Did you know everyone around the world can register to take a real online college course based on AMC’s hit zombie TV series, The Walking Dead? The best part is it’s FREE! No I’m NOT kidding and no it isn’t for any actual college credit. It’s coming this October and is a real course taught by real UC Irvine Physics, Public Health and Social Sciences professors.

The University of California Irvine is offering a multiple discipline course using The Walking Dead as a jumping off point for examples and discussion. The 8 week long course, entitled, “Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC’s The Walking Dead” starts Monday October 14th which is the day after the Season 4 premiere here in the United States. It finishes on December 20th, 2013.

Here’s a portion of the official course description:

From understanding social identities to modeling the spread of disease, this eight-week course will span key science and survival themes using AMC’s The Walking Dead as its basis. Four faculty members from the University of California, Irvine will take you on an inter-disciplinary academic journey deep into the world of AMC’s The Walking Dead, exploring the following topics:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—is survival just about being alive?
Social order and structures—from the farm and the prison to Woodbury
Social identity, roles, and stereotyping—as shown through leaders like Rick and the Governor
The role of public health in society—from the CDC to local community organizations
The spread of infectious disease and population modeling—swarm!
The role of energy and momentum in damage control—how can you best protect yourself?
Nutrition in a post-apocalyptic world—are squirrels really good for you?
Managing stress in disaster situations—what’s the long-term effect of always sleeping with one eye open?
Each week we’ll watch engaging lectures, listen to expert interviews, watch exclusive interviews with cast members talking about their characters, use key scenes from the show to illustrate course learning, read interesting articles, review academic resources, participate in large and small group discussions, and—of course—test our learning with quizzes. We recommend that you plan on spending about two (2) to four (4) hours per week on this course, though we believe the course is compelling enough you’ll want to spend more time.

The course is part of a growing trend of MOOC’s or “Massive Open Online Courses”. With last season’s Walking Dead season finale boasting over 5 million viewers this is likely to be one of the largest MOOC’s in history if even a fraction of viewers sign up. This is a cool little experiment that is most assuredly a way to gain exposure for both AMC and UC Irvine, but we’re all for it. It has to be fun and what zombie fan can’t use a little good old fashioned higher edjumuhcation with their favorite zombie TV show? I’m registered already and can’t wait! You can sign up for free HERE.

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Michigan State University announced today that they will be offering a course on surviving a zombie apocalypse. Well…sort of. Michigan State University’s School of Social Work  is offering students a Zombie themed course to teach students about the social and cultural aspects of catastrophic events. The seven week course, entitled Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Catastrophes & Human Behavior, will be offered during the first session of the summer 2012 semester at MSU.

In a press release published online today Michigan State University states students enrolled in the course will learn how human social behavior and nature change after catastrophic events occur.  Course material will be presented through a blend of traditional college coursework (or as traditional as a material on surviving a zombie apocalypse can be) and online education. Students will also learn through a catastrophic event simulation, which of course will be a hypothetical zombie pandemic.

The highlight of the course will no doubt be the simulation event. According to the official MSU press release, most of the first week of class will be dedicated to the zombie apocalypse simulation. Students will be placed in survival groups and must work together to develop ways to survive the zombie pandemic.  The hypothetical zombie apocalypse will continue as the course progresses. Along the way students will also learn about actual catastrophes and the impact these events had on  the world. The culmination of the the course involves the student survivor groups applying their new found knowlege to their zombie pandemic simulation.

Michigan State University is using social media to promote the class. They even have a video to promote it on YouTube! Check out the full version of the video below:

Everyone loves to get together and talk about strategies for surviving the zombie apocalypse. Although Michigan State University isn’t the first University to offer a course with a zombie theme, they do appear to offer one of the most interesting zombie college courses to date. The concept of using a zombie pandemic simulation to teach students cultural, social and natural effects of catastrophe is a stroke of genius. Between the zombie theme and the simulation event this course sounds like a blast! If you need 2 credits this summer we can’t think of a better summer course to sit through for 7 weeks! We’d love to see how the first offering of this zombie course pans out.

I should point out that we are NOT associated with Michigan State University in any way. While everything we have relayed here is accurate to the best of our knowledge, you should NOT rely on it to make any important decisions. We have provided links below so you can get information directly from the source.

More Information:

• Summer Session A:  5/14/2012 – 6/28/2012
• Course # SW290, Section 731
• 2 credits
• Graded on a standard 4.0 scale
• Instructor/Creator: Glenn Stutzky
• Click Here for the official press release.
• Click Here for the official course description.
• Click Here for answers to frequently asked questions.

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