Coursera: Fantasy and Science Fiction (Summer 2012) discussion

Hi All!

There's been mention of this course in both the S&L and VF groups, and several people have signed-up.

Over in the VF group we were talking about having a thread to discuss, but Caroline thought it might be a good idea to have a group where we can all discuss and not have to worry about cross posting, and so we don't hijack our book clubs with a ton of course related threads.

I'm taking a Sociology course through Coursera at the moment and with 30,000+ students the discussions move FAST. I think it will be nice to have some smaller scale discussions of our own here and maybe set up some of our own Hangouts or chats depending on what people want to do. All members can make polls and events so feel free to use them.

I added a discussion folder for each Unit per the class website and added as many books as I could to the bookshelf.

If you have any ideas for the group, let me know!

Great idea! I only ventured into the Coursera forums once, and was also overwhelmed.

Oh, brilliant - thanks Vicky :) I can't *wait* to get started!

Caroline, this was a great idea! Vicky, thanks for setting up the group!
I'm looking forward to the start of the class

Thanks for getting this going! I can see how any 30k+ groups would immediately get overwhelming to keep up with, but I like the pace in the VF group, so this should be great. Can't wait to start reading with you all!

Thanks for setting this up. I will most likely do most of my discussions in here rather than the actual course. This might also get me to actually finish a class for once, which seems to be a problem of mine. This will be fun.

Vicky wrote: "I added a discussion folder for each Unit per the class website and added as many books as I could to the bookshelf. "

Quick question; For some reason I can't see these discussion folders (yet). Not really an issue since we're still a month away from the start date but I wanted to make sure. Are they supposed to be visible already, or will they become available as the course starts and the weeks go by?

edit: nevermind, they are there when you hit the 'new topic' button so I guess they won't show up until there are topics in the folder

Patricia wrote: "edit: nevermind, they are there when you hit the 'new topic' button so I guess they won't show up until there are topics in the folder"

Exactly. ;)

I thought about putting posts in all of them so they would show... but I didn't know what I'd put there, lol.

Not long to go now! Guess I won't be going to California for the meet-up, lol. Anyone going?

Caroline wrote: "Not long to go now! Guess I won't be going to California for the meet-up, lol. Anyone going?"

Ha, crossing the ocean for a BBQ with strangers? Not likely, lol. In all seriousness though, if I were from that area I would consider it. But as it is, it's not an option.

I'm looking forward to the start of the course though!

They should have a virtual picnic or something.

Hello :) I'm a lurker, so...

thanks for creating this group! i love the modern age!

this is my first coursera course so if anyone has any advice, i'd love to hear it.

it's really excited about all of these books.

Jenny wrote: "They should have a virtual picnic or something."

Maybe we can sort out a hangout? Time differences might be an issue, though!

There's a meet-up for this class in CA? I don't see anything about that on the website. Can someone point me to the info? I'm in California.

And thanks for setting up this group. I was hoping to find others taking the course on GoodReads.

M. Raven wrote: "There's a meet-up for this class in CA? I don't see anything about that on the website. Can someone point me to the info? I'm in California.

And thanks for setting up this group. I was hoping to f..."

This is the email I got:

Dear Courserians,

A few weeks ago, we dropped in on a group of eight San Franciscans who were meeting up to study Human Computer Interaction. They discussed the lectures, their ideas for the final project, and how the course applied to their professional experiences. Study groups and social meet-ups are springing up all of the world, and we want to help support them. If you are interested in joining or creating a local study group or social meetups, visit http://www.meetup.com/coursera/.

To kick things off we'll be hosting a BBQ on July 28th in Mountain View, California. Several Stanford and Berkeley professors have already RSVPed, including Scott Klemmer (HCI), David Patterson (SaaS), Jeffery Ullman (Automata) and our founders Daphne Koller (PGM) and Andrew Ng (ML). Tim Roughgarden (Algo) will probably also make an appearance. If you plan to attend, please RSVP here. We'll host other events in other places around the world in the months to come -- you can also organize your own!

Also, be sure to check out our July line-up of courses below. SaaS, Science Fiction, Finance, Quantum Mechanics, and more!

Happy learning!

Your Coursera Team | www.coursera.org


Not specifically for this course but you'd probably find a few there. :)

Oh, awesome! Mountain View is very close to me (in fact, I lived there until recently). Thanks so much for posting this; I guess I better check and make sure those emails aren't going to my spam folder.

Hi everyone!

I'm a high school senior, taking this course because I love learning new stuff. Haha, am I the youngest person here? :D I may also be the odd one out. I'm an Indian living in Saudi Arabia.

But that's the wonderful thing about books. It connects people of all ages and nationalities together.

Caroline introduced me to this group (thanks Caroline!).

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all :)

This is a great idea!