Getting to teach science fiction EVERY SEMESTER as the primary focus of my job. LOVE. Here's one of the courses I look forward to teaching all year, offered in the Spring at KU:
English 507: "Science, Technology, and Society: Examining the Future Through a Science Fiction Lens." Science and technology offer countless benefits to individuals and to societies, yet they also present many challenges. This course explores the past, present, and possible future effects of science and technology on society through readings and discussions of nonfiction articles in conjunction with science-fiction stories and novels. Each week, students write a short respone to that week's readings. Other projects include a mid-term research paper, a live presentation, and a research paper or creative work as a final project.
Speaking of classes I love to teach, back to grading interesting and insightful papers for English 506/690: "Literature of Science Fiction: The Short Story." Of the five grad students I have in this course, three are creative-writing MFA students, one is English lit, and another from a different department altogether. Makes for good discussions!
Chris
English 507: "Science, Technology, and Society: Examining the Future Through a Science Fiction Lens." Science and technology offer countless benefits to individuals and to societies, yet they also present many challenges. This course explores the past, present, and possible future effects of science and technology on society through readings and discussions of nonfiction articles in conjunction with science-fiction stories and novels. Each week, students write a short respone to that week's readings. Other projects include a mid-term research paper, a live presentation, and a research paper or creative work as a final project.
Speaking of classes I love to teach, back to grading interesting and insightful papers for English 506/690: "Literature of Science Fiction: The Short Story." Of the five grad students I have in this course, three are creative-writing MFA students, one is English lit, and another from a different department altogether. Makes for good discussions!
Chris
Comments
Maybe so, but that future's not here yet and may be a long time in transition (remember the "paperless office" we were all supposed to have by now?) and our hundreds of thousands of volumes in permanent holdings are among the things destined to be dead last in going digital, if ever. Nor can we afford to convert them ourselves or re-buy them. And our current building simply can't be retrofitted to handle modern tech, at least not cheaper or even at the same cost as building a new one that would be designed from the ground up to have the flexible infrastructure needed to handle future (unknown, unpredictable!) tech.
Oh hell. I could go on and on. I'll shoot you an email when I get a chance.