The information below is a compressed schedule draft from LITR 328, a science fiction course I taught at SUNY Potsdam in Spring 2020.  Its included to indicate pacing and weekly learning objectives.  Feel free to contact me for any of the assignments or if you have questions: jdickinson@sunyjefferson.edu or (315) 767 6609.  LITR 328 was themed with works focused on the environment, viruses, and vectors, with the dystopian The Windup Girl being read right when COVID-19 was hitting.  Poor timing. . . !

Schedule/Course Calendar            All times are Eastern Standard Time

Week 1: 1/27-2/1  Class Meeting on 1/27

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Introductions, Icebreakers
• Overview of syllabus, schedule
• Overview of Moodle, how to post
• Defining science fiction

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will introduce themselves to classmates.
• Students will correctly identify the syllabus policies for late work, academic honesty, submission of work during online weeks, civility, and office hours.
• Students will be able to restate the basics of MLA in-text citation format, paraphrase rules, and when in-text citations are required.
• Students will annotate their text, marking up meaningful and important passages.
• Students will construct their initial working definition of the science fiction genre and its audiences.

Explore

• Read Seed, Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction  Intro, Chapters 1, 2.
• Syllabus, schedule, Moodle overview in class
• Begin reading/annotating Seed’s Introduction and Ch. 1.
• Finish the week’s assigned reading: Complete Chs. 1-2 Due: Sunday, February 1 – 11:59 pm

Engage

• Read my posts in Unit 1 Discussion

Complete

• Write a detailed (150+ words) self-introduction in the Meet Your Classmates Discussion Forum  Due: Thursday, January 30 – 11:59 pm
• Reply to at least two other self-introductions  Due: Friday, January 31 – 11:59 pm

Week 2: 2/2-2/8  Class Meeting on 2/3

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Science Fiction and Technology
• Defining Satire
• Dystopia vs. Utopia
• Reading the Landscape in Course Novels

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will list common motifs in popular science fiction movies, novels, games, and stories.
• Students will refine their annotation skills during in-class guided discussions of Ch. 2 in Seed.
• Students will apply their working definition of the Seed science fiction introduction to two short film clips (from Gattaca and Blade Runner), further refining it.

Explore

• Read Seed, Ch 2.: “Science Fiction and Technology,” Ch. 3 “Utopias and Dystopias,” and Susan Sontag, “The Imagination of Disaster”
• Read all Unit 1 Mini-Lectures
• Download the OER Resource College Writing Handbook Due: Sunday, February 1 – 11:59 pm
• Read about the Turing Test in the Unit 1 link: https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~arihuang/academic/research/turing.html

Complete

• Seed Quiz (Chs. 1-4) (100 points)  Due: Saturday, February 8 – 11:59 pm

Week 3: 2/9-2/15  No in-class Meeting This Week

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Dystopian future landscapes.
• The role of drugs in science fiction.
• AI and its challenge to Humanness.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will read independently, applying their annotations to the broad unit discussion to reflect on William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer.
• Students will demonstrate independent critical analysis in producing at least 5 total well-developed discussion posts written over at least 3 days of the week.
• Students will adhere to MLA citation rules for crediting summaries, paraphrases, and quotes.

Explore

• Read William Gibson, Neuromancer, Parts I-II
• Read Unit 2 Mini-Lectures
• Review Essay 1 in Unit 2 Assignments folder.  Choose a topic and read/annotate with it in mind.

Engage

• Discussion 1: Create at least 5 total posts written on at least 3 days of the week.  To count, posts must be more than a paragraph long, feature a sentence for the post subject, and use cited detail.  Replies to others can count as posts if they meet these expectations.
• Blend your activity between new postings and replies to others’ posts.

Complete

• Read/annotate Parts III-Coda in Neuromancer.
• 5 discussion posts
• Review the Archetypal Criticism: Character Motifs mini-lecture in Unit 2 Mini-Lectures for in-class discussion in Week 4.

Week 4: 2/16-2/22  Class Meeting on 2/17

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Madness and wealth in Neuromancer
• AI, Ice, and Devastating the Environment: Why Invention is not our Greatest Hope
• To what extent is Case a typical science fiction protagonist?
• Archetypal characters in Neuromancer
• Preview of reading challenges for The Windup Girl

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will apply archetypal criticism to the characters in Neuromancer, identifying each major character as a type of character.
• Students will contribute rough drafts to the current discussion, engaging as a community of critics as we read this novel.
• Students will share their research on supporting Essay 1 sources.
• Students will aid others in improving their work through peer editing activities that also have the effect of improving their own essay.

Explore

• Students will have completed reading/annotating the novel prior to class on 2/17.
• Look ahead to Unit 3 and Discussion 2.  Begin The Windup Girl reading.

Engage

• In class, submit Essay 1 draft within Discussion 1.  Due: Monday, February 17 – 2:00 pm
• Using the Peer Editing Sheet found in Unit 1, students complete two peer edits between 2/17 and 2/20.  Post these as replies, attaching your peer editing file so that students can find the replies easily.

Complete

• Two or more peer edits (see Engage section above)
• Essay 1 (750 out of 5000 total course points, or 15%) is due as a Word file in Times or Arial font. Due: Saturday, February 22 – 11:59 pm

Week 5: 2/23-2/29 No in-class Meeting This Week

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Asian settings and science fiction: Thai Sci Fi!
• Bioterrorism
• Biotechnology and the novel
• The functions of environmental devastation in Bacigalupi’s novel

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will demonstrate independent critical analysis in producing at least 5 total well-developed discussion posts written over at least 3 days of the week.
• Students will draw conclusions about the political aspects of Bacigalupi’s novel and evaluate the ways the novelist uses environmental degradation to further its plot and engage with readers.

Explore

• Read The Windup Girl through page 180 by the end of the week.  Due: Saturday, February 29  – 11:59 pm
• Review the mini-lectures—both text and video links—found in Unit 3 Mini-Lectures.  Due: Saturday, February 29  – 11:59 pm

Engage

• Discussion 2: 5 postings are due this week.  Due: by Sunday 2/29
• Show the extent of your reading of the novel and lecture material by using it in posts.

Complete

• 5 discussion posts with activity appearing on at least 3 days this week.
• The Windup Girl Quiz 1 (75 points) in Unit 3 Assignments. Due: Saturday, February 29  – 11:59 pm
• Read The Windup Girl through page 180 by the end of the week
• Read Seed, Ch. 6: “The Field of Science Fiction” and post at least twice about it this week

Week 6: 3/1-3/6 (Spring Break Begins 3/6) Class Meeting on 3/2

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Paradox and the second half of The Windup Girl
• Mythmaking and Female Characters: A Recurring Theme
• Feminist readings of The Windup Girl

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will apply feminist criticism to characters and conflicts in the novel.
• Students will connect feminist critiques to critiques of how the land in the novel gets depicted.
• Students will sketch out a mini-lesson on a topic of their choosing from within the novel.

Explore

• Read the remainder of The Windup Girl.
• Review students’ posted Bacigalupi Mini-Lessons after the get posted in Discussion 2.

Complete

• The Windup Girl Quiz 2 (75 points)                               Due: Monday, March 2 – 12:00 pm
• Create a viable mini-lesson on a topic of your choosing from within the novel (within class).
• Share the outlined lesson with peers in Discussion 2.      Due: Tuesday, March 3 – 11:59 pm
• Reply to at least two shared mini-lessons.                       Due: Thursday, March 5 – 11:59 pm

Week 7: 3/15-3/21 Class Meeting on 3/16

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Motifs within a writer’s body of work
• Elaborating on the cyberpunk subgenre
• Defining settings among Gibson’s stories: Which rules obtain in his fictive worlds?
• Sprawl: Is it our likeliest environmental outcome?

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will be able to recognize and list common features amongst Gibson’s stories.
• Students will compare/contrast the protagonists of Gibson’s short fiction with the hero of Neuromancer.
• Students will apply Seed’s definitions of the workings of science fiction to each Gibson short story we read.

Explore

• Read the following pieces from Burning Chrome: “Johnny Mnemonic,” “The Gernsback Continuum,” “Fragments of a Hologram Rose,” “The Belonging Kind,” and “Hinterlands”
• Listen to the William Gibson interview in Unit 4 Mini-Lectures. Due: Thursday, March 19 – 11:59 pm
• Read all other lecture content. Due: Thursday, March 19 – 11:59 pm

Engage

• Small-group and class discussion on the weekly topics.  Due: Thursday, March 16 during class.

Complete

• Gibson Quiz 1 (75 points) in Unit 4 Mini-Lectures Due: Thursday, March 19 – 11:59 pm

Week 8: 3/22-3/28  No in-class Meeting This Week

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Collaborative Writing in Genre Fiction
• The Sinister Corporation in Gibson
• Saying No to Drugs in Gibson?
• Film and Gibson’s Works

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• (Continuing) Students will be able to recognize and list common features amongst Gibson’s stories.
• Students will apply Seed’s definitions of the workings of science fiction to each Gibson short story we read.
• Students will compare The Windup Girl to selected stories in Burning Chrome.
• Students will analyze clips of film adaptations of Gibson’s work to determine its faithfulness to the original and what deviations from the text reflect about movie-making.

Explore

• Read the remainder of Burning Chrome: “Red Star, Winter Orbit” (with Bruce Sterling), “Winter Hotel,” “The Winter Market,” “Dogfight” (with Michael Swanwick), and “Burning Chrome.”
• Read Seed, Ch. 6 “The Field of Science Fiction.”
• Other students’ posts, the instructor’s posts.
• Preview the next unit and begin reading as needed.

Engage

• Discussion 4: Burning Chrome  Students create at least 5 posts over at least 3 days in the week (150 points).  Due by 3/28 – 11:59 pm
• Complete two peer edits (see Complete section below).
• View film links attached in Unit 4 Mini-Lectures folder and respond to those in the forum.

Complete

• In class, submit Essay 2 draft within Discussion 3.  Due: Tuesday, March 24 – 2:00 pm
• Using the Peer Editing Sheet found in the discussion forum, students complete two peer edits between 3/24 and 3/26.  Submit these as replies to the students’ posts so they can find them.
• Gibson Quiz 2 (75 points) in Unit 3 Assignments folder  Due: Thursday, March 26 – 11:59 pm
• Essay 2 (750 out of 5000 total course points, or 15%) is due as a Word file in Times or Arial font. Due: Saturday, March 28 – 11:59 pm

Week 9: 3/29-4/4  No in-class Meeting This Week

This Week’s Topic(s)

• The Handmaid’s Tale: An instant classic?
• Why is this novel pertinent in 2020?
• Dystopia and fertility: How might we weave together these concepts?
• Other dystopian works
• Are dystopias radical, normative, or both?

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will read critically, identifying key motifs and characters in Atwood’s novel.
• Students will display an ability to connect emerging course themes to new reading material.
• Students will comment on the extent to which Atwood’s novel relates to gender conflict in North Country families.

Explore

• Read Chapters I-VI  Due: Tuesday, March 31 – 11:59 pm
• Read all Unit 5 mini-lectures  Due: Tuesday, March 31 – 11:59 pm

Engage

• Discussion 5: A Handmaid’s Tale  Students create at least 5 posts over at least 3 days in the week (150 points).  Due by Saturday 4/4 – 11:59 pm

Complete

• Atwood Quiz 1 (50 points) Due Thursday by 4/2 – 11:59 pm

Week 10: 4/5-4/11  Class Meeting on 4/6

This Week’s Topics

• Do Gibson and Atwood represent an identifiably Canadian approach to the land, or is that a sweeping generalization?
• In what ways does science fiction tend to mythologize pregnancy and childbirth?
• Film and TV versions of the novel

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will analyze a dystopian film and relate it to their experience of The Handmaid’s Tale.
• Students will analyze longer fictional works such as Atwood’s novel and relate them to course themes.
• Students will comment on the effects of only reading for plot and motivation to gauge the extent to which these are limiting areas of focus for critical readers.

Explore

• View Children of Men in class.
• Read Chs. VII-XI by the 4/6 class meeting.

Engage

• After viewing, links to the relevant TV and film excerpts will be included in Moodle for student reflection.
• Take notes on Dune and review

Complete

• Atwood Quiz 2 (50 points) Due Date: Thursday 4/9 – 11:59 pm
• Children of Men comparison assignment (100 points): Due Date: Saturday 4/11 – 11:59 pm

 

Week 11: 4/12-4/18  No in-class Meeting This Week

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Overview of Atwood’s other works
• Analyzing violence against the body
• Evaluating the resolution
• How does Offred act as a metaphor for the land in feminist ways? In feminine ways?  Evaluate.
• Comparing The Handmaid’s Tale with The Windup Girl

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will analyze longer fictional works such as Atwood’s novel and relate them to course themes.
• Students will comment on the effects of only reading for plot and motivation to gauge the extent to which these are limiting areas of focus for critical readers.
• Students will read critically, identifying key motifs and characters in Atwood’s novel.

Explore

• Review previous posts from Discussion 6.

Engage

• Discussion 5: A Handmaid’s Tale  Students create at least 5 posts over at least 3 days in the week (150 points).  Due by Saturday 4/18 – 11:59 pm

Complete

• Atwood Quiz 3 (50 points) Due Date: Thursday 4/16 – 11:59 pm
• Start reading Dune so that you stay on pace to complete Part I (Due Date: Monday 4/20 – 11:59 pm)
• Discussion 5: A Handmaid’s Tale  Students create at least 5 posts over at least 3 days in the week (150 points).  Due by Saturday 4/18 – 11:59 pm

Week 12: 4/19-4/25  Class Meeting on 4/20

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Encountering Arrakis: What rules obtain?
• The role of resources and economies in science fiction
• Feudalism and resource exploitation
• Faction and guild as engaging features of science fiction
• Examining the Harkonnens’ sexuality and instrumental approach toward ruling

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will comment on the relevance of a novel seemingly set “there and then” but actually being about “here and now.”
• Through analysis discussion posts, students will express comprehension of the novel’s exposition of major characters.
• As they proceed through the book’s 3 major parts and appendices, students will apply the paired concepts of landscape and science fiction to focused responses (posts, comprehension questions, and an essay).
• Evaluate written appreciations of the novel and analyze their reasons and reasoning.

Explore

• Read Book I “Dune” Due Date: Monday 4/20 – 11:59 pm
• Read through all mini-lectures, presentations, and video links in Unit 6 Mini-Lectures

Engage

• Ask any questions about Essay 3 which arise.

• Read Hari Kunzru, “Dune, 50 Years On: How a Science Fiction Novel Changed the World” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/03/dune-50-years-on-science-fiction-novel-world

Due Date: Thursday 4/23 – 11:59 pm

Complete

• Dune Comprehension Questions (due near unit’s end). Complete these as you read rather than waiting to go back later.
• Choose Essay 3 topic.

Week 13: 4/26-5/2 No in-class Meeting This Week

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Prophecies and mythmaking: Where have we seen this before?
• Drugs as a motif in the genre
• Rising action: what plot questions do you have?
• World-Building Conceits for science fiction writers

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will identify and classify several of the world-building inventions Herbert settles upon.
• Students will define the concept prescience and gauge its functions within Dune in analysis posts.
• Students will listen to a podcast on DNA genomics and apply it to how genetics gets used in the novel.
• Students will demonstrate independent critical analysis in producing at least 5 total well-developed discussion posts written over at least 3 days of the week.

Explore

• Read through Dune, Book II “Muad’Dib.”

Engage

• Participate promptly and actively in Discussion 5: Dune (150 points).
• Listen to After On podast interview with David Reich, author of Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the Science of the Human Past available at: https://after-on.com/episodes-31-60/034

Complete

• Dune Comprehension Questions (due near unit’s end). Complete these as you read rather than waiting to go back later.
• In discussion posts (at least two), apply the information from the After On podcast to Dune’s plot.
• Quiz (descriptive name)
• Discussion 6: Dune  Students create at least 5 posts over at least 3 days in the week (150 points).  Due by Saturday 5/2 – 11:59 pm

Week 14: 5/3-5/9 Class Meeting on 5/4

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Final Test Review
• Dune film excerpts
• Dune Book III, Appendices
• Satirizing leadership
• Atomics and the Fremen: Using the Land as a Weapon
• The future of the Dune series

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will classify and review the types of science fiction novels they have read this term.
• Students will engage in drafting analysis questions for potential use on the final exam.
• Students will synthesize themes about both the most recent novel and major motifs in their learning in LITR 328 this term.
• Students will evaluate the author’s tone toward the novel’s conclusion, reflecting on the extent ot which it is satirical of political leaders.
• Students will aid others in improving their work through peer editing activities which also have the effect of improving their own writing.

Explore

• Read Book III: “The Prophet” and Appendices
• Read through other students’ rough drafts posted in Discussion 6.  Due by Wednesday 5/6 – 11:59 pm

Engage

• Conduct two peer edits in Discussion 6 Forum.               Due by Wednesday 5/6 – 11:59 pm
• Seek out help if you have questions about a specific aspect of your paper.

Complete

• Essay 3 rough draft (required for passing credit on final copy Due by Monday 5/4 – 2:00 pm
• Peer edit at least two rough drafts in Discussion 2 Due by Wednesday 5/6 – 11:59 pm
• Dune Comprehension Questions (200 points)                Due by Thursday 5/7 – 11:59 pm
• Essay 3 final copy (750 points)  Due by Saturday 5/9 – 11:59 pm

Week 15: 5/10-5/15 Class Meeting on 5/11

This Week’s Topic(s)

• Comprehensive in-Class Final Exam
• Thanks to students for a great course!

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Students will write thesis-driven analysis arguments in response to final exam questions.
• Students will reflect on their learning and evaluate its effectiveness.

Explore

• Review notes and course materials in preparation for the open book final exam.

Complete

• Final Exam (750 points, or 15% of the final course grade)