Unit Outline - Swinburne University

Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology

Unit Outline

AST80004 Exploring Stars and the Milky Way Semester 2/Study Period 3 2018

Please read this Unit Outline carefully. It includes:

PART A Unit summary PART B Your Unit in more detail PART C Further information

AST80004_UnitOutline_Sem2_2018 Page 2 of 11

PART A: Unit Summary Unit Code(s) AST80004

Unit Title Exploring Stars and the Milky Way

Duration One semester

Total Contact Hours Equivalent to 5 contact hours per week

Requisites:

Pre-requisites N/A

Co-requisites N/A

Concurrent pre-requisites N/A

Anti-requisites N/A

Assumed knowledge N/A

Credit Points 12.5

Campus/Location N/A

Mode of Delivery Online

Assessment Summary

Assessable newsgroup contributions (30%), online tests (20%) and essay (50%).

As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass a unit and meet all ULOs to a minimum standard, a postgraduate student must have achieved:

an aggregate mark for the unit of 50% or more. You are required to make at least three (3) relevant postings to the Instructor-led activities or questions every two week NG period. Students who do not meet this requirement cannot get a newsgroup grade of more than 14 marks out of 30 (unless they have discussed their absence from the newsgroups with their instructor beforehand).

Aims This Unit aims to provide an introduction to the birth, life and death of stars and the structure of our Galaxy. The emphasis will be on conceptual astronomy rather than mathematical techniques.

Unit Learning Outcomes Students who successfully complete this Unit should be able to:

1. Identify the way stars are classified and recognise the approaches used to discover their properties

2. Explain and summarise the principles involved in the life cycle of stars, from protostar to stellar remnants

3. Appraise and state the basic principles and concepts about our Galaxy and its constituents (stars, protostars, stellar remnants, gas clouds, dark matter) in a non-


technical way understandable to the wider public

4. Judge the limits of our understanding of our place in the Galaxy, and interpret the role of dark matter in modern astronomical theories

5. Use problem solving skills to explain and synthesise solutions to problems in stellar astronomy

6. Design and create an essay on an astronomy topic, assessing and critiquing current knowledge, using credible sources of astronomical information and research articles

Key Generic Skills You will be provided with feedback on your progress in attaining the following generic skills:

§ critical analysis, evaluation and transformation of information to complete a range of activities

§ ability to analyse, generate and transmit solutions to complex problems

§ transmission of knowledge, skills and ideas to others

Content

• The bulk properties and structure of the Sun • Distance, magnitudes, colours and luminosity of stars • Spectral lines and spectral types of the stars • The interstellar medium and the birth of stars • The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the ZAMS • Life on the main sequence, lifetime and mass-luminosity relations • Evolution of a solar mass star: red giants, planetary nebulae and white dwarfs • Variable stars • Supernovae, supernovae remnants and creation of the elements • End products: neutron stars, pulsars, black holes • Gamma ray bursts: observations and theory • Binary star systems, open clusters and globular clusters • The structure of the Milky Way, the galactic centre, dark matter


PART B: Your Unit in more detail

Unit Improvements Feedback provided by previous students through the Student Survey has resulted in improvements that have been made to this unit. Recent improvements include:

• Focus on real-world investigations via Instructor Led Threads to improve graduate skills and learning

• Improved essay writing resources • Pro-forma assessment submission and grading feedback forms • Grading rubrics

Unit Teaching Staff

Name Role Phone Email Consultation Times

Glenn Kacprzak Unit Instructor (Weeks 1-6) [email protected] via email

Katrina Sealey Unit Instructor (Weeks 7-12) [email protected] via email

Learning and Teaching Structure

This is a fully online Unit and has no formal attendance requirements. The workload is equivalent to a 5 contact hour per week lecture course. In a Semester, you should normally expect to spend, on average, twelve and a half hours of total time (reading course content and participating in newsgroups, plus independent study time) a week on a 12.5 credit point unit of study.

Week by Week Schedule Please see your Blackboard unit Calendar.


Assessment a) Assessment Overview

Assessment Task Individual/ Group Task

Unit Learning Outcomes that this task relates to

Weighting Due Date

Essay I 6 50 % 27 Oct.

CMT1* I 1–3,5 10 % 6 Oct.

CMT2* I 1–3,5 10 % 17 Nov.

Newsgroup I 1–4 30 % 17 Nov.

• CMT – Computer Managed Test

b) Minimum requirements to pass this Unit As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass a unit and meet all ULOs to a minimum standard, a postgraduate student must have achieved:

an aggregate mark for the unit of 50% or more.

You are required to make at least three (3) relevant postings to the Instructor-led activities or questions every two week NG period. Students who do not meet this requirement cannot get a newsgroup grade of more than 14 marks out of 30 (unless they have discussed their absence from the newsgroups with their instructor beforehand). c) Assessment Criteria and Penalties Assessment criteria are listed in the individual component pages of the Blackboard Unit site, under “Assessment Items”. Grading rubrics that describe each criteria and how they will be graded are provided for most assessment items. Students should carefully read all assessment related information given in the Blackboard Unit site.

• CMT: Students are required to complete two online computer managed tests (CMTs) which test general understanding of the course material. A CMT question may have a word limit for your answer. If a word limit is given students are required to provide a word count of their answer at the end of their text, and a total CMT word count (the sum of the words of each answer), at the end of their last answer. A penalty for going over the total


CMT word limit will be applied. It will be 5% deducted for every 5% above the specified total CMT word limit.

• Newsgroups: Students are required to nominate two (2) newsgroup postings which were, in their opinion, their best, clearest and most informative posting to the newsgroup discussions during the semester. The submitted best posts cannot be from the same NG period (e.g. both from Weeks 7&8).

Your participation in the newsgroups is mandatory. You are required to make at least three (3) relevant postings to the Instructor-led activities or questions every two week NG period. Students who do not meet this requirement cannot get a newsgroup grade of more than 14 marks out of 30 (unless they have discussed their absence from the newsgroups with their instructor beforehand).

• Essay: Students are required to write one essay (1500–2000 words) in some depth on a particular topic, which draws together material and concepts from several parts of the course content. The essay will be assessed on the degree of understanding of the topic displayed, clarity, depth and originality of explanations, overall presentation, essay structure and flow, and quality and depth of Internet/literature research carried out and referencing skills.

d) Submission Requirements Assignments and other assessments must be submitted through the Blackboard assessment submission system (Turnitin).

Please ensure you keep a local copy of all assessments that are submitted.

A supplied Assessment Cover Sheet must be submitted with your assignment.

• CMTs are to be submitted online using Blackboard's assignment submission system. Details can be found on the “Assessment” area of the Blackboard Unit site.

• Newsgroup submissions are to be submitted online as either Word or PDF documents using Blackboard's assignment submission system. Details can be found on the “Assessment” area of the Blackboard Unit site. Your best newsgroup submissions need to be included in the newsgroup submission form, available from the “Assessment”, “Newsgroups” page on Blackboard or directly via http://astronomy.swinburne.edu.au/sao/downloads/SAO_NG_submit.doc

The newsgroup Submission Form contains a table for you to write the total number of relevant posts you made each newsgroup period.

• Essays are to be submitted online using Blackboard's assignment submission system. Details can be found on the “Assessment” area of the Blackboard Unit site.

• All SAO deadlines occur on a Saturday. In order to avoid issues with different time zones, students should submit assessment items by midnight on Saturday in their own time zone. Access to electronic submissions on Blackboard will be closed on Monday morning local Melbourne time.

e) Extensions and Late Submission


Extensions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances on medical or compassionate grounds. Extensions must be applied for in advance of the assignment's due date. Contact your instructor for more information.

Late Submissions - Unless an extension has been approved, you cannot submit an assessment after the due date. If this does occur, you will be penalised 10% of the assessments worth for each calendar day the task is late up to a maximum of 5 days. After 5 days a zero result will be recorded.

Feedback or comments from the marker will generally not be available on assignments which are submitted after five working days past the published deadline.

f) Assessment Results:

Once graded, marks and feedback are made available via the “My Grades” link on the Blackboard Unit site.

All grades and feedback will be returned to students within two weeks of the assessment due date. Final grades are awarded by the University (not SAO) at the end of semester.

Students must retain all assessed material that contributes to the final result up until such time as the final results are published

g) Referencing To avoid plagiarism, you are required to provide a reference whenever you include information from other sources in your work. Further details regarding plagiarism are available in Section C of this document.

Referencing conventions required for this unit are given in the “Assessment” section of the Blackboard Unit site.

SAO has a guide to plagiarism and how to avoid it, which is online at http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/sao/students/plagiarism/

See the SAO Referencing and Citation Style Guide for information on how to reference material correctly.

h) Groupwork Guidelines A group assignment is the collective responsibility of the entire group, and if one member is temporarily unable to contribute, the group should be able to reallocate responsibilities to keep to schedule. In the event of longer-term illness or other serious problems involving a member of group, it is the responsibility of the other members to immediately notify the Unit Convenor or relevant tutor.

Group submissions must be submitted with an Assignment Cover Sheet, signed by all members of the group.

All group members must be satisfied that the work has been correctly submitted. Any penalties for late submission will generally apply to all group members, not just the person who submitted.


Required Textbook(s) The required textbook(s) and recommended reading for this unit is given at:

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/sao/students/textbooks.xml#AST80004

Recommended Reading Materials The Library has a large collection of resource materials, both texts and current journals. Listed below are some references that will provide valuable supplementary information to this unit. It is also recommended that you explore other sources to broaden your understanding. All of the course material for this Unit is available from the “Course Content” link on the Blackboard Unit site. Course material can be viewed online and downloaded as PDF files. Additional online resources are available via the “SAO Resources” link on Blackboard. These include information about astronomy databases, accessing professional journal articles, and a range of research and writing resources. Email

All students are provided with a Swinburne email address (<studentID>@student.swin.edu.au). Information on this email service is given in:

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/current-students/get-started/access-systems/email/

Once your account is set up, you can access email via the “Microsoft Outlook 365 student email” link.

For first time logins see:

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/current-students/get-started/access-systems/passwords/

to set up your SIMS password. Note: The access to Outlook could take few hours after completing the first log in process.

Use the following login details: Login: <studentID>@student.swin.edu.au Password: this will be your SIMS password

If you access your email through a provider other than Swinburne, it is your responsibility to ensure that your Swinburne email is redirected to your private email address. For instructions, see the “Forward email to a personal account” page in:

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/current-students/get-started/access-systems/email/


PART C: FURTHER INFORMATION

Student Charter Please familiarise yourself with Swinburne’s Student Charter. The charter describes what students can reasonably expect from Swinburne in order to enjoy a quality learning experience. As students contribute to their own learning experience to that of their fellow students, the charter also defines the University's expectations of students.

Student behaviour and wellbeing Swinburne has a range of policies and procedures that govern how students are expected to conduct themselves throughout the course of their relationship with the University. These include policies on expected standards of behaviour and conduct which cover interaction with fellow students, staff and the wider University community, in addition to following the health and safety requirements in the course of their studies and whilst using University facilities. All students are expected to familiarise themselves with University regulations, policies and procedures and have an obligation to abide by the expected guidelines. Any student found to be in breach may be subject to relevant disciplinary processes. Some examples of relevant expected behaviours are:

• Not engaging in student misconduct • Ensuring compliance with the University’s Anti-Discrimination, Bullying and Violence and

Sexual Harassment requirements • Complying with all Swinburne occupational health and safety requirements, including

following emergency and evacuation procedures and following instructions given by staff/wardens or emergency response.

In teaching areas, it is expected that students conduct themselves in a manner that is professional and not disruptive to others. In all Swinburne laboratories, there are specific safety procedures which must be followed, such as wearing appropriate footwear and safety equipment, not acting in a manner which is dangerous or disruptive (e.g. playing computer games), and not bringing in food or drink.

Blackboard You should regularly access the Swinburne Course Management System (Blackboard) available via http://ilearn.swin.edu.au. Blackboard is regularly updated with important Unit information and communications.

For further information on any of the below topics, refer to Swinburne’s Current Students web page http://www.swinburne.edu.au/student/.


Communication All communication will be via your Swinburne email address. If you access your email through a provider other than Swinburne, then it is your responsibility to ensure that your Swinburne email is redirected to your private email address.

Plagiarism Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts, writings or other work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism includes any of the following, without full and appropriate acknowledgment to the original source(s):

• The use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another person; • the use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written work from any

source including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper article, set of lecture notes, current or past student’s work, any other person’s work, a website or database;

• The paraphrasing of another’s work; • The use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic models, • The use of realia that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like.

Plagiarism includes the submission of assessments that have been developed by another person or service through contract, tender or online writing services. Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation of assignments or other work in conjunction with another person or other people when that work should be your own independent work. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the other person or people. It should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff, fellow students and other people who may be able to contribute to a student’s academic work but that where independent assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the student’s own. Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of plagiarism by the University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting another student to copy or otherwise plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to a draft or completed assignment or other work. Swinburne University uses plagiarism detection software (such as Turnitin) for assignments submitted electronically via Blackboard. Your Convenor will provide further details. The penalties for plagiarism can be severe ranging from a zero grade for an assessment task through to expulsion from the unit and in the extreme, exclusion from Swinburne. Consequently you need to avoid plagiarism by providing a reference whenever you include information from other sources in your work.

Student support You should talk to your Unit Convenor or Student Services, for information on academic support services available for Swinburne students.

Special consideration If your studies have been adversely affected due to serious and unavoidable circumstances outside of your control (e.g. severe illness or unavoidable obligation) you may be able to apply for special consideration (SPC). Applications for Special Consideration will be submitted via the SPC online tool normally no later than 5.00pm on the third working day after the submission/sitting date for the relevant assessment component.

Special needs Sometimes students with a disability, a mental health or medical condition or significant carer responsibilities require reasonable adjustments to enable full access to and participation in education. Your special needs can be addressed by Swinburne's Disability Services, who can negotiate and distribute an 'Education Access Plan' that outlines recommendations for university teaching and examination staff. You must notify the University Disability Liaison Officer of your disability or


condition within one week after the commencement of a unit of study to allow the University to make reasonable adjustments.

Review of marks An independent marker reviews all fail grades for major assessment tasks. In addition, a review of assessment is undertaken if your final result is between 45 and 49 or within 2 marks of any grade threshold. If you are not satisfied with the result of an assessment you can ask the Unit Convenor to review the result. Your request must be made in writing within 10 working days of receiving the result. The Unit Convenor will review your result to determine if your result is appropriate. If you are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the review you can lodge a formal complaint.

Feedback, complaints and suggestions In the first instance you may discuss any issues with your Unit Convenor. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the discussions with the Unit Convenor or would prefer not to deal with your Unit Convenor, then you can complete a feedback form.

Advocacy You are advised to seek advice from the staff at the Swinburne Student Amenities Association (SSAA) if you require assistance with any academic issues.

Documents

Unit Outline - Swinburne University