• Taipei Medical University logo

Internet of Things for Active Aging

Learn about how the Internet of Things can help people aging well with this free online course.

12,731 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    2 hours

The Internet of Things (IoT) includes many new digital health technologies, from apps to wearable devices to home sensors - devices that are expected to revolutionize healthcare in the near future. But when will they become truly useful and usable for those with the most at stake: older adults with multiple medical problems? This is just one of the questions we will tackle on this course.

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.

Download video: standard or HD

Skip to 0 minutes and 6 seconds Hello! I’m Dr. Shabbir Syed-Abdul, an assistant professor in Graduate of Biomedical Infomatics Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. We are back again with a new course on Internet of things for active aging. Why you need this course? To explore the challenges and opportunities of using wearable devices for elderly care. Who can enroll? Anyone from undergraduate to Post Doc interested in using technology for active aging. What you can expect from this course? Better understanding of the practical problem in the aging population and how best wearable devices can be used to help and promote active aging. We form a team of international experts from US, Middle East and Taiwan.

Skip to 1 minute and 7 seconds Basically this course explores the problems of learning and then we discuss the opportunities and challenges of using smart wearable devices for active aging. We will introduce the problems while aging such as cognitive impairment, Issues related with balance and fall, Motor disability, how to cope with sleeping disorder and so on. we will be discussing the real benefits of wearable devices that we found from literature. We also want to highlight the role of smart wearable devices in diabetic and cancer patients. I hope and wish you will enroll in this course and take the best advantage of learning from our international experts. Thank you for viewing this video. Hope to see you in the course.

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

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

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.

Who will you learn with?

Dr.Shabbir Syed-Abdul,is an associate professor of Health informatics at Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan.

Luis Fernandez-Luque has been involved in eHealth research and development for over 10 years. He is researcher at www.qcri.org & co-funder of Salumedia. https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisfernandezluque

Hi. I am Kevin Ke and currently a professor of NTUT, Taiwan, RoC. I am interested in networking tech. , WSN/IoT routing, SDN/NFV, and RFID. You are welcome to contact me and share research experience.

Dave deBronkart, better known as "e-Patient Dave," is the world’s best-known advocate for patient engagement. International keynote speaker about patient-clinician partnership.

Who developed the course?

Taipei Medical University

Taipei Medical University (TMU) has been a leader in Taiwan’s healthcare system for over half a century due to its research, teaching excellence, internationalization and outstanding medical service.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Learner reviews

Learner reviews cannot be loaded due to your cookie settings. Please and refresh the page to view this content.

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...

You can use the hashtag #FLactiveaging to talk about this course on social media.