Astronomy Education

I dont know if you have a forum which covers this or if you need one.
I do think it would be helpfull to list all the Irish and UK Universities with Astronomy Degerees as well as those with research components for undergraduates and post graduates.

this coulsd be done elsewhere.

However there are a number of Universities offering Astronomy courses. Modules for the Open University, could be disculled for example:
www3.open.ac.uk/courses/classifications/...ce_courses_page.shtm

or discussion of other similar Universty courses both distance and residential.

then there is the discussion of education itself:
aer.noao.edu/

then there is a whole host of online courses to discuss many of which are not accredited but are excellent nevertheless
members.ozemail.com.au/~swadhwa/aaf.html
www.worldwidelearn.com/online-courses/astronomy-course.htm

Finally I have given classes in schools at noght for over ten years. This site could provide a list of them throughout the country, their level (or discuss what a "level" is or should be) and/or ask nightclasses.ie to link to them. This would also include extra mural classes by say physics or geology departments.

I would like people who give classes to discuss teaching methods resources, curricula etc. as well as post links to related publications. This is in a sense amateur astronomers providing their own peer review in a dynamic system.

Would all that need a new forum?

Theres a page on the Astronomy Irland website which has details of the irish options available.

www.astronomy.ie/study/index.html

I was thinking about something like this but for a different reason.

From recent posts it seems that there are a lot more people giving astronomy courses here than I had realised. And a lot of people have taken Astronomy courses at all levels. Perhaps some of these folks would be interested in publishing their courses/advice/methods in some form of guidebook that others wishing to use in courses, or just outreach from clubs to schools would find useful. Such a guidebook could also include details of courses for all levels. The book like the observing handbooks would be availble for free to download.

Having a forum would seem a logical extension to that.

If there is interest perhaps a small group can get together here and flesh out the idea a bit more. I'm all for it if there is enough interest. Thoughts?

Cheers,
~Al

Thoughts as requsted:

Interesting. A list of education resources would be great, but not an easy undertaking I suspect. But a small group of interested folks would manage that reasonably well.

Personally, I'd like to see a list of resources on education divided into categories - formal classes (with an award), informal taught classes, speaker-led presentations, downloadable royalty free info etc.

Sounds like a germ of a plan...

Dave

University of liverpool do some distance learning courses in astronomy.
www.astro.livjm.ac.uk/courses/distance.shtml

A small working group seems to be our solution to nearly every problem. I've nothing against small working groups, but I've found from experience that unless you have some kind of agenda worked out well in advance, you'll waste a lot of time. I'd recommend highlighting a couple of areas for discussion and then meeting to discuss them.

Personal priorities;

Transition Year

Adult Ed / Evening classes

Both of the above, if placed on any kind of formal setting with DoES, NCCA et al., will need to be devised by qualified persons, including those with degrees in Astronomy or equivalent and those with the Principles of Education (that would be me! )