SCHEDULE UPDATE (as of 4/22/15):
4/29: Movie Night!
5/6: Discuss the movie. Begin discussion of Module 7 readings + “The Women Men Don’t See” and the Imaginary Worlds podcast, “The Mysterious James Tiptree”. Optional: “On Venus, Have we Got a Rabbi” by William Tenn (read by the author—a little more than hour long)
5/13: Module 7 paper due, finish discussing Module 7 readings
5/20: Final Projects Due
Your final project will essentially be your story of what this class has done for your understanding of Science Fiction. Here are some options:
1) A straight review of the course: a chronological review of the course readings and your responses to them.
2) Write it as a story/narrative: for instance, you can make yourself a character as an explorer of science fiction, or you can write an origin story/epilogue/alternative chapter of one of our stories, or you can write a short screenplay where you imagine a dinner party attended by characters from various stories…
3) An annotated bibliography–a list of everything we read (and even stuff we didn’t read) with your comments
4) Make a video–can be animated, a narrative, a documentary-style video…
5) Have another idea? Let Joe or Jenny know what it is, but it must illustrate some of the themes developed during the course, and it must be approved by Joe (so make your proposals early).
***NOTE***: If you decide to do something creative/unconventional, you must include a cover letter (less than a page) explaining how your project illustrates some of the themes from the course.
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March 4: start module 3, module 2 papers due
March 18: Start module 4, module 3 papers due
April 1: start module 5, module 4 papers due
April 15: start module 6, module 5 papers due
April 29: start module 7, module 6 papers due
May 13: start module 8, module 7 papers due
May 20: final projects due
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Module One”What if?”Welcome and Introductions | Where do we stand and where will we go? | Weeks 1-2 |
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Module Two”To Boldly Go”Space Exploration and Space Colonies |
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Weeks 3-4 |
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Module Three”The Star Beast”Animals and Aliens…What is Human? |
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Weeks 5-6 |
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Module Four”I, Robot”Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life |
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Weeks 7-8 |
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Module Five”Childhood’s End”Coming to Faith and Coming of Age |
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Weeks 9-10 |
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Module Six”The Past Through Tomorrow”Time Travel |
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Weeks 11-12 |
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Module Seven”The New Romancers”The New Wave, Cyberpunk, Gender and Race |
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Weeks 13-14 |
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Module Eight”Five-Year Mission”Overview and Envoi | Final Projects | Week 15 |