There has been a tremendous shift towards online learning over the past two decades. At the crux of this shift is the desire to make higher education accessible to a more diverse population of learners. In the Summer of 2020, Arizona State University introduced the nation’s first fully online bachelor’s degree program in Astronomical and Planetary Sciences (APS). In its current form, the APS program does not adequately prepare students for advanced degrees in astrophysics or planetary science, however, 40% of APS students have expressed interest in pursuing graduate degrees in related fields. One of the most important components of a student’s graduate school application is their prior research experience. To this end, we have developed and are currently assessing one of the world’s first online Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for astronomy majors. Students in the course work both independently and collaboratively to update the orbital parameters of Hot Jupiter exoplanets observed using a network of small, ground-based, robotic telescopes and prepare papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals. In this talk, I will present the results from the first three offerings of the CURE. Current results suggest that participants in this course report statistically significant increases in research self-efficacy, science identity, exoplanet content knowledge, and sense of belonging (both to their institution and the field of astronomy). I will conclude by presenting these results in comparison with more traditional college-level astronomy courses (e.g. lecture and lab-based courses) to better contextualize the “level of research inquiry” required before the aforementioned positive outcomes are observed.  

Astro Colloquium and 'coffee & cookies' department gathering (3:30-3:45pm)

Please join in 538 Davey or click the link to join: https://psu.zoom.us/j/96372770280