A HYBRID astronomy course intermeshing two instructional styles for General Astronomy Suketu Bhavsar Director, Kellogg Honors College Professor of Physics and Astronomy Cal Poly Pomona

A Hybrid class has weekly “face-to-face” meetings as well as substantial modular online components consisting of reading and writing assignments, discussion boards, homework, observations, blogs etc. on a regular basis. +

Being explicit about face-to-face as well as online requirements, expectations and deadlines is essential. REQUIRED EVERY WEEK Face-to-face meetings: every Thursday 1:00 - 2:50pm in bldg. 8 conference room group work and discussion, quiz based on web module On-line: Reading, observations blog entries – regularly, you make your personal schedule Original discussion entry – by 5pm every Mon At least 2 responses to other discussion threads – by 4pm Wed

Participation plays a significant part in the final grade Participation plays a significant part in the final grade. (There is an added incentive to excel.) Item Points when Participation face to face: attendance, quiz, group activities (each week) online work 20 (on 2,1,0 scale) 16 during class continuing Assignments to hand in Paper 1 (Letter to the pope) Moon project (assigned Jan 6 wk 1) Paper 2 (Life of a star) Paper 3 (Individual Essay) 5 9 due Jan 20 (wk 3) due Feb 3 (wk 5) due Feb 24 (wk 8) due Mar 10 (wk 10) Tests and Final Test 1 (Jan 27)-Material covered in week 1-3 Test 2 (Feb 24)-Material covered in week 4-7 Final (Mar 17 at 11:30 am)-1/2 on material from week 8-10, half on a combination of all the topics 10 Tuesday, Jan. 27, in class Tuesday, Feb. 24, in class March 17, 11:30-1:30 in class Total: 100

Each week is planned out as a separate module – students can navigate the entire course and know your expectations

For each module the objectives, activities, reading, discussion forums are clearly laid out and easily accessible

Information about the instructor , class policy, syllabus, writing assignments, tests etc. is readily available

Announcements are easily distributed, group mails are straightforward and simple to send out.

Class discussions are an integral supplement to the reading assignment and understanding of the material. The feedback to the instructor is invaluable.

Students are required to analyze and critically comment on the reading Students are required to analyze and critically comment on the reading. The topics of discussion on properties of light module are shown below:

Grades are for in class and on-line work Points for performance -performance should be tied to class goals Participation -activities should be meaningful

Benefits (for students) Flexibility. You don’t come to class twice a week, just once. Responsibility for your own learning. Nobody can learn for you in ANY class, but it’s very obvious in a hybrid class that you have to take responsibility for yourself. Learning this kind of self-discipline will help you in every class or any task.

Problems It’s easy to get off-track. Because we’re not meeting twice or even thrice a week, it’s tempting to put off work. If you feel that this kind of learning is not for you – you’d rather participate in class activities face to face more often – please let me know. Though this class has to remain hybrid, we can discuss ways to help you with it.