Cross-Boundary Liberal Arts Course 4Q

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Masatoshi Tamura / Daisuke Harada / Yasunori Kotani / Taro Yamazaki / Carla Tronu / Shunzo Majima / Reiko Sato / Sanae Akaba / Saori Okada / Takeo Suzuki

Class Format

Exercise

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

Class

4Q

Course Code

LAH.C631

Number of credits

020

Course offered

2025

Offered quarter

4Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 19, 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

Student learning outcomes
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 5 real-time online classes and 2 on-demand classes.
Real-time classes will be held approximately every other Saturday by using the Zoom application. （Scheduled on December 06, 20 in 2025, January 10, 24, 31 in 2026).
Class start time is 9:00 am and end time is around 12:30.

Students need to register by noon on December 1. Up to 120 students in total can register for “Cross Boundary Liberal Arts Courses” in a quarter. In case over 120 students apply for the course, registration will be restricted, and the restricted results will be announced by 17:00 on December 3 via the Science Tokyo LMS.

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 February 14, 2025]

Evaluation methods and criteria

Students will be assessed by participation and assignment submissions.

Related courses

• LAH.C401 ： Leadership Workshop
• LAH.C501 ： Facilitation Practicum

Prerequisites

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.

【important notice】
“Cross-Boundary Liberal Arts Courses” are offered on Saturday mornings. They consist of five live classes via Zoom, each of which includes two 100-minute sessions, and two on-demand classes. After being assigned to smaller groups, students will engage in group work during the second and the third live classes. Students will give presentation during the fourth live class　and provide general review to each other during the fifth live class.

Please attend all five live classes. Attendance to the fourth class (final presentation) is required. However, if you are unable to attend due to unavoidable circumstances, such as an academic conference, you may not attend only one of the five sessions, excluding the fourth session. In this case, you have to submit evidence of the reason for nonparticipation, such as a conference program. If you are late, leave early, or do not attend more than two times, you will not receive credit.

If you have to miss the first, second, third, and fifth live class, 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.

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

Notice: Please replace "[at]" with "@".
the office of the Institution for Liberal Arts.
600gp4q[at]ila.titech.ac.jp

Office hours

after every class

Other

PhD. students are required to obtain two credits for the Liberal Arts Studies. We strongly recommend to register Cross-Boundary Liberal Arts Course during the first academic year. If the number of applicants exceed the limit, a lottery system may be used regardless of year in doctoral program to determine which students are admitted.