Path-Breaking Liberal Arts Courses 4Q

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Masatoshi Tamura / Ryoichi Yamane / Toma Kawanishi / Kei Ehara / Hiroyuki Akama / Seiki Iwao / Yuki Ishihara / Yoriko Kitagawa / Yasunori Kotani / Hilofumi Yamamoto / Kentaro Nagahara / Toshiki Matsuda / Guanqiong Yang / Masao Murota / Kimihiko Yamagishi / Sanae Akaba / Takeo Suzuki / Shunzo Majima / Saori Okada / Yuka Hiromoto

Class Format

Exercise (Livestream)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

1-4 Sat

Class

4Q

Course Code

LAH.C616

Number of credits

010

Course offered

2023

Offered quarter

4Q

Syllabus updated

Jul 8, 2025

Language

English

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Research in science and technology at the top level of the world requires several key abilities: (1) extensive knowledge beyond one’s own discipline, (2) transferring skills and creativity to utilize research in other fields, (3) interdisciplinary ability and spirit to build one’s own collegial network with diverse fields of specialists.

Students will attend lectures, work in small groups, and give presentations to acquire the aforementioned abilities. This year's topic is gender equality, one of the 17 SDGs.

The purpose of this course is to create a forum which facilitates knowledge exchange among doctoral students. Students will learn the trends of advanced and interdisciplinary research and how to collaborate with scholars in diverse disciplines．

This course is offered in English. Students need to communicate in English with other students from a variety of specialties and with different backgrounds.

This course will develop students’ ability to:
(1) Address social issues with their expertise;
(2) Collaborate with members from diverse backgrounds;
(3) Understand research ethics and codes of conducts for researchers;
(4) Create intellectual exchange opportunities;
Then, this course hopes to create and expand human network among doctoral students at Tokyo Tech.

Course description and aims

1) Address social issues with their expertise;
2) Collaborate with members from diverse background;
3) Understand research ethics and codes of conducts for researchers;
4) Create intellectual exchange opportunities;
5) Contribute to create and expand human network, centered on doctoral students, in Tokyo Tech.
6) Understand lectures given by specialists in interdisciplinary studies.
7) Present the results of their group work.

Through the experience in this course, students will develop leadership, abilities to conduct interdisciplinary research, and communication skills.

Keywords

Advanced and interdisciplinary research, Group Work, Leadership, Collaboration, Research ethics, Social issues

Competencies

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

Class flow

This course consists of 4 online classes.
Live classes will be held approximately every other Saturday by using the Zoom application. （Scheduled on December 9, 23 in 2023, January 6, 20 in 2024).
Class start time is 9:00 am and end time is around 12:30.

Students need to register by noon on December 4. Up to 100 students in total can register for “Cross Boundary Liberal Arts Courses” in a quarter. In case over 100 students apply for the course, registration will be restricted, and the restricted results will be announced by 17:00 on December 6 via the T2SCHOLA system.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

Students are required to contribute to research, discussion, and preparation of presentation outside of the classes.

Textbook(s)

None required.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

“Code of Conduct for Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology” (Tokyo Institute of Technology Committee on Measures to Prevent Research Misconduct, Established November 21, 2008 / Revised August 23, 2013), https://www.titech.ac.jp/english/0/about/policies/efforts/activities [Retrieved March 8, 2022]

Evaluation methods and criteria

Students will be assessed by participation and assignment submissions.

Related courses

• LAH.C601 ： Independent Studies Courses1
• LAH.C602 ： Independent Studies Courses2
• LAH.C603 ： Independent Studies Courses3
• LAH.C604 ： Independent Studies Courses 4
• LAH.C631 ： Cross-Boundary Liberal Arts Course A
• LAH.C632 ： Cross-Boundary Liberal Arts Course B

Prerequisites

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

Students are expected to commit themselves to the course.
This course is taught in a seminar style. Students are required to do activities outside of each class.

Students enrolled in 2022 or later, and/or students who have not taken any credits in liberal arts courses are not eligible to take this course. Only students who have completed at least one credit of liberal arts courses (including Japanese language and culture courses for international students) such as " Path-breaking Liberal Arts Courses " and " Independent Studies Courses " are eligible to take this course.

【important notice】
“Path-breaking Liberal Arts Courses” are offered on Saturday mornings. They consist of four classes, each of which includes two 100-minute sessions. After being assigned to smaller groups, students will engage in group work during the second and the third classes. Students will give presentation during the fourth class.

Since presentation and group work are the main foci of this course, please examine class schedule on the course syllabus, and take this course when you can attend all four classes （For the lecture days, refer to “Class flow" above. ）

Please attend all four classes. You may miss (a part of) one class out of the four classes due to unforeseeable circumstances that may occur after the course has begun. If you miss two or more classes, you will not receive credit for the course.

If you have to miss any of the first three classes, contact your instructor in advance (if not, do so as soon as possible after the class), and explain the reason for your absence. Then contact your group members about your absence and contribute to the group work outside the classroom. Study the material covered in the lecture by yourself　and submit a report to the instructor based on their instructions. All reports must be written in English and submitted by the deadline. If you fail to do so, you will not receive credit for the course. Attendance to the fourth class is required.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

Notice: Please replace from "[at]" to "[at]"(half-width character).
the office of the Institution for Liberal Arts.
600gp4q[at]ila.titech.ac.jp

Office hours

after every class