(Photoshopped by Matt.)
AMC is partnering with University of California at Irvine to offer a free online course about The Walking Dead. Eh, it’s still more useful than Newberry College’s Social Media major.
The eight-week course, titled “Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC’s The Walking Dead,” will include content, video clips and examples from the show, as well as possible participation from the actors.
Possible participation? Don’t tease us like this, AMC.
And it won’t be just about zombies. The companies said the interdisciplinary course will use the show as a lens to examine topics like Maslow’s hierarchy, public health and pandemics and the science of hope. “Others have focused on specific pedagogical models and approaches… [We wondered] how could we get a course with high numbers of users and engagement?” Instructure co-founder Brian Whitmer said in a briefing ahead of the announcement. “We decided to see what a pop culture connection does to engagement.” [Gigaom]
He said “engagement” not just once, but twice? Taintpunch this man.
The online course convenes each Monday starting October 14th, the day after The Walking Dead‘s season four premiere. It joins other zombie-centric college courses like Michigan State University’s “Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Disasters, Catastrophes and Human Behavior”, Columbia College Chicago’s “Zombies in Popular Media”, and ENGL 333 at the University of Baltimore. At least it’s a free class. I can’t imagine taking classes in something you can’t use for a job and then end up being a blogger or something. Oh. Wait. I can imagine that.
[Sources: Gigaom, Topless Robot, Variety]
