemporary urban planning issues, particularly the Garden City concept, addressing the global trend of integrating green spaces into cities to combat environmental challenges. Cities worldwide are striving to introduce green elements regardless of location, driven by concerns such as climate change, natural disasters, and political instability. The course discusses the transition from traditional urban structures to dispersed green matrices, emphasizing the importance of green spaces in enhancing their resilience. It contrasts Western cities' vertical agricultural integration with historical Japanese cities' horizontal integration, advocating for a new approach to urban agriculture. Let's consider the concept of a contemporary Garden City, focusing on the symbiotic relationship between urban and rural land uses. Through a mixture of theoretical discussion and practical examples, this course explores strategies for realizing this urban planning vision. The course is offered in Japanese and English and is available at all times. Anyone can take the course from the Coursera website.
Adapting to the Effects of Climate Change on Quality of Life
As stated in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report, human activities are causing global warming, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions, and the Earth's surface temperature is rising. Climate change affects people's lives in many ways, including health, crop damage, and disasters. To cope with global climate change, mitigation and adaptation must be pursued simultaneously. In this course, participants will gain an understanding of the global and Japanese context of climate change, and learn about the impact of climate change on the quality of life of local people and adaptation measures, using Japanese case studies. The course, which consists of four modules, introduces the global and Japanese situation regarding climate change, basic information on the impacts on people's quality of life, impacts and responses in fruit tree production sites, adaptation measures in the field of urban planning and design, impacts on urban infrastructure and assets and their management Mitigation and adaptation through the management of urban infrastructure and assets, and understanding the impacts and risks of climate change on transport systems, through case studies.
Visualizing Postwar Tokyo, Part 1
Tokyo emerged out of the ruins of war to become a large city of 10 million people in only a quarter of a century. During this process of change, the capital of a military empire that once invaded East Asia experienced occupation by the U.S. armed forces, hosted the Olympic Games, and transformed into a consumer hub where young people could enjoy economic “wealth.” It is important to know that this process was recorded in countless photographs, documentary films, TV programs, and so on. We will retrieve many of these archived pictures and videos and analyze what happened in postwar Tokyo from different perspectives. In Part 1, you will look at the changes that occurred in postwar Tokyo over a quarter of a century from four different perspectives: 1) occupation and Americanism; 2) imperial gaze and royal wedding; 3) The Olympic city; and 4) economic-cultural clash in Shinjuku. This examination of urban history will provide you with the insights necessary when considering changes in other large cities in Asia, such as Seoul, Beijing, and Bangkok, at the end of the twentieth century.
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