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2023　Bringing Ideas in Remote Discussion Basic

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Academic unit or major
Breadth courses
Instructor(s)
Kawashima Saho  Saijo Miki  Koizumi Yuto 
Class Format
Exercise    (Livestream)
Media-enhanced courses
Courses specified
Day/Period(Room No.)
Intensive ()  
Group
-
Course number
LAW.X150
Credits
1
Academic year
2023
Offered quarter
4Q
Syllabus updated
2024/1/18
Lecture notes updated
-
Language used
English
Access Index

Course description and aims

Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) organizes the Tokyo Tech Winter Program, a short-term inbound exchange program for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at overseas universities to listen to lectures and collaborate with Tokyo Tech students for groupwork so that they can learn an internationally important topic regarding the current society and technology.
In AY 2023, Tokyo Tech continues to offer “Bringing Ideas in Remote Discussion” (BIRD), a virtual exchange program for students from Tokyo Tech and its overseas partner universities. AY 2023 program theme is "Japanese Food Culture & Engineering."
Japanese food was registered as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2013, which made the traditional food style in Japan more international and globally popular. There are four features of Japanese food: Harmony with nature, healthy nutritional balance, diverse ingredients with sophisticated cooking techniques, and relation to annual events. More and more inbound travelers enjoy the local traditional food when they come to Japan. On the other hand, looking at the global society, UN World Food Program and other organizations alert the food crisis due to the international situation, natural disaster, covid19, climate change and soaring prices.
During the program, the students take some intriguing classes, visit Japanese companies and then learn some food-engineering related to Japanese food. It leads the students to understand how such engineering contributes to solve the social problem regarding food. At the final day, the students celebrate their accomplishments with their group presentation.
Course registration must be done through "Course Addition" from the Tokyo Tech Portal after the successful selection to this course. Further details of the application to the course will be announced late September in 2023.

Student learning outcomes

Students will
(1) Increase their knowledge of the most updated engineering related to Japanese food (AY 2023 program theme)
(2) Enhance their communication skills through group work with those from diverse academic disciplines and backgrounds
(3) Expand their academic and social networks with students from the overseas partner universities

Keywords

Tokyo Tech Winter Program AW 2023, Overseas partner universities, Virtual exchange program, Student exchange, Japanese food, Smert agriculture, Food engineering

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills ✔ Intercultural skills ✔ Communication skills ✔ Critical thinking skills ✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

The program includes three lectures by professors at Tokyo Tech, group work project and site visit of food industry in Japan. The last day has the final presentations by groups.

Course schedule/Required learning

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 Preparation by visiting National Science Museum 『Japanese Food Exhibition』(7-8 period on December 8th, 2023) *Please note that it costs entrance fee 1,370 JPY and transportation fees. The meeting point is in front of the entrance of the museum at the starting time of the class. By the visit to the exhibition, the students lean more about Japanese food culture.
Class 2 Preparation part 1 (1/19, 7-8 period) Learn English phrases for collaboration as the preparation of group work.
Class 3 Preparation part 2 (1/26, 7-8 period) Learn English writing skills for international online course.
Class 4 Preparation part 3 (2/2, 7-8 period) Become familiar with the issues of Japanese food and food engineering in English.
Class 5 Orientation and opening ceremony. (2/9) Confirm the scheme of the program and meet with participants of the program.
Class 6 Lecture 1 (2/9) Associate Prof. Takuji Yamada "Fermentation food and metagenomics" Deepen knowledge of food engineering re group work.
Class 7 Introductory session (2/9) Through the self-introductions, know more about the participants of the both universities. After making groups, the participants discuss the topic presented during the lecture 1.
Class 8 Lecture 2 (2/13) Prof. Masayuki Yamamura "Sustainable agriculture and soil" Deepen knowledge of food engineering to prepare group work.
Class 9 Group work 1: Setting goal (2/13) Based on the site visit, discuss a brief idea of new engineering and set a goal of group work.
Class 10 Lecture 3 (2/14) Associate Prof. Hideharu Takahashi "Smert Agriculture with robotics and information technology" Listen to the lecture and learn smart agriculture.
Class 11 Group work 2: Research (2/14) After the lectures, research some examples of innovation related to food engineering, compared locally and culturally between Australia and Japan and then start thinking about an original idea of new engineering.
Class 12 Visiting food industry (2/15) Food delivering company Oisix "Visiting farms in Yamanashi area" Visit farms in Yamanashi area and learn sustainable agriculture
Class 13 Group work 3: Invention (2/15) After the lectures, site visit and group works, discuss a new idea for the invention of new engineering.
Class 14 Group work 4: Preparing project plan (2/16) Draft a project plan among the group members.
Class 15 Group work 5: Preparing presentation (2/19) Prepare the project plan and start practicing the presentation.
Class 16 Cultural exchange (2/19) Students enjoy the cultural exchange activity.
Class 17 Final presentations (2/20) Present results of the group discussions.

Textbook(s)

None.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

None.

Assessment criteria and methods

Students will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis based on attendance, contribution to the group work and to the final presentation.

Related courses

  • LAW.X358 ： Bringing Ideas in Remote Discussion
  • LAW.X434 ： Idea, Writing and Communication
  • LAW.X364 ： Tohoku Co-learning Camp

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

Course registration must be done through "Course Addition" from the Tokyo Tech Portal after the successful selection to this course. More details will be announced late September in 2023.

Other

Course registration must be done through "Course Addition" from the Tokyo Tech Portal after the successful selection to this course. More details will be announced late September in 2022.

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