Internet of Things for Active Aging (FutureLearn)

Get an introduction to geriatric care

Better technology can often come from greater understanding. On this course you’ll learn about how older adults and clinicians manage health problems and health pain points, and how to check up-front for the real problems seniors need technological help solving.

Learn about developing useful health tools

This course will teach you about the different aspects of developing a useful health tool. Using a detailed case study you will learn about why current digital health tools often fail and how to create digital health products that experts can recommend, and that seniors and family caregivers will find beneficial. We’ll also examine the benefits of wearable devices for telecare and telemonitoring of elderly and lonely patients.

Understand Taiwan’s health system

The Taiwanese government have several nationwide health policies, including “active aging” and “age-friendly cities” that enjoy wide participation. We’ll review these policies and other aspects of Taiwan’s health system to see what can be learned from a system that has offered universal care and unlimited provider choice, while still keeping administrative costs under 1 percent of health expenditures, for the last 20 years.

What topics will you cover?

- Introduction to geriatric care

- Knowing the real problems while ageing and how to participate

- Introduction to health technologies (Internet of Things)

- Learn about developing useful health tools

Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

- Describe difficulties while aging

- Explore the technologies that could promote healthy aging

- Improve understanding of new technologies related to personal health

Who is the course for?

There are no special requirements for this course but an interest in healthcare, technology or Taiwan would be useful.