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Has your mother ever told you to stop playing Red Dead Redemption and get back to your homework? Now there’s a way you could do both. Students at the University of Tennessee are taking a class on Red Dead Redemption, using video games instead of textbooks. The class is the brainchild of Dr. Torre Olsson, a history professor who recognized the education value of Rockstar’s western video game series.

Not only that, but Dr. Olsson has also gotten the Red Dead voice actors involved in his lectures.

(My college classes were never this exciting)

Red Dead Redemption voice actors Rob Weithoff and Roger Clark recently appeared at Florida Supercon, where they discussed Olsson’s class and their experiences with it.

“Dr. Torre Olsson is a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He's got a class, it's a history class, but he teaches it through Red Dead Redemption. And it's such a cool thing. The kids love it. They're interested. They're truly interested in history. It's real history. Basically, because Red Dead Redemption doesn't use the same names as the actual historical people, but it kind of teaches you history,” Weithoff said.

Weithoff then shared the story of how they became surprise guest lecturers for the class.

“The students all love it. The day that we went, it was right before spring break. Professor Olsson told all of them that they had a quiz that day, so they would show up,” Weithoff recalled. “They were so happy when there was no quiz,” Clark said.

(Once again, nothing this cool ever happened to me in college)

If you can’t attend Olsson’s class, not to worry….there’s a book! Red Dead History hits on many of the educational beats found in Olsson’s course. Plus, if you get the audiobook, you might recognize the narrator.

“It explores the historical accuracy. What they got right, what they didn't quite get right. It's historical fiction. A slightly fictionalized version of America's past. Red Dead History comes out in August, and I narrated the audiobook. You might recognize the voice. It's me,” Roger Clark said.

Studying for finals must be a blast. 

Here's how to play the Red Dead Redemption series in order.