Handout 1
Technology in the 20th Century
Many of the technological advances we are seeing today will shape our daily life in the future – the way
we relax, interact, communicate and conduct business. From virtual worlds, avatar emotions, artificial
intelligence, computer generated storytelling and narrative, interactive 360 holographic images, mixed
reality, stress disorder virtual therapies and so much more. ICT will continue to advance, empower and
transform every aspect of our life. Check out some of these emerging technologies and trends.
•Haptics technology-- Is a feedback technology (using computer applications) that takes advantage of
the user’s sense of touch by applying force, vibrations and/or motions to the User. Simple haptics is used
in game controllers, joysticks and steering wheels and is becoming more common in Smartphones.
Haptics is gaining widespread acceptance as a key part of virtual reality systems (i.e. computer simulated
environments) - adding the sense of touch to previously visual only solutions. It is also used in virtual
arts, such as sound synthesis, graphic design and animation. There are many possibilities for Haptics to
be applied to gaming, movies, manufacturing, medical, and other industries. Imagine your doctor
operating on your local hospital from his computer in Australia.
•Contextual awareness-- By combining ‘hard sensor’ information such as where you are and the
conditions around you, combined with ‘soft sensors’ such as your calendar, your social network and past
preferences - future devices will constantly learn about who you are and how you live, work and play. As
your devices learn about your life, they can begin to anticipate your needs.Imagine your PC advising
you to leave home 15 minutes early or take a different route to avoid a traffic jam on your way to work.
Consider a “context aware” remote control that instantly determines who is holding it and automatically
selects the Smart TV preferences for that person.
•Voice and tone recognition-- Not only can voice and tone recognition be used to confirm a person’s
identity but tone recognition can be used to detect a person’s health or emotional state . This technology
will open new opportunities in security and healthcare – with mobile applications.
•Intelligent routing to devices-- This future technology will be useful to, for example, local councils.
While on the move, staff will be able to provide the precise description and location of a street-based
issue using Smartphones and mobile devices that can take photos and have GPS (global positioning
system) support. Intelligent routing will then alert the responsible team to action.
•Eye tracking technology-- Eye tracking technology measures eye positions and movements which are
analyzed through computer applications. Future laptops, smartphones and tablets could contain
thousands of tiny imaging sensors built into the display screen. Eye tracking technology could have many
possible applications, including:
Law enforcement – lie detection
Airport security – identifying suspicious behaviour, e.g. to catch terrorists before they strike
Retail – recording, monitoring and analysing consumer behaviour to ‘tailor’ marketing to
individuals
Safety - alerting and awakening a drowsy or distracted driver would save many lives
Health care – assisting people with disabilities or paralysis to communicate (laptop) and improve
mobility (electric wheelchair)
Human-computer interaction – using screen icons and a blink here or a gaze there. Say goodbye
to the mouse and keyboard.
•Internet glasses!-- Technology that can display images directly onto our retinas while not blocking our
sight is being developed. This technology can be used in eyeglasses and have uses ranging from e-
Gaming to military defense. In the next 10-20 years experts predict that Internet glasses will replace
Smartphones. Imagine these viewing experiences:
Seeing building schematics and locations of others (especially useful for security or fire fighters)
Giving a speech while information is streamed to your eyeglasses in real time
Receiving turn by turn directions as you walk toward your destination
Viewing virtual recipes while cooking without losing your rhythm
Walking down the street, seeing one of your friends show up "on screen" 2 blocks and 1 cafe
away
Handout 2
Innovative humanities MOOC,
“Visualizing Japan,” nominated for the
Japan Prize
In a Q&A, course co-founder Professor Shigeru Miyagawa discusses his unique online course and its
impact on digital education.
Shigeru Miyagawa, professor of linguistics and the Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese Language and
Culture at MIT, has earned a reputation as a leading voice for the use of technology and digital
innovation in education. Since the earliest days of the Web, he has worked to realize its potential as a
tool for teaching and learning, and he was a member of the faculty committee that recommended the
creation of MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) in 2001. He has continued to advocate for the open sharing of
educational materials, for which he was honored with the 2012 President's Award for OpenCourseWare
Excellence.
In 2002, Miyagawa and MIT professor of history (now emeritus) John Dower co-founded “Visualizing
Cultures,” a groundbreaking program that leverages digital technology to support image-drive research.
Most recently, “Visualizing Japan” — a massive open online course (MOOC) inspired by “Visualizing
Cultures,” co-taught by Miyagawa, Dower, Harvard University historian Andrew Gordon, and Duke
University art historian Gennifer Weisenfeld — has been nominated for the Japan Prize in Education
Media. This is a prestigious international prize awarded to educational broadcast and digital media
programs selected from around the world.
SHASS Communications spoke recently with Professor Miyagawa about “Visualizing Japan” and his
experience with MOOCs.
Q: This course grew out of the pioneering “Visualizing Cultures” project and website, which you
founded 2002 with MIT Professor Emeritus John Dower. Can you tell us a little about what led you to
transform that project into a MOOC?
A: Beyond the tremendous excitement of sharing this material with students all over the world, I saw
the MOOC as a great way to collaborate across institutions: MIT, Harvard, and a professor from Duke
pitched in. The University of Tokyo joined us by producing two companion MOOCs.
This fall, we are offering “Visualizing Japan” and the two UTokyo MOOCs as an xSeries from edX. Along
with the faculty, we had a terrific collaboration between MITx and HarvardX. HarvardX produced the
videos in their amazing Hauser video facility. MITx helped us to develop a suite of assessments that
mimic the way historians handle visual material.
The earlier project, “Visualizing Cultures,” from which we drew material and methodology for the
MOOC, also was made possible through collaborations of faculty and museums. “Visualizing Cultures”
has units by over 10 scholars from a variety of institutions, including John Dower of MIT, Andy Gordon of
Harvard, and Gennifer Weisenfeld of Duke, who are the principal faculty for the MOOC. Beyond the
scholars, we work with some 200 museums and collections, each institution agreeing to our use of
visuals under a Creative Commons license, which allows learners to freely download, copy, distribute,
and alter the images.
Q: From your experience with “Visualizing Japan,” what are the challenges and benefits of teaching a
humanities course as a MOOC? Are there any discoveries from the course that you would recommend
for other humanities MOOCs? What about this course do you think has made it translate so successfully
into the MOOC format?
A: One component of the MOOC that I wasn't sure about was the discussion forum. Would anyone
participate? Will the discussion be civil and constructive?
I got a glimpse of what the forum was going to be like on the first day of the MOOC, when we put up an
image from a later lesson, a 1930s image of the Ginza area in Tokyo. We asked the learners to comment
on what aspects of modernity they see in the image. 804 learners put up comments, many consisting of
a long and thoughtful paragraph, and also reacted to others' postings. It was a remarkable thing to see.
The forum was active right up to the end of the course. One challenge for MOOCs is the drop off —
sometimes precipitous — in enrollment. We started with 3,000, and 1,172 completed the course. This is
actually a high completion rate for a MOOC.
One clear trend that a student taking my residential class that used the MOOC identified is that the
more that a learner participates in the discussion forum, the more likely that she is likely to stay with the
course. In the beginning, each learner averaged two postings, but by the end, each learner was putting
up more than 10 postings, showing that the most active participants completed the course.
The use of visuals is central to “Visualizing Japan,” and we developed a pedagogy for use of visuals as
primary source during the 15 years that John Dower and I, with Ellen Sebring, worked on the earlier
project, “Visualizing Cultures.” Many learners in the MOOC pointed out that visuals made the content
more accessible. The visuals also made it possible to develop machine graded assessments that went
beyond the standard multiple choice quizzes, something that Ellen Sebring spearheaded.
Q: In what ways do you think digital tools like MOOCs are shaping or will shape the future of education?
Is there anything you learned from producing this MOOC that you’ll bring back to the classroom with
you?
A: MOOCs provide a rare opportunity for people of all ages from countries across the globe to study
together using high quality instructional material. On the first day of the MOOC, a learner introduced
himself as a 15-year-old being homeschooled. This was his 16th MOOC, and his first humanities MOOC.
He had taken 15 STEM MOOCs before that.
He was so taken by the course that we appointed him as a community [teaching assistant], an honor
bestowed on learners who show a commitment to the course and a high standard of community
interaction. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, so I invited him to visit my MIT class that was using
the MOOC. He said that his high school education consisted mostly of studying with MOOCs. He was
accepted into the Class of 2019 at MIT and is now a freshman.
I teach a residential class at MIT under the same title, “Visualizing Japan,” and use the MOOC as the
primary textual material. Last year was the first time to teach it, so I had just nine students. That
contrasted with 3,000 students in the MOOC running simultaneo usly. Right away, I noticed that
something was different. The students were assigned the video lectures from the MOOC to study. When
they came into the class, they appeared to have retained the information from the video lectures much
more than when I assigned reading.
As a result, instead of doing a traditional lecture with PowerPoint, I peppered them questions about the
content of the lectures. I hardly used the PowerPoints I prepared. This so-called flipped class, where
students study the lecture ahead of time, and in class we engage in active discussion, became the new
format for the class. Most of the classes during the semester were of this type, although I did have
several traditional lecture-style classes.
One student doing research on the use of MOOC material for classroom teaching measured the amount
of time that the teacher (me) was speaking and also the students. He found that during the traditional
lecture class, I was speaking 80 percent and students 20 percent. But in the flipped class format, it was
50-50. And I could tell the difference. The students were much more attentive in the flipped class, more
engaged. MIT News did a nice story about it.
This semester, I have 17 students, which is nearly the limit for a communication-intensive course. I
began the course in the flipped format. In the first week of the semester, a large contingent of faculty
and students from a Japanese university visited the class. They were surprised by this way of teaching,
and afterwards several came up to me and asked how these students knew so much about Japanese
history when it was only the first week.
Q: Two elements that tie “Visualizing Japan” together are its grounding in visual archives and the effort
to challenge popular stereotypes about pre-war Japan. Is there something particular about visual media
that makes them a more effective way to challenge false ideas?
A: Visuals are a wonderful way to teach analytical skills, collaboration, and cultural sensitivity. We often
team up students to work with visuals, and each member will come up with a different interpretation,
which leads to a lively debate about the meaning of the visual. To defend one's position requires a close
reading of the visual and an understanding of the cultural context. Visuals challenge and often dissipate
stereotypes. The unit on the Hibiya Riot is a good example. The 1905 incident was the first social protest
in the era of imperial democracy. It undermines the stereotype of the Japanese as polite and obedient.
The learners today have access to a limitless number of visuals, many inaccessible until recently. This
means that students can get hold of a heretofore inaccessible visual, analyze it, and discover something
new and exciting. This is rare in an undergraduate class — for a student to make a discovery no one else
has made before.
_________________________________________________________________________
Story by MIT SHASS Communications
Editorial and Design Director: Emily Hiestand
Staff Writer: Daniel Evans Pritchard
Group 1: Fishing Sector
1. Your task is to design a prototype of something that will improve the lives of people in the fishing
sector.
2. The group should watch these two videos:
• The first video is about a fishing village in Verde Island Passage in the northern Philippines whose
marine habitat is increasingly under threat from coastal erosion and rising water temperatures. The
video may be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzCHSLpYg4
• The second video is about the Community Based Fisheries Value Chain model in India whose project
uses GIS technology to map water bodies and analyze their fish production potential. The video may be
viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVpTBgKidYc
3. In order to come up with your prototype, fill in the table below using the information from the videos.
The information can then guide you in your design. Afterward, you may then draw your prototype.
4. Submit the answered table and the prototype to your teacher or to your MIL portal. You may use
cartolina or manila paper, or presentation software.
5. Choose presenter/s from the group to present your output to the class.
What Why do they How How do How do they Are there current If yes, are If no, what
informatio need they they disseminate ways/ they innovations
n those will validat those technologies efficient /
do Filipino information get e information to get, validate, enough? prototypes
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Group 2: Agriculture Sector
1. Your task is to design a prototype of something that will improve the lives of people in agriculture.
2. The group should watch these two videos:
• The first video presents the state of agriculture sector that has been neglected for more than two
decades. With both aging farmers and climate change in the equation, food security in the Philippines is
becoming a big challenge. The video may be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=AC0IRDDhz2M
• The second video illustrates a youth's ICT-enabled journey into profitable farming, based on the
publication 'ICT4D Effects: Youth, ICTs and Agriculture' The video may be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTDvQT_Kenw
3. In order to come up with your prototype, fill in the table below using the information from the videos.
The information can then guide you in your design. Afterward, you may then draw your prototype.
4. Submit the answered table and the prototype to your teacher or to your MIL portal. You may use
cartolina or manila paper, or presentation software.
5. Choose presenter/s from the group to present your output to the class.
What Why do they How How do How do they Are there current If yes, are If no, what
informatio need they they disseminate ways/ they innovations
n those will validat those technologies efficient /
do Filipino information get e information to get, validate, enough? prototypes
farmers ? them them? ? and disseminate What can
need to ? those innovations you design?
have better information? / What
rice prototypes are the
production can features of
and you design? this
sales? prototype?
Group 3: Indigenous Peoples
1. Your task is to design a prototype of something that would help to improve the lives of people in
indigenous groups.
2. The group must watch the following video about the indigenous communities in Aurora and how their
lives are affected by the establishment of an economic zone. The video may be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1B1bFWHWbE
3. In order to come up with your prototype, fill in the table below using the information from the videos.
The information can then guide you in your design. Afterward, you may then draw your prototype.
4. Submit the answered table and the prototype to your teacher or to your MIL portal. You may use
cartolina or manila paper, or presentation software.
5. Choose presenter/s from the group to present your output to the class.
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