Timothy A. McKay

Data acquisition systems for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey will image (Pi) steradians about the north galactic cap in five filters, and acquire one million spectra using a dedicated 2.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. We describe the data acquisition system for the surveys three main detectors: an imaging camera, mounting 54 Tektronix charge-coupled devices (CCD); a pair of spectrographs, each mounting a pair of CCDs; and a smaller monitor telescope camera. We describe the systems hardware and software architecture, and relate it to the surveys special requirements for high reliability and need to understand its instrumentation in order to produce a consistent survey over a five year period.

Supporting faculty and staff to make better use of learning analytics data

Placing educational data in the hands of faculty and allowing them to explore these data has been of interest for many stakeholders in the past few years, with the hopes that faculty will use these data to improve the educational experience for students. Although these data have the potential to be powerful for improving STEM education, data are only as good as their analyses and application. Using 14 interviews conducted at one institution, we studied what compels faculty to seek out university-collected educational data, what challenges they face, and suggestions they have for improving data usage. Our sample consisted primarily of those already involved with education reform and were using learning analytics data to inform those projects. Challenges included unfamiliarity with quantitative education data and unawareness of the possibilities for learning analytics. We recommend that strategic, thoughtful advertising and already-existing resources be used to help mitigate challenges.