The boundaries between education and entertainment are
beginning to blur, and a new type of learning, in which education merges with
entertainment, is emerging – ‘edutainment’. 684253791
But now US television company AMC has teamed up with
the University of California to produce an online course based on the TV show,
The Walking Dead, which features a postapocalyptic world ridden with zombies.
With an audience of 10 million, student numbers for
the course are expected to be in the hundreds of thousands. 684253791
Academics from the University of California say that
the online course will be a ‘legitimate educational experience’ and tackle
serious issues from the fields of science, public health, nutrition, psychology
and sociology. 684253791 However, students will gain
no formal qualifications or credits on successful completion of the course.
684253791 It
insisted that all modules had been made as academically rigorous as those
taught on the university grounds. One lecturer in social science stated that
the university already used contemporary media examples to make theories more
relevant to students, and this course was merely taking this concept one step
further. ‘The curriculum is very real,’ says Josh Coates, head of
Infrastructure and designer of the online platform. 684253791
‘The fact that the context is this fictional world of an apocalypse is incidental.
This course gives us the opportunity to educate people about the science of
disasters.’
The market for massive open online courses, or MOOCs,
is rapidly expanding. 684253791
However, millions fail to complete the courses,
suggesting that they pose a real challenge to online learners. 684253791
The university is taking this opportunity to hone the
way it delivers online courses. 684253791 With the
increasing demand for online courses, these are issues that universities
looking to invest in online learning are increasingly having to face.
684253791 They
believe that TV shows may serve to attract students, but the academic element
still needs to outweigh the entertainment value for a university course to be
officially recognised and respected.