Online Astronomy Courses

[Peter Ward]

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has done any of the Astronomy online postgrad courses currently being offered e.g. Swinburne.

It has been decades since I graduated hence I'd be really interested to see how any "mature age" students found getting back into the books, time required for course study, cost etc.

[gaseous]

Hi Peter, I contacted Swinburne recently about the Online Astronomy courses on offer, and the response wasn't overly positive. See below. My Bachelor's degree is from 25 years ago, which seems to be a potential issue for them, despite their website stating the courses are for, amongst other things, "amateur astronomers, and anyone with a love of astronomy".




This was their response - I'm still undecided if it's worth applying or not.



"Thank you for your response.
The age of the applicant will not be taken into consideration however the age of the bachelor degree may be taken into consideration.
Based on the information previously provided that you have completed a bachelor degree I’d recommend that you apply for the Graduate Certificate of Science (Astronomy) (https://www.swinburne.edu.au/study/course/Graduate-Certificate-of-Science-(Astronomy)-GC-SASTRO/local). This way the admissions team will be able to formally assess your application.
If you have any questions or would like some assistance with your application, you're welcome to respond via email."





I believe that Dylan O'Donnell is doing one of the courses at the moment.

[Atmos]

I graduated with my masters from Swinburn University back in 2015; the SAO program. Whether it’s worth it or not I guess really comes down to what it is that you want out of it. I few want to get into full-time astronomy it is definitely not the right. Although it might be classed as a Masters of science It doesn’t hold much favour if you going for a PhD.

If you generally want to learn a lot of little bits and pieces about the universe it is quite used. When I did mine I was undecided whether or not I wanted to do a PhD but I mostly did it because I wanted to be able to do a science and the broader community.

When I started doing it it wasn’t really Designed as a full blown masters course as it was mostly been targeted towards people that are just interested in learning about space. The impression that I got was that it was largely directed mature age students are, retirees looking for something else to learn. I but the time I finished at Swinburn was looking at making it more of a Masters Course that could be a little bit more recognise scientific community. Given the way it was then I don’t think it could really do it because most of what goes into a masters should be research and although there is a lot of content most of the course isn’t focused around your research.

[leon]

It is a coincidence that this topic has arising, as I had considered doing something like this just recently.
So considering my age and no degree under my belt, so to speak, I may as well just forget about it.
I was considering this more as something to do rather than anything else.

Leon

[AstralTraveller]

Hi All,

I think you shouldn't be too negative about the prospects of being accepted or your chance of success. Historically, mature aged students do very well. While they may not be as fast as a teenager they more than make up for this in motivation, organisation and application. [I remember some kids complaining that a certain prac. assignment was boring - and it was - but I reflected to myself that having stood in one place for 8hrs sorting bananas into different sizes this was a doddle.]

Unis run these courses to make money. Certainly the academics involved may want to spread astronomical education but the only way to get the course past management is if it will bring in $$$. So there is motivation to get students into the course. Now, if a course has a too high failure rate there will be questions asked, so they can't just admit anyone but there is a definite motivation to find reasons to admit applicants. I don't know why the admin-drones who answer inquiries come across so negative, possibly ass-covering, but I doubt that they make the decisions. In my experience, that is done by academics.

If I was accessing a mature-age applicant I wouldn't so much look at how long ago they finished their last education as what they have been doing since. [I think that flying A380s would qualify as keeping the brain active.] I'd also be interested to know that they had a long-standing active interest in astronomy, especially if it came with a portfolio of astro-images. Or perhaps you've built a scope or given talks to your astronomy club or WEA or whatever. If, heaven forbid, anyone is reject by some alogorithm, find out who can override that decision and contact them - politely.

Masters degrees come in all sorts for many different purposes. There are research Masters which may be used to gain admission to a PhD. In the Aust system most students would gain admission to a PhD by getting first class honours on their undergrad degree but if they don't achieve that they would have to attempt to gain admission via a Masters. There are also more vocational coursework masters which extend or augment previous education. I know an 'electrician' (not sure of his qualification but it above trade level) who worked for the steel works and he did a masters in maintenance planning. Apparently industry had identified a need and the Faculty of Commerce was happy to oblige with a (full-fee) course. SEALS at Wollongong runs course in GIS aimed at people outside earth science who need these skills (eg transport and logistics). Then of course, there are the general interest courses for someone who has shown they can survive an undergrad course (or maybe even show equivalent experience). These may not even be able to lead to a job. For instance, the maths might be simplified to the point that you couldn't work in astronomy. But vege maths may be just right for you. :P

Please, if you have a passion for education don't be put off at the first hurdle.

[gaseous]

I agree with everything you’ve said David. I can understand that with a Masters or PhD course, they’re keen to keep pass rates up and will actively weed out the wheat from the chaff, although if you’re qualifying for these, you’re probably in the “wheat” category already.


As you say, they’re about making money, and given that even the “lowly” Grad Cert of Science (Astronomy) is more than $11k for a purely online course you’d think they’d be rolling out the red carpet for applicants. Nobody’s going to fork over that sort of money unless they’re serious about completing it, and have done their due diligence before stumping up the cash. Hopefully Swinburne are a bit more receptive during real-time phone correspondence rather than their standard and somewhat disheartening email responses.


Leon, the “standard entry” requirement is (allegedly) any Bachelor’s degree, but non-standard entry can be attempted via the following:
“Applicants with relevant astronomy or astronomy-related experience* (minimum of three years) will be considered for entry.” I don’t know if your specific circumstances would give you some prospects for applying, but there certainly seems to be a pathway other than a Bachelor’s degree.

[leon]

Thank you Patrick for your informative response.

Leon