UCI is developing an eight week MOOC (massive open online course) with AMC to appeal to fans of the zombie themed television show. The eight week course, titled “Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead,” will be free and open to learners around the world. The course features faculty members in social sciences, physics, public health, and math. Students can sign up for the course that begins on April 14 on the Canvas platform here.
“The Walking Dead” was the top rated show on TV for the 18-49 age demographic. The goal of this MOOC is to provide an academic experience that follows themes of the show. Topics that will be explored include: social order, social identity, public health, infectious diseases, concepts of energy and momentum, and math equations to analyze public health issues.
Zuzana Bic, a professor of public health at UCI, explains, “‘The Walking Dead’ provides many poignant case studies related to the scholarly areas covered in the course, and it helps that it’s one of TV’s most popular shows. There will be something for everyone in this course, which will explore concepts as varied as post-disaster nutrition, the foundations of human survival and stereotypes in a Darwinian environment.”
You can read more about the “Walking Dead” MOOC here.
