Jason W. Ellis – Page 3 – ENG2420 E573 Science Fiction, Spring 2020

Assignment: Lecture 7 on the Golden Age of SF

Greetings, all!

I wanted to post our next lecture on the Golden Age of SF a few days early to give everyone more lead time to watch, make notes, and before Wednesday, Apr. 1, post a comment summarizing the lecture and the two readings for this week: Isaac Asimov’s “Reason” and Ray Bradbury’s “The Fireman.”

Also, I would like to receive a quick email from everyone as a kind of roll call. I’ll send the request via email, so please reply when you receive that message. You can just say “hi” or ask a question or let me know how you’re getting along. I would especially like to hear from folks having any kind of difficulty accessing OpenLab, the lecture videos, or keeping up with the readings. I want to help everyone stay on track as much as I can, but I need to hear from everyone–those who are handling the shift to distance learning okay as well as those who are encountering challenges.

My office hours this week will be via Google Hangout. I’ll post a link here before 5:00pm on Wednesday afternoon. You can reach me by email any time, and I can arrange separate Google Hangouts with video and/or voice by appointment–just email me with your availability for the week ahead.

Announcement: Going Forward with Distance Learning

Some of these plans might change as I learn more from CUNY and City Tech about particular procedures concerning our shift to distance learning for our formerly in-person class.

Here’s what I’ve decided as a way forward for our Science Fiction class:

Don’t forget to complete your weekly summary of the assigned readings/viewing and lecture. These are due before the next week’s class and they should be at least 250-words in length.
I will post each week’s lecture as an embedded video on our OpenLab site on Wednesdays at 6:00pm or earlier. Watch these to make your lecture notes.
Each week, I will have online office hours on Wednesday from 5:00-6:00pm. This means that I will be available during that time to reply to emails and I will host a Google Hangout, which I will post a link to on our OpenLab site before the office hour begins.
I’ve folded video viewings into weeks with readings as we won’t be needing class time to do the viewings. Depending on your schedule, you can keep up with the schedule of readings and viewings as needed. The thing to aim for is not falling too far behind so that you experience each text on the syllabus and you have a chance to write a summary comment for each week’s lecture and readings.
With the viewings moved, I was able to open a week for something new. April 29 has no readings assigned. Instead, I will want to hear from everyone BEFORE that date via email about your selected topic, so that I can reply with suggestions. Those of you who have spoken with me already do not need to do this. On April 29, I will post a video lecture with ideas about doing research for your project. Of course, you can begin your research project before that date and you can email me with additional questions about research before then, but I will devote that week’s class to research.
Connected to the April 29 research lecture is a change in the final essay project. Instead of emailing me a Word docx file, I will now have you create a post on our OpenLab site for your research essay. I still recommend that you write your essay in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc., but I will give you instructions later this semester about how to create your own post for your essay on our OpenLab site. You will copy-and-paste your work into the post that you create and then publish it. This will create a permanent copy of your work that you can link to from an ePortfolio or show as evidence that you know how to create a post on WordPress, the content management server software that powers about 1/3 of the Internet today!
Anyone who hasn’t submitted their midterm notebooks should email a PDF of their notes to Prof. Ellis by Wednesday, Mar. 18.
On the last day of class, Wednesday, May 20 (if this changes, I will let you know), there are three things due electronically. First, you will create a post for your research essay on our OpenLab site as discussed above. Second, you will scan your notebooks from the midterm to the final lecture into a PDF and email that PDF as an email attachment to Prof. Ellis. And third, you will have a take-home final exam, which I will email to everyone the week before. Complete it using your favorite word processor, save your work as a Word docx file, and email the docx file to Prof. Ellis.
Confirm your final work: For your research essay, you will be able to navigate back to our OpenLab site and see whether your work is visible or not. If it is not, try posting it again. If you have trouble, email Prof. Ellis with details. For your final notebook and take home final exam, please send these as email attachments in SEPARATE emails to Prof. Ellis. I will reply to each email with a confirmation receipt so that you know that I received your work successfully.
Please email Prof. Ellis with questions. I will discuss these things in subsequent videos on our OpenLab site.

Assignment: Lecture 6 and SF Film Serials

I’m posting a video of today’s lecture above. It begins with some information about City Tech and CUNY’s response to the coronavirus followed by a continuation of last week’s lecture on SF Film Serials. You can watch the SF film serials Flash Gordon by clicking here and Buck Rogers by clicking here. Watch a few of each to get a sense of what I discuss during lecture.

Due to the changes with the virus response, our next class will be on Mar. 25. I will provide everyone with an update about how we will conduct class online by early next week. In the meantime, you should write at least 250-words summarizing the SF-portion of my lecture above and what you watch of the SF film serials before Mar. 25.

If you didn’t turn in a physical copy of your notebook today, please scan it as a PDF and email it to me as an attachment before Mar. 18 so that I can include it in midterm grade calculations.

Read the posts below for additional information about the college’s response to the coronavirus. I will give you all information about how we will proceed as a class very soon.

Announcement: CUNY Response to Coronavirus

You might have all seen the announcements about the “instructional recess” from Mar. 12-18 and the shift to distance learning beginning on Mar. 19.

I will be in class tonight for lecture and collecting notebooks, but as I said yesterday, students may or may not choose to attend depending on their circumstances and personal choice.

Some immediate steps that we can take in our class:

During tonight’s class, while the class is watching the SF film serial films, I will grade and return physical notebooks as I won’t have an easy way to return these to students following tonight’s class.
I’m giving an additional 1-week extension on turning in your notebook as a scanned PDF for those students who do not attend class tonight. Also, if you are in class and want this extra time, you may take it and submit your notebook as a scanned PDF.
For those folks sending me a scanned PDF via email attachment, there’s lots of ways to scan your notes into a PDF. Google Drive and Dropbox apps on iOS and Android feature scanning features. There are free and paid apps that scan documents, too.
I will explain the research project during tonight’s class and include that in the video lecture that I post after tonight’s class.
For those folks who aren’t in class tonight, you can watch the SF film serials Flash Gordon by clicking here and Buck Rogers by clicking here. Watch a few of each to get a sense of what I discuss during lecture.
I will use time over the instructional recess to strategize how best to move our class to distance learning. I’m thinking that it will involve lecture videos, OpenLab-based writing assignments, and the other projects on the syllabus.
Stay tuned to our OpenLab site for further information.
Be well and good luck!

Opportunity: New Yorker Article Referencing E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

Philip Burkhard emailed me a link to this article in The New Yorker magazine that references the story that we read in the unit on Proto-SF, E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops.” Read it here.

If you find things related to the class–articles, videos, etc.–please send them my way and I’ll share them back out with the class!

Announcement: Update for 3/11

As you all should know, we are collectively dealing with a new virus that is creating challenges that we’ll need to overcome in order to successfully complete our class (and of course, do all of the other things that we need to do outside of class).

First, I want everyone to know that I don’t want attending our class to be an undue burden or a source of excessive anxiety. If you don’t feel safe attending class in the short term, you can keep up with our class on our OpenLab site (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/elliseng2420sp2020/) where I post lecture videos and the weekly writing assignments. For the midterm notes assignment, you can, as I said in our previous class, submit your notebook as a scanned PDF or a physical notebook.

Second, as long as City Tech remains open, I will hold class and office hours as regularly scheduled. Being in class does give some advantages to in-person students, such as tomorrow, when we will watch videos of SF film serials. However, I will post links to those videos so that students who are not in class can view them on their own time. Of course, this means that students who don’t attend will need to set aside time for class work and have Internet connectivity to view/download videos. Keep in mind that there are alternative ways to get online from NYCLink, to NYPL and BKPL to other CUNY Libraries (which may be closer to where you live).

Third, if you feel ill or sick, please see a doctor and stay home, working remotely from there. I post everything related to class on the OpenLab site, and if you have any questions about anything relating to the class, you can email me or your classmates.

Fourth, these guidelines are for my class alone. You should check with your other professors about how they intend to run their classes for now. And, these policies might be superseded by new guidelines from CUNY or City Tech, which I will incorporate and communicate to you all as they come into effect.

Be well and good luck!

Assignment: Lecture 5 and Pulp SF

Here’s a link to the presentation slide deck that I will anchor the lecture.

Reminder: Turn in a hard copy or email a scanned or generated PDF attachment of your notes so far this semester. You should have notes on every class and all the readings. As I’ve said before, I encourage you to share notes but you must copy others notes into your own script. Review the lecture videos for any days that you missed of class. This midterm assignment is worth 20% of your final grade. All those notebooks turned in as a hard copy will be returned the following week.

2nd Reminder: Each week, you will need to write a 250-word summary of the lecture and readings on these “Assignment” posts. These assignments contribute to the 20% of your grade of “Weekly Summaries of Readings and Viewings.” They should focus on the lecture and the readings assigned for that lecture. So, this week’s summary should focus on the Pulp SF lecture and the readings by Edgar Rice Burroughs and C.L. Moore.

Opportunity: Guest Lecture on Physics and Science Fiction

I gave a lecture on “Physics and Science Fiction” to the Spring 2020 Modern Physics class led by Prof. Darya Krym. I discuss some things that we won’t have a chance to cover in our class. If you have the time, I would encourage you to watch the video. It might give you some ideas for your research paper. More about the guest lecture including my presentation slide deck can be found here.

Assignment: Lecture 4 and Proto-SF

This week, we discussed Proto-SF and the two assigned readings: H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine and E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops.” Below, I’m embedding a video of the lecture for your review:

Also, here’s a link to the Science Fiction at City Tech site, which includes information about SF-related goings-on at City Tech, the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, and other valuable SF-focused resources.

Before our next class, please remember to write at least 250 words summarizing the lecture and your reading. Save that writing some place safe. Then, copy-and-paste it into a comment to this post.

If you need to turn in an assignment late, please do so, but remember to email me (jellis at citytech.cuny.edu). Be sure to include information about which lecture/reading your late assignment is for so that I can find your work and check it off for you.

Next week, we will talk about the SF Pulps combined with readings by Edgar Rice Burroughs and C.L. Moore. See the syllabus for links to the readings.

Assignment: Lecture 3 and Concluding Frankenstein

Above, I embedded a video recording of our third lecture, which covers the last part of the Frankenstein lecture, discussion of definitions of Science Fiction, and feedback from you all about SF that you’re currently reading, watching, and playing.

If you need to review any of our past lectures, I created a playlist where I’ll link to all the lecture videos. You can find it here.

Before next week, you should write at least 250 words summarizing the lecture and your reading of Frankenstein. You get to choose what to include in your summary, but what you write should always be focused on what we discuss and what you are reading in the class. I’m evaluating these weekly writing assignments based on best effort. They are meant to help you synthesize ideas from the class while building in regular writing practice.

Also, look at the syllabus for our next readings by H.G. Wells and E.M. Forster. If you need to prioritize your reading, focus on Forster’s “The Machine Stops” first. And, please use Wikipedia, Google Search, YouTube, and other resources to find out about the stories–who wrote them, what they are about, etc.–before you read them. Knowing a little bit about the stories in advance makes it easier to dive into them and think about what they might mean.

Finally, you all gave some great examples of contemporary SF that you’re watching and interested in. Here’s the list that we generated in class with a few more examples that I thought of based on individual conversations with students in the class:

Blade Runner
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ex Machina
Cloud Atlas
Worm
Tavelers
Arrival
The Three Body Problem
The 100
Black Mirror
The Twlight Zone
The Fifth Element
Mass Effect
Halo
Blue Gender
Akira
Final Fantasy VII
Altered Carbon
Half-Life
Doom
The Expanse
Janelle Monáe
Sun Ra

Author: Jason W. Ellis