The first MOOC on “Interdisciplinary Innovations for Population Ageing”

Welcome to Interdisciplinary Innovations for Population Ageing MOOC. Population ageing is a global issue with profound implications for the well-being of individuals, community design, health and social care planning, as well as service and product engineering in the silver age.

Different disciplines, including the social sciences, design, and engineering, offer unique and insightful innovations for older adults. Individually, these disciplines each offer solutions catering to their professional niche. However, creative and practical innovations are more likely to be achieved through interdisciplinary innovations rather than relying on a single discipline.

In this course, we will explore and examine the process of incubating innovations in three disciplines, namely the social sciences, design, and engineering. Together, learners will acquire knowledge and skills from these disciplines individually, as well as appreciate the synergy created when working toward innovations through adopting an interdisciplinary approach.

Topics are specially designed within the domain of social care programs and policies for ageing, engineering for ageing, and design for ageing. Along with meeting the need to equip global learners with interdisciplinary problem-solving to address the ageing challenge, this MOOC will incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives, problem-solving models, case studies, and formative assessments intended to empower learners to formulate innovations for the ageing population in their own cultural and ecological contexts.

Introduction

• Overview
• Getting started

Module 1 - Ageing in the Community

• Community health and population ageing
• Innovative approaches of age-friendly community

Module 2 - Social Policy, Services, and Entrepreneurship

• Social policy and social care in the context of population ageing
• Long-term care services and retirement protection policies
• Social innovation and entrepreneurship

Module 3 - Observing the Needs of the Ageing Population

• Introduction to the global challenge: ageing populations
• Participatory observation and ethnographic research: AEIOU

Module 4 - Technologies for Smart, Active Ageing and Implementation

• Introduction to the global challenge: ageing populations
• Met and unmet needs in technologies for an ageing society
• The digital revolution and the 4 Ps of future medicine
• Case studies

Multidisciplinary Capstone Project