SOCI4389 Selected Topics

Course Description

A seminar examining virtual reality from aesthetic, philosophical, and psychological experiences. 

This course will provide the knowledge and skills necessary to participate constructively and creatively in today's increasingly "virtual" world.

Though the "Age of Virtual Reality" is in its infancy, yet today's students already live in a virtual world. Through their video games, iPods, iPhones, online social networking, and movies, they are migrating precipitously toward "virtual space." It’s an imperative for them to understand this moment in history. Through provoked “discoveries,” engaging artistic journeys, and creative dialogues with the “language” of virtual reality, students explore both its pre-digital history and it is sobering—yet inspiring—future.

This popular subject is designed to reach participants in all fields of study and in all socioeconomic groups. 

Course Credits: 3

Prerequisites: None

Student Learning Outcomes

This course offers a new veracity, a new authenticity, and a new credibility for the virtual experience. By the end of the course, students will

  • Learn to test, discern, and ground the "evidence" of their experience.
  • Discover where civilization is moving as a whole by confronting the “reality” of virtual reality, where it came from, and where it is going.
  • Engage the skills necessary to participate constructively and creatively in an increasingly "virtual" world—a world that demands their participation.
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