Last month, I asked the following on Twitter (and Facebook): The idea behind this came from a conversation with the lovely Nina Niskanen. She suggested that I might teach a course on space opera for a more general audience using an online service . Her own interest came from the perspective of a writer who wanted to write space opera but didn’t know enough about it. I thought that sounded like a great idea. Alas, I didn’t have the time back then to really begin putting anything in motion. Teaching full time, working on a dissertation, attending conferences, applying for jobs, etc. But I’m about to graduate with a PhD in English (focused on science fiction). That means not only will I have a hell of a good credential for this sort of thing (aside from my existing work as a podcaster, etc.), but I’ll also have quite a lot of time over this summer! And so here I am asking for your input. Since a lot of people who expressed interest in this are not academics or traditional students, it’s important to me to figure out how best to approach the structure, focus, and presentation of this course. Below, I’ve broken things down into some general categories with occasional ideas about what I’d like to do. Mostly, this post is a series of questions for your consideration. If you’re interested in any of this, please leave a comment or send an email with the subject “Space Opera Course” to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com. Getting this feedback will ultimately help me create a better product for people! If you know someone who might be interested, point them in my direction. General: