Department of Physics & Astronomy Outreach
Survey and Reporting Tool
This set of instructions will be available on the department’s website when these tools and services are finally tested, fleshed out and ‘live’ for data collection 

How to participate and contribute:  

1. Log in to gcloud.utah.edu with your uNId@gcloud.utah.edu  

1. Take the Outreach Survey 

For the initial survey of what is currently occurring in the Department of Physics & Astronomy in outreach, this Google Form will collect that information. The form is also set up to collect contact preferences, usage criteria, etc.  https://forms.gle/dHFtTsUeuLm4arBr5   Please note this Survey is for outreach efforts and activities that have occurred prior to your current and ongoing efforts (before January 2024). 

1. Report outreach activities & events in the Reporting Tool.   

The Reporting Tool allows you to input information about your outreach activities using a Google Form and copies it into a spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet is based on the reporting model that the South Physics Observatory uses.  By unifying the spreadsheets used to record data, it will be much easier to combine or merge spreadsheets when generating reports. Link to Reporting Tool here: https://forms.gle/Udjc3qmtHGUuzTTW9 

1. Keep your own spreadsheet  

If you do not wish to use the Reporting Tool in the Google Forms format, and would prefer to keep your own data, please consider using the standard spreadsheet.  This spreadsheet mirrors the current model for South Physics, so integrating your data will be easier if you prefer to keep your information in this manner.  If you provide outreach and collect data in another manner, and don’t want to make the change to a new format, contact Julie.callahan@utah.edu (u0061802@gcloud.utah.edu for gcloud contact) to work out those details so we might best support you.  Please plan to send any outreach activity not recorded with the Reporting tool once a month. Link to Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pFkhhSmtGGdoRcx6zdGBKdltvw3VlZ5-vHjurXa5OXI/edit?usp=sharing 

Use of these tools and services is optional.  For more information and further clarification, please see: Outreach Clarification document.docx  

Department of Physics & Astronomy Outreach Outreach Data Project 

What will this data be used for? 

Repository services – these data will be stored on Department and University servers so the data can be accessed by each individual/group PI.  Outreach data can be fundamental to success when applying for or reporting for grants.  These data will be a resource you can access for these purposes.  

Reporting to the VPR/University and College of Science.  Your data will be shared with these organizations unless you specifically request that we do not share and only use our tools as a repository service. For further information or questions about University report and data requests, please contact the Chair. 

Fundraising – The VPR’s office, University, College, Department and entities within these organizations often seek grants or funding opportunities.  Outreach efforts may support these proposals and result in funding.  Using data from outreach might support funding for organizations, and your data can help with acquiring some of these funds, however, that does not guarantee that the funds will support your specific efforts. Seeking funding for your outreach, research or other efforts should be initiated by each research faculty.  These data can support you in your own efforts, and also help you to create a relationship with development officers.  While all reports may not result in fundraising for specific future outreach efforts, these reports will help with funding efforts and projects across the University, College and Department. 

RPT – Career progress for tenure track faculty is a priority for many people in the Department and College.  Recording and reporting outreach efforts may help in this process.  By recording and reporting to the Departmental data repository, your efforts can more easily be provided to the College, VPR’s office and University.
 

Is this required? 

This reporting and survey system is not mandatory, and your participation is optional.  We hope that you choose to share data with us so that we might provide our efforts in a report to the administrations who request this information from the Department.  Your participation helps us to fulfill this request.  These tools and services are primarily a support for faculty, with the additional benefit of generating these reports (when requested).   

 

Who owns these data? 

Each research group owns their own data. The Department will include all approved data reported to fulfill this request from the various administrations, however, the ownership of these data is still retained by each project/group. 

 

Are you going to manage my outreach or control it? 

The outreach coordinator, services and resources are simply a resource and tool provided for faculty/department support. This includes the data recording and reporting services, demo loans, coordination between faculty, groups and requesting parties. The Department Outreach Coordinator has no management oversight with your outreach. The coordinator may  

• Contact faculty, staff or students with outreach requests and opportunities. 
• Provide resources and services in support of your outreach (when possible) 
• Provide data repository, collection and reporting tools
   

Is Education and Public Outreach required? 

Outreach is not a requirement from the Department.  Many people participate in or provide outreach for a variety of reasons and sometimes these efforts are quite personal in nature.  The motivation for outreach is determined by each individual person, and what that outreach looks like might be different from each person/group. 

That said, while some EPO is altruistic in nature, many researchers in the Department do have outreach that is motivated in part, by funding agencies or to support progress in RPT efforts.  The most common and frequent use of outreach data is for National Science Foundation “broader impact” efforts. While recording, reporting and participation in these efforts is appreciated, no outreach mandate or participation in outreach is required.
 

What is the role of the outreach coordinator? 

The outreach coordinator is a position created to be of service and in support of faculty activities.  These are the primary objectives of the position: 

• Collect outreach effort data and generate periodic reports. 
• Coordinate between outreach requests and Department people/groups. 
• Provide some (limited) hands on resources and activities. 
• Support the website staff and social media efforts to inform/engage public with Department news, events, branding, visual assets, content. 
• Liaison between Department and College of Science Media team for PR activities and also for the annual print publication of the SpectrUm. 
• Other tasks as requested by the Department Chair and supervisor. 

 

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January 2024 changes 

1. Added to the Outreach Survey: 

Use/ownership criteria
1. Data submitted using the Gcloud form and Sheets is owned by each individual or group who records and reports data.  The Department of Physics & Astronomy retains ownership of the reports generated with the data.
2. Privacy of this data should also be included as requested by participants.  Privacy might include: 

• Name(s) of person/people providing outreach: 

• Must use and credit,  
• May use names with permission,  
• May not use names/keep anonymous 

3. Use criteria:

• May use data freely, 
• Use freely and notified when used 

• Only used with permission 
• Only provide repository services 

A question/input in the Google Form provides additional comments or information for use/criteria beyond the basic radio button options. 

 

1. Removed MS forms for ease in use/unifying collection.  Default outreach (modeled after South Physics Observatory model) spreadsheet remains available in MS Excel format.   

 

1. Modified some questions to reflect current State legislations issues regarding EDI programs, resources, etc.  At the time of this writing, this legislation is not law, however, it’s likely to pass, and I’m attempting to make things suitable for the Department, while allowing fields to still denote target audience details in the case of supporting NSF “broader impacts.”  This flexibility is built in for people who want to track this information in their data, but as all fields in these tools, is optional.
    

1. Plans for developing website from the faculty internal page (now private) or similar with these documentation resources as well as easy-to-find links.  The following text should be directional prompts for this webpage.