Instructional Planning Yearly Update Department Astronomy Date 05-16-14 Division NAS Goals and Recommendations from Program Plan List the top five Goals and Recommendations from the last Program Plan and indicate whether they have been met? Goals / Recommendations from six-year plan In progress Goal Met (identify source of funding) Comments 1. Provide two Personal Observatory Dome units to house permanent setups for existing lab equipment - $8200 2. Buy 10 Laptop computers for room 705 for Astro 8A and 9ABC students ~$11,000 X FGSS Grant Successfully applied for FGSS grant in 11 for first dome. Instructor built foundation and dome installation continues. Weatherizing has been very difficult, and putting expensive equipment in to such a small dome, barely large enough for 1, let along 2, has caused a re-thinking of how to better enable the use of the enclosed scientific equipment (see new priorities below). Camera, computer, mount, software all can be carried to a new building. Existing POD perhaps usable for simpler needs, or can be sold to help fund more suitable building. N/A No Need has shifted. Nearly all students have their own laptops. However, replacement existing laptop for use with 8 scope + ST4000XCM camera will be needed.. 3. 3 hrs/week increase in LIA funding X New student assistant hired and funded, taking some pressure off of Astro 8A LIA hourly need increase, however no additional funding was granted so existing Supplies money is currently being used. No assistance available in Astro 9ABC, however, currently. This goal is being re-iterated in the revised 2013 update as funding for my new SA III. 4. Add a new course Planetary Climate Science. Proposed 3 unit course would be a CSU/UC transfer 3 unit lecture course with special emphasis on Earth climate evolution and climate change X No funding needed Course successfully added to schedule, first offering Fall12 with 60 students enrolled, and enrollment for Spr13 and Fall 13 at ~58 students, Spr 14 progressing well. Added course to Astronomy AS degree course list, and added Astro 7+8A lec/lab combo to curriculum accomplished 5. Hire outside professional to service the planetarium projector systems, to return it to its original capabilities. $8,000 X Suitable for One-Time Equipment funding. Attempt to include this in IE one time money list this past Fall 13 not successful.
(Maintenance of program). New Goals and Recommendations List any new goals and recommendations identified by the department Goal/Recommendation from last Update Cost Explanation/Evidence of Need, and Progress Develop web resource site on climate change for Astro 7 course Purchase MacBook Pro + IDL Software for developing, running software for new POD Observatory telescope/ccd camera science project set $0 A concerted misinformation campaign funded by industry interests makes it particularly difficult for students to get the straight peerreviewed science. Website has expanded greatly, and is an ongoing effort. Students need extensive instructor-assembled material as no ideally suitable course texts yet exist. $2500 Opportunity has arisen to work with UCSC Astronomy Dept. on confirmation and new discovery of planets around other stars using the transit method. A number of existing students are eager to take Astro 8A to make use of this opportunity. Dovetailing with professional astronomers, and properly train future astronomers, requires using their hardware and software development platform. This computer and software was funded by 12 Student Senate grant and Macbook and IDL software are now in possession. However, the small POD (Personal Observatory Dome) has not proved adequate, for several reasons. Implementing the full potential of the equipment and other projects for student learning, retention requires expansion of the Observatory Dome building. New Goals and Recommendations with this Update Goal/Recommendation Cost Explanation/Evidence of Need
Build new 350 sqft building with dome, very similar to the existing Observatory Dome building, with connecting doorway, or better, as an extension on the south side of the existing dome, to house existing telescope, QIY900 CCD camera, IDL software/macbook computer for general photometry projects, and transit studies in collaboration with UCSC astronomers in particular. ~$20,000 if use made of CEM students for construction, as was done for the other two (very successful) Observatory buildings Retention in Astro 8A and 9ABC needs improvement, and the lab science environment for Astronomy Cabrillo Observatory needs updating. Too many of the labs still emphasize hand operation of amateur telescopes, and under cold conditions and requiring awkward neck-bending positions to try to find dim objects among a disorienting array of stars. Very frustrating, and contributing to too much attrition. This is also not how professional astronomers work. On the other hand, the dome observatory building has been a great success and is a magnet for students, even though only a ~1/3 at most at a time can be in it and learn from it and use it and the rest must be shoo d back outside into the cold (the canyon location of the observatory is typically 5F colder than the rest of the campus, due to sinking cool air channeled into the canyon at night) to work on eye/pencil/paper labs at manual optics. We have a set of equipment for doing transit photometry the POD project but it has not been successfully put into use for several reasons the POD is too small, and despite many attempts by the (sole) instructor, it is not able to be adequately weather-proofed. It is also tiny and suitable for only one student. At the time of its proposal a few years ago, it was all that seemed reasonably possible to afford. Now that the success of the main Observatory building (constructed in 07) and computer-operated telescope is quite clear, students wonder why we don t build an adjacent similar building to house the telescope and CCD camera and computer mainly intended for exoplanet transit in collaboration with UCSC astronomers. It would provide a larger teaching environment which is professional (and comfortable), and allow all students in the classes Astro 8A and 9ABC to be in a collaborative setting rather than isolated to some extent as currently.
Fund a permanent student assistant SA III for 3 hrs / week for use in Astro 8A and Astro 9A/B/C $1222 Astro 8A usually begins fully enrolled with 29 students. However, retention is not as high as it should be. The round robin way in which students must undertake lab projects, and at different venues, means that it is very difficult for my LIA and I to keep all students moving forward. My LIA is good at helping students with the visual projects using binoculars and simple telescopes. His understanding of the night sky and locating deep sky objects is rare, and excellent. However, the photometry projects and astrophoto projects each require more technical knowledge and equipment skill which my current SA III is good at providing. This help is needed in addition to the separate LIA help for other students simultaneously. I generally handle the operational help with the domed 12 telescope for astrophotography projects. Also, Astro 9ABC has had an increasing fraction of novice students in recent years requiring more hands-on help with their cameras and telescopes - more than I can provide alone, as my last instructor noted. Generally in Astro 9ABC there are two main venues inside the dome using the big scope, and outside using the smaller portable telescope and the tripod-mounted DSLR camera(s), and this separation of the venues is also a problem for the instructor alone to handle. Unfortunately, my LIA is not available for more than 3 hrs/week, and he already helps in Astro 8A both semesters. My new student assistant SA III has mastered our equipment, having earned A grades in Astro 9A,B, and C, and wants to continue as SA III in Astronomy.
Purchase 10 Canon DSLR cameras with standard kit lenses, to supplement the existing single Nikon D7000 DSLR at the Observatory ~$4,000 Astro 9ABC students increasingly are enrolling with no personal photography equipment, nor any experience in photography. This is an ongoing trend. Unfortunately, this has required students to wait for available equipment to take their photos, and since Astrophotographs (vs. many daylight photographs) require much time to execute even a single shot. Frustrated students tend to leave the course, causing a problem with retention. More and more students who DO have camera gear have simply an iphone (which takes great daylight photos, but useless for the night sky). CMOS chips used in conventiona DSLR have gotten very much quieter in terms of noise, and usable ISO setting, so that they can now take quite good night sky images at an affordable price. The Canon 550 s are a good choice, with extended red range suitable for imaging hydrogen alpha emission nebulae along the Milky Way Galaxy. DSLR s can directly take wide field images at high ISO and.jpg compression which means less time per photograph, suitable for less waiting and frustration. Memory chips are inexpensive and can be purchased by the students so they make take their photos home each evening immediately, something difficult to do with the more astronomically sophisticated CCD cameras on the Dome telescopes. A mix of both DSLR s and the 3 CCD cameras would provide both the experience and the opportunity for maximum learning and student retention both. SLO Assessment Progress: In a sentence or two, describe where your department should be on the Revolving Wheel of Assessment (what assessment you should have done in the last year) and what was actually done. If not every thing was completed, explain why. Assessed Astro 3 in Fall 11. Assessed all SLO s for Astro 4, Astro 8A, and Astro 27 in Spr 12. Assessed core competency Global Awareness for Fall 12 for all courses. Assessed Astro 7, 9ABC all SLO s in June 13 Assessed Astro all courses for core 4 in June 13 and addenda in Fall 13 to existing forms.
Timeline: Program Plan due next year. Core 4 assessment for all courses this year, on schedule in the Revolving Wheel for Astronomy. Fill out the Assessment Results section below. SLO Assessment Results: List SLO assessments, dialogues, and priorities identified as a result of your assessment below. Attach Departmental Assessment Analysis Forms completed in the last two semesters. Core Competency, Course SLO, or CTE Program SLO Assessed. Example: all course SLOs for English 1A, 1B and 2 Date of meeting where analysis / dialogue took place. Example: Department Meeting 8/27/10 Priorities identified for program as a result of assessment. Example: Develop strategies for teaching research and documentation skills; share rubrics for research papers; provide more instructional support outside of class. All SLO s for Astro 7, 9ABC June 13, 2013 Astro 7: *Add red pages to each PowerPoint, key ideas to be found on exams * Add purple background to highlight optional non-exam d material in PowerPoints * Improve study guide material to better describe tested material from PowerPoints. * Add additional material on tactics and examples of climate denialism Astro 9ABC * Plan, identify funding for, adjacent/(extension?) observatory dome building for 2 nd modern telescope system and work-space for computer work, to better integrate students in one environment more conducive to doing astronomy lab exercises more relevant to modern techniques. * Get funding for ~10 Canon 550 DSLR s, to address retention issue related to the growing number of students with no camera equipment of their own. * Design new PowerPoint on basic photography concepts and ideas Core Competency 4, for all courses Dec 1, 2013 Astro 8A, 9ABC * Plan, identify funding for, adjacent/(extension?) observatory dome building for 2 nd modern telescope system and work-space for computer work, to better integrate students in one environment more conducive to doing astronomy lab exercises more relevant to modern techniques.
Astro 7 * Add to strategies segment of PowerPoints addressing current climate change * Update material on climate denialism, which is rapidly changing, and critical for helping students evaluate what they hear on the news * Review and add to website and powerpoints reference material significant video materials on current climate change. Shift lecture time slightly more towards making use of quality video materials.