Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC’s The Walking Dead

Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC's The Walking Dead is an 8-week free massive open online course (MOOC) on zombie survival created by AMC, Instructure and the University of California, Irvine, starting on October 14, 2013 to December 20, 2013.

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…”''

Course
The course was taught by esteemed members of UC Irvine faculty on Instructure's MOOC platform, that AMC licensed rights to for content, access to cast members for interviews and advice on weekly themes about TV series. The course covers everything from the interdisciplinary factors behind the spread of infectious disease to post-apocalyptic nutrition, focused on Social Sciences, Physics, Astronomy, Public Health, and Mathematics. Each professor combines their knowledge with what would really happen in an apocalyptic setting.

This class tackled real-life scenarios that included lessons on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, social order and structure, public health and the CDC, and many other topics

Each class took place the Monday after each The Walking Dead episode, and included discussion of the show as well.

The course attracted more than 65,000 users around the world.

Professors
Team of UC Irvine faculty included:
 * Zuzana Bic, public health
 * Joanne Christopherson, social sciences
 * Michael Dennin, physics
 * Sarah Eichhorn, mathematics

Program
The program included:
 * Describe how infectious diseases—like a zombie epidemic—spread and are managed
 * Apply various models of society and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to existing and emerging societies as a means for understanding human behavior
 * Analyze existing social roles and stereotypes as they exist today and in an emerging world
 * Debate the role of public health organizations in society
 * Describe how mathematical equations for population dynamics can be used to study disease spread and interventions
 * Apply concepts of energy and momentum appropriately when analyzing collisions and other activities that either inflict or prevent damage
 * Summarize multiple methods for managing stress in disaster situations