I’m offering a new lab science course Spring quarter 2022, fully synchronous and online–Astr 125 Big Picture: Astrodata Imaging. I recommend it for students who need lab science, and especially those who currently prefer to stay off campus! I cannot possibly convey how excited I am about this course.

I wrote too much describing this class so here’s the VERY short bullet points and there is more detail after my signature.

Cool Things

• Designed FOR online! 💻 
• Remote-controlled telescopes elsewhere in the world! 🔭
• Visual: photographs and images! 🌃
• “Big Data” is a buzzword in tech companies, this is an intro to what that means. 🤑
• Labor-based grading ⚖
• 2 in-class assignments a week: a variety of types of work. Weekly/biweekly homework. 📑

Student Background

• Comfortably ready for ENGL 098 ✍🏻
• Can use a calculator occasionally without panicking🧮 
• Comfortable with Canvas, word processing, and logging in to a list of sites 🖱
• Can attend synchronous virtual class T/Th 1:15-3:35pm 📆
• Likes images/art/pictures of space 🖼
• Might be afraid of “hard science” or might want to be an astronomer. Either is a great fit, and so is in between. 👩🏽‍🔬 👨🏾‍🎨

Feel free to e-mail me with questions.

Thanks!

-Alice

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ASTR125 Big Picture: Astrodata Imaging

Lab Science, NW

Several cool things about this class:

• It is designed to be a robust online lab science course. It is not a class that is “better in person,” because it will take advantage of being online rather than trying to “make up for missing out” on being in a lab.
• Advanced astronomy research is already remote, and done by accessing telescopes in other parts of the world (and beyond!). We will have opportunities to use those tools.
• Access to the Skynet robotic telescope program In partnership with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which will give our students access to take and process their own photos of the night sky.
• Visual data. This class is about the data we get from photographs as well as finding ways to visually and ethically represent information gathered. There will be some writing and math, but the emphasis will be on creating, analyzing, and understanding visual data.
• This is 100-level, so although having had a previous science class or ASTR&100 would be an advantage, it is in no way required.
• “Big Data” is a hot phrase in hiring, ecommerce, and many companies these days. Astronomy graduate students are courted by big companies like Amazon and Microsoft due to those students’ experience with big data. What I’m offering is just a 100-level course, but I hope to give an inkling of what working with big data looks like, so students can consider if it is a career direction they find interesting.
• Final grades will be assigned using a labor-based/spec-based grading system to give students full transparency into how to achieve the GPA they want, and students will be able to resubmit assignments throughout the quarter for grade improvement.
• Expectations for students: class will have approximately two in-class lab assignments due each week (we will finish these together in small online groups during class time). Homework assignments will be varied, and may include lab reports, data visualizations, 1-2 paragraph written analysis of data, poster creation, and some autograded surveys (usually full credit for participation) through a homework system to check for content understanding. 
• I’m extremely excited to be teaching this course.

Students for whom this is probably a great class:

• Ready for English 098 without a struggle.
• Feeling okay with basic arithmetic and beginning algebra. Math skills do not need to be strong, but should be strong enough that using a calculator doesn’t cause a panic attack. This is listed in the course catalog as “eligibility for MATH 098.” Students in advanced math classes will also enjoy this class.
• Enjoy images. This could be artistic students, or students who just appreciate information presented visually, or those who doodle in the margins of their notes. Artistic ability is not a prerequisite.
• Comfortable with common school technology. Students who really struggle with Canvas or word processing will also struggle with this class. Students don’t need to have any background in image editing or remote telescopes, I’ll teach all that, but if having a list of three things to log in to is flustering, this course is also going to be flustering.
• Afraid of “hard science.” If you have a student who is afraid of taking Chemistry, Physics, or Biology, this or ASTR&100 are great classes for them. (Also, students who want to be astronomers!  This is also the class to put your students in who want to go onward, believe it or not).
• Schedule: this class is synchronous twice a week: T-Th 1:15-3:35 on Zoom. Attendance is necessary. Students should only register if they can attend online class at those times.
  • There will be one optional (but highly encouraged) orientation that I will hold face-to-face in OLY 202 on Friday 4/8 from 9:30A-1:05P. This is to get accounts set up and verified for several online lab systems necessary to conduct the course. The orientation is highly recommended, though not required. Please bring a computer if possible. Students who have to miss this orientation should still register for the course.

We have not yet had all the conversations necessary to arrange what course number this class show when the credit is transferred to a high school transcript via Running Start or to University of Washington, but with the “Lab Science” and “Natural Worlds” designations on our Seattle Colleges transcripts, it should count at least as a lab science for purposes of graduation or admission. Now that two lab sciences are required for graduation from high school and for admission to the UW, this class is well positioned to help students fulfill those requirements.

Official topic outline:

1. Using remote sensors (e.g., remote telescopes, satellite data)
2. Digital image processing (including filters and false-color images)
3. Meaning in scientific images: data vs. perception, cultural implications
4. Data and science practices evolving from Indigenous cultures (local and global)
5. Spectra analysis & chemical composition
6. Citizen science projects and multimodal lab reports
7. Data science introduction: visually presenting data in graphs, charts, and popular data science imaging technologies/platforms
8. Ethics in science communication and use of data, including a variety of perspectives, effects on diverse populations
9. Transferability of big data skills and data visualization to diverse career pathways

Official blurb:

Astronomy gazes to the universe, analyzing images and vast quantities of information or "big data." As an expanding domain in STEM, big data requires interpretation and visualization in context. In this course, we will explore images and big data to answer deep questions by working with digital imaging, analysis software including filters, and data visualization. We will collaborate on local and global citizen science projects to develop skills for interpreting and presenting big data.