UCLAN Undergraduate Certificate in Astronomy

[Rockrae78]

Yup, can indeed confirm that Blackboard/eLearn is the bit you log into on the Student Portal. From the 16th October, you will be able to not only see the courses you are logged into, but also access the course material.

I am also under the impression that there will be a course forum where we can chat to lecturers and other students - but from previous comments on here, I understand that we may get a swifter response talking to the people on the facebook group! 

[MarkVG]

See, Amazon were my first thought for the book. There were two options for it, one with and one without the CD, but upon checking the reviews, both had the exact same entries and most had mentioned that they purchased the version with a disc, but there wasn't one with it when it arrived.

I saw all that, chased it around a bit and then found the ISBN numbers, which told me the one that said it had the CD was the one that should have the CD, and sure enough, it did.

Good luck with your application... I've heard that they are only turning people away if they don't have the required maths qualification or equivalent (and even then, because of their Accreditation of Prior Learning entry methods, you can usually still gain entry providing you prove you know the stuff) so I wouldn't worry too much!

Got my unconditional a few days ago (I already have a CompSci degree, so it was thankfully almost a formality), and had a quick poke around on Citrix. Apparently they were handed a big pile of applications on 5th September and mine was among them. Now I'm just jumping through a few hoops with disability services to make sure everything is in order, which I'm sure it will be, then I'll enrol and 'see' you all there!

[Yimini]

I have (literally) just received my induction letter, so it's looking good for starting next week.

[Rockrae78]

Yep, me too! All ready and raring to go now! 

[jaleixo]

The same here!

[anthtone]

Woo Hoo.. Got mine too... all set for next week..

[johncneal]

Well, looks like the Intro to Astronomy Course Notes are available on the ELearn Blackboard under Module Materials. Got those downloaded via the link to the AA1051_allnotes_201314.pdf but the individual chapter links just give a big red Not Found error when I hit the links for those. Ditto the links to the Self Test Exercises and Solutions.

Could be a permissions problem or something - anyone else got similar issues?

john n

[anthtone]

They ended up fixing it after a few people sent them an email.  Mark posted on the discussion boards that the issue should now be fixed for everyone

[Yimini]

How is everyone finding the course?

[Rockrae78]

Tough. 

I think I'm getting the broader concepts, and I'm really enjoying the content of the course, but there are certain aspects of the maths (mainly re-arranging equations) that I'm struggling with at the minute. Working through the self-test exercises, I think I'm doing fine, then along comes one that completely trips me up! 

I also thought that I understood sidereal time before I started this course.  Now I feel lost and confused about this! Their diagrams seem to be backwards to what I understand it to be! Maybe its just me! Not had enough sleep for the past couple of weeks so I don't think that's helping! 

How about you?  Are you in the class tonight, or the one tomorrow?

[Yimini]

Tough. 

I think I'm getting the broader concepts, and I'm really enjoying the content of the course, but there are certain aspects of the maths (mainly re-arranging equations) that I'm struggling with at the minute. Working through the self-test exercises, I think I'm doing fine, then along comes one that completely trips me up! 

I also thought that I understood sidereal time before I started this course.  Now I feel lost and confused about this! Their diagrams seem to be backwards to what I understand it to be! Maybe its just me! Not had enough sleep for the past couple of weeks so I don't think that's helping! 

How about you?  Are you in the class tonight, or the one tomorrow?

I’ve not found it too bad so far.  I did the Coursera “Introduction to Astronomy” last winter and it forced me to brush up on my maths considerably. I’m with you on the sidereal time problems. The exercises are successfully exposing my lack of real understanding in that area. I’ve read the first three sections so far, along with the related material in The Universe (I can’t imagine not using this optional resource, it adds so much more detail), and I’ve just started on the first assessment. I thought I was doing badly when I only managed three multiple choice questions in an hour, but the next question took an hour on its own. Looks like plenty of late nights ahead.

I’m doing the online classroom tonight.

Tim

[Yimini]

I'm also finding the university's interface confusing and painful to navigate around :-(

[Rockrae78]

Well, I shall see you in the classroom... mine is tonight too. 

Read sections 1-2 so far, and the relevant chapters in Universe.  Will be starting section 3 tomorrow.  I've not even attempted the question sheet 1 yet; wanted to ask my questions on the stuff I'm stuck on in tonight's classroom before I start.  Did you see the post re questions based on Section 5 too? 

You're not wrong about the website... it is a pain and rather difficult sometimes to get from one page to another, without having the either go back to the start, or use the forward/backward buttons in the browser. To say this is a distance learning course, and that this resource is essential, it's not been very well designed! 

They've also had problems with every document that's been added to the course materials! I've had to mention at least twice that links to documents didn't work! At least they seem to be quick to respond though.  Those in last year's class didn't seem to get questions answered so quickly!

[Yimini]

If you did the first classroom like myself, you might be interested to know that Mark has posted the transcript from the second class. It includes a few more examples which you might find useful trying for yourself. It certainly helped me.

[Yimini]

I was wondering if anyone had attempted Question 6 of Part B in the assessment yet? Where you need to produce a HR diagram. Mark stated that we could either do this manually and then scan it, or try and produce it electronically. Does anyone have any idea what would be the best tool to use to create it electronically?

Tim

[anthtone]

Sorry Tim

Im coming in a bit late now.  Wish i looked on this site earlier.  I found these simulations that has helped a bit to get my head around things we have covered and things we are yet to cover.

http://astro.unl.edu/animationsLinks.html#ca_coordsmotion

 

[davkt]

Is anyone else signed up to this version of the course that started just over a week ago.

[tbird]

Yes I've started the AA1051 Introduction to Astronomy course.

As you can tell I don't post here much and only just found this thread a year late :-D

[davkt]

Have you done the observing for the assignment yet? Had a clear night last week so got it done as if its anything like last year it might be christmas before I see the stars again!

[davkt]

Oh and if you've not bought Universe yet go for the 9th edition, the standard of proofreading in the 10th is a bad joke and there are some real problems with text that are hard to spot if you aren't familiar with the subject.

[tbird]

I've not completed observing for the assignment yet but I have been keeping an observation log.

I got the 9th edition earlier this year when I was thinking about the course. It was that edition which was on the course information I had a the time.

I felt I had made a mistake when everyone else seemed to have the 10th edition but I think I've come out best as I paid a fraction of the current price and got starry night included.

[davkt]

You certainly made the right call there, so far I've spotted the problems, for example I know absolute sero is -273 C not 2273 C and the absolute mag of the sun is 4 and a bit not 14 and a bit but I'm sure there are numbers in the book starting with a 1 or 2 I don't know what they will be.

Oh and on the observing the indivdual obs only take a few min but it will take a good chunk of the night for everything you need to look at for the colours section to rise!