Graduate Studies course on D&D?

[MonsterMash]

For a moment I thought that the Comp Science side of things would be looking to it to get the geekier students to mix with other people face to face rather than just on line.

 

[Imruphel]

The comments by Charles Ryan do make it sound more interesting.

TSR's collapse and WotC's rebuilding of the brand would make a very interesting case study.

 

[diaglo]

i'm already taking a course: http://educate.barnesandnoble.com/e...jsp?productId=50689&userid=y26LOtcCKk&nhid=bn

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I also recall that there were courses on Star Trek in the Seventies.

A couple of years ago, I took a Leadership course at the University of South Dakota and - while the class wasn't about Stark Trek - we covered an entire section on the leadership style of Picard. I even wrote a paper about it. Rock on.

 

[Xath]

Why are none of these courses offered at UMD?

Though I did take a 3 credit course on Tolkien...

 

[diaglo]

Just today I was mulling over the role D&D might have in an analysis of representations of the Devil and demonic creatures in popular culture.

I also recall that there were courses on Star Trek in the Seventies.

even though, the show was in reruns only.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I also recall that there were courses on Star Trek in the Seventies.

There still are Trek classes being taught. Usually as Popular Culture courses or as part of American Studies programs. When my brother was at Evergreen State, there were several classes on The Simpsons, Star Trek, and other popular tv programs.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Although this particular course may be quite good, the sad fact is that many universities will offer courses in just about anything. D&D? Star Trek? Underwater basket weaving? You name it.

So, I'm not surprised by this announcement -- I just hope it's a good course and the students actually learn something.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Although this particular course may be quite good, the sad fact is that many universities will offer courses in just about anything. D&D? Star Trek? Underwater basket weaving? You name it.

So, I'm not surprised by this announcement -- I just hope it's a good course and the students actually learn something.

Although I never took classes like these, I found that the classes that sounded like they were fun and would be "fluff" classes often ended up being among the most difficult due to the in-depth nature of the course. It's not like they are sitting around watching Trek episodes, they are probably looking at the cultural experiences that brought about the issues in the episodes, comparing them to historical events of the time, and looking at the social phenomenon that lead to the shows, and what lead to the longevity of the shows long after they ended. All valid topics for sociology or history classes.

 

[RangerWickett]

The final paper I wrote for college was about the X-Files and how its development and decline mirrored America's relationship with its government. Also, for an art history paper on depictions of dragons in medieval bestiaries, I was able to use that pic of Tordek in the red dragon's mouth from the 3.0 PHB as an example of modern dragon iconography.

I'd actually like to teach a creative writing course some day about game script-writing. The focus would be on computer games, but I'd definitely encourage a tabletop RPG component.