History Courses Based on Red Dead Redemption Appeared in the USA
History professor Tore Olsson developed a course on the events of 1899-1911 USA for the University of Tennessee. Course use material from games such as the Red Dead Redemption series. Olsson shared the details of the course on his Twitter.
Who says video games don’t belong in the classroom? I’m a history professor at @UTKnoxville. This fall, I’ll be teaching a new course titled “HIUS 383: Red Dead America,” exploring the historical reality behind @RockstarGames’ series. What kinds of topics will we be exploring? /1 pic.twitter.com/wkaHSvz4E4
— Tore Olsson (@ToreCarlOlsson) February 11, 2021
The course title also refers to the game: Red Dead America. The materials will illustrate property inequality, the phenomenon of colonialism, and more. Anyway, the professor pointed out that RDR has some historical inaccuracies.
By using video games in his teaching, Olsson hopes to attract students from other non-history fields. Colleagues appreciated his idea: Professor of Northwest Missouri State University called this idea amazing. Northwest Missouri Professor also used Red Dead Redemption in his courses — the main focus is the capitalism of the 20th century.