I took this class in the Winter of 2018 and later completed a Span 199 Directed Research project with Professor Tobin in Spring 2018.

Beginning with Span 150, I truly enjoyed every aspect of the class and was incredibly interested in all of the material. We covered a wide variety of science fiction short stories from across Latin America, centering primarily around robots, cyborgs and clones. Kip came to every class extremely prepared and ready to answer any questions any students had. He really placed an emphasis on the thought process of the students and keeping an open dialogue available amongst everyone in the class.

I approached Professor Tobin for my guided research (Span 199) after taking 150 with him and he was extremely helpful throughout the entire process.

I came to him with a vague idea of the project I hoped to create and he immediately took my ideas and offered various options for how I could get started with the project. It was especially appreciated because Professor Tobin took time out of his week to take on this project with me after already having a full class load to teach. He was always available and continuously offered external articles/stories/documentaries that would help me better understand certain topics. Once again, I was extremely impressed with how he made an extra effort to always answer any questions I may have had or provide guidance. After these 2 classes, I can say I highly recommend taking a class with Kip if you have the chance.

I took this class as an undeclared major not sure if I would want to be a Spanish major, and it cleared a few thing up for me. Overall this class was pretty straightforward and clear but was not as engaging as I would have hoped; but that may have just been because my class was low energy. Professor Tobin is very well prepared for class and very well organized, my only criticism is that I wish he would have made class dialogue more required because I don't feel that I actually spoke that much Spanish. However, I left class with a very concrete understanding of writing in Spanish which is the main point of the class. Would surely recommend this class and professor to anyone looking to do a major or minor in Spanish.

Everything that we were assigned as homework was relevant to the course and the content we were learning. I think critically about everything I watch now outside of this class, because of all that I have learned in this course. We have weekly assignments in the form of watching films, reading before classes (providing context for discussions), and reflections on the films and the readings. I am very grateful for this professor having required weekly reflections because we essentially had 10 weeks of practice for the final essay. I can not emphasize how many times I have felt lost in a course over what the Professor was looking for in a final paper because it was the first or one of the few that we were completing. This professor is incredibly organized, engaging, always prepared for lectures (I am impressed with the amount of effort he puts into his presentations) and you truly learn so much. This professor has been an integral part of my success, my learning, and the value that I have received from my undergraduate education.

Honestly this is one of the best people from the Spanish department!! Very accessible and willing to work with you. I´ve taken two classes with him and had a blast both times. This quarter I learned about scifi films in Latin America and he is very knowledgeable! Movies give you a better perspective of what was happening around that time and some of them are very interesting. BONUS: He has a very cute cat named Milo

Since the class was online/zoom, it's hard to say how things might be different for other students who will take this class in-person; however, as a whole the class was fine. It was really flexible in the sense that we generally only had to attend once a week/post once a week/ and we could participate on the forum if we were uncomfortable speaking in person - BUT sometimes it felt slightly overwhelming workload-wise. One important thing is that he is VERY strict on participation and having students speak in Spanish so if you have issues in either of those areas then this might not be the class for you. (Also the content/quality of your participation plays a big role as to whether you receive credit for your participation. In other words, so you won't just get credit for saying "I agree with so and so").

The class consists of:
-Attendance 1-2 times a week (he does not require your camera to be on but would prefer it)
-Participation (can be through posts or in-class and on movie weeks through group work/activities)
-Homework (weekly readings which are about a total of 20-30 pages for each class, movies on certain weeks, and 1 post a week which answers a question regarding the texts)
-2 reading reports based on outside readings provided by the professor
-an oral presentation on a short movie (group work)
-an outline for the final project
-the final project that can be creative or traditional (essay)

Final things:
- He's very passionate about the subject and you can feel it through his lectures which are very well prepared
-The class is about Spanish/Latin American Science-Fiction, and he focuses on that and how it's DIFFERENT from the American understanding/portrayal of robots/cyborgs/clones. He does NOT want you to spend much time bringing up, thinking, or considering the latter because that is not the focus of the class
-He responds fast (uses slack)
-He is flexible (willing to grant extensions) but generally gives you enough time to do the work
-The class was not recorded
-The oral and final project make up 60% of your total grade
-Some readings are in English but the majority are in Spanish
- Some texts are complicated (ex: Cyborg Manifesto)
-You will have to work in groups/talk to other students in class and do in-class activities together
-Some professors are fine with students submitting their work in the language they are most proficient in but this professor is not - EVERYTHING is in Spanish and he will correct you, sometimes not kindly, if you deviate from the Spanish language in any way

Steven Tobin is a professor who takes teaching incredibly seriously and has earned my utmost respect. The course was engaging and interesting on every level. I felt challenged while at the same time encouraged regarding my learning. Tobin comes to class every day extremely well prepared and eager to engage with both the course materials and students. The course allowed me to experience an entire genre of film before which I had almost no prior experience with, and in the process, I came to really appreciate said genre. The course really had no issues to report, and I think more instructors should take inspiration from Tobin.