Coursework

Hours for Educational Computing Doctorate

Core 15 hours
Elective 21-27 hours
Research 12 hours
Dissertation 12 hours
TOTAL HOURS 60-66 hours
  1. A minor (12 hours) or cognate (6 hours) may be included in the degree plan (see below)
  2. Courses or skills required for Leveling: CECS 5020, 5030
  3. Courses or skills required as Prerequisite courses: CECS 5210, 5310, 5570. These courses may be taken and count as electives
  4. Nine hours is the maximum from Independent Studies, Practicum or Internship may be counted toward the degree

CORE Courses (15 hours)

Elective Courses (21 - 27 hours)

Research and Statistics (12 hours)

Dissertation (12 hours)

Course Offerings

Course Title Fall Spring Summer*
Even
Years		 Odd
Years		 Even
Years		 Odd
Years
CECS 6000 Philosophy of Computing in Education   X      
CECS 6010 Theory of Instructional Technology X        
CECS 6020 Advanced Instructional Design: Models and Strategies       X  
CECS 6030 Emerging Technologies and Education X        
CECS 6050 Practicum/Internship X X X X  
CECS 6100 Theory and Practice of Distributed Learning     X    
CECS 6200 Message Design in Education          
CECS 6210 Interactive Multimedia Theory and Design   X      
CECS 6220 Theory of Educational Technology Implementation       X  
CECS 6230 Advanced Educational Production Design X        
CECS 6300 Artificial Intelligence Applications     X    
CECS 6320 Creating Technology-Based Learning Environments     X    
CECS 6400 Educational Technology Systems Design and Management   X      
CECS 6510 Analysis of Research in Educational Computing          
CECS 6600 Developing Educational Funding Opportunities       X  
CECS 6800 Special Topics in Educational Computing X X X X  
CECS 6900-6910 Special Problems X X X X  
CECS 6950 Dissertation X X X X  
*Summer course offering varies based on need.

Advisory Committee

The student's Advisory Committee is responsible for mentoring-preparing the candidate for coursework and the portfolio review. They will also evaluate the portfolio for permission to move on to the oral exam. The oral exam will follow acceptance of the portfolio and will be completed within 30 days of that date. The oral exam will include discussion of the portfolio and questions pertaining to possible dissertation topics and timelines.

The Advisory Committee shall be composed of at least 3 faculty:

  1. CECS Professor/Sponsor
  2. CECS Faculty member
  3. Minor Professor or additional CECS Professor

Degree Plan

The Degree Plan is the official document describing the approved options in each student's course of study. It is important that the degree plan be filed soon after the admissions process is complete. Normally, the degree plan is filed before completion of 18 hours of coursework approved by the advisor. There are options within the Ph.D. in Educational Computing to accommodate a wide range of scholarly and research interests.

All courses contributing to the student's doctoral program must be approved by the faculty advisor. It is important that the sequence of courses be selected to match the research and scholarly interests of the student and support the theoretical base, content expertise, and research methodology that will form the basis of the dissertation research.

The appropriateness and the match between coursework options and the area of Dissertation research will be examined at the Oral Exam.

Minor/Cognate

A minor or cognate may be included in the degree plan.

Tool Subject Requirement

Candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Computing must complete a tool subject consisting of 9 hours of graduate computer education or 9 hours of educational research. For students with a Masters degree in CECS, the Tool Subject requirement is automatically met through the prior degree. The Graduate School specifies that previous coursework may be applied to this requirement as long as the courses used to satisfy the requirement were completed no earlier than 5 years prior to the submission of the degree plan.

Doctoral Portfolio

Part of becoming a member in a community of scholars is to develop appropriate professional norms and values. Student make a commitment to his/her professional development and intellectual growth in the process that will result in the student's portfolio. Students in the Educational Computing Doctorate through study and reflection will:

Doctoral students are encouraged to create a written residency plan under advisement with their major professor during your second semester. This plan should indicate activities completed, in progress, or to be completed. All activities do not have to be preformed during the actual residency time period. Students are encouraged to complete activities throughout their enrollment. The following criteria should be considering in creating a residency plan:

Specific residency activities or participation will vary from student to student depending on the individual's future goals and previous experiences. The ultimate outcome of the activities is the creation of the student's doctoral portfolio. The student's portfolio will then be reviewed before the oral examination to move to candidacy.

There are five primary categories of activities. A residency plan should identify major and minor activities for all categories for presentation in the portflio. The difference between a major and minor activity is the level of effort and time invested in completing that activity. For example, presenting or interning at a national conference is a major activity while simply attending a conference is a minor activity.

Please see Admission to Candidacy: The Process for more information on portfolio requirements.

Admission to Candidacy

Students are admitted to candidacy after the completion of all coursework or in the final weeks of the last semester of coursework. The examination has two parts, 1) a portfolio portion and, 2) an oral portion. The examination is designed to assess the student's ability to participate as a member of a community of scholars through research, publication, and presentation of scholarly work.

The examination is offered once each long semester and is scheduled through the CECS program staff. Ordinarily no dissertation enrollment is permitted until this examination has been passed. Students are admitted to candidacy for the dissertation segment of the doctoral degree by the graduate dean upon successful completion of the examinations (portfolio and oral).

Part I: Portfolio Examination

To be eligible to take the Qualifying Examinations, the student must have completed all coursework including the removal of all incomplete grades. Students are expected to remove any incomplete grade within one year after receipt of the incomplete, but not later than 30 days after completion of the final semester of coursework.

Portfolio Qualifying Exams are held once during the spring semester and once during the fall semester. After satisfactory completion of the Portfolio Qualifying Examination, an Oral Qualifying Examination will be held within 30 days after the evaluation of the portfolio portion.

The Portfolio Qualifying Examination consists of the analysis of a portfolio of the student's work that demonstrates research, scholarship, publication, and creative activities. Students should begin assembling their portfolio immediately upon beginning coursework in the Ph.D. in Educational Computing program.

The portfolio must be submitted to the student's major advisor, a minimum of ten days prior to the actual exam. The submission deadline will be tied to the deadline for Oral Exam's. The portfolio should include a record of scholarly accomplishment in a variety of formats:

  1. Scholarly Writing - The portfolio will include a selection of 6 quality, scholarly, papers. Most students will base some papers on work begun in coursework or research. There is an expectation that at least two of these articles will be publishable papers, capable of acceptance in respected educational and technological journals. Publication beyond the minimum is considered additional verification of the student's scholarly potential and is highly recommended. Peer review process in some journals may preclude actual printing of the article by the date of the portfolio submission. In such cases, documentation should be provided concerning submission of the manuscript and its status in the review process.

  2. Presentations - The portfolio must show completion of at least two presentations at meetings of professional associations (at least one of which is a state, national or international conference). Selection as a result of a competitive process is highly recommended as an indicator of quality. The second presentation may be local or regional in nature.

  3. Computer-based creative work - The portfolio will include two computer-based projects that demonstrate commercial quality, creative effort. These may be CBT training programs, research simulations, website development, software products, or similar creative works. Proof of involvement in ID/Design/production evolution phases is recommended. The portfolio will be reviewed by the entire Graduate Faculty. The portfolio assessment will be performed by the Advisory Committee. Results will be:

    1. Pass (move on to next stage)
    2. Table (follow suggestions for rewrite and/or update)
    3. Fail (removed from program)

Part II: Oral Examination

The Oral Exam is designed to ensure that the student is prepared to develop a Dissertation Proposal. In preparing for the examination, the student should identify a general area in which they intend to develop a dissertation proposal, a timeline for proposal development, and be prepared to defend their preparation in terms of adequate coursework foundation and preliminary research/ reading in the field. The student will also submit a tentative timetable for completion of the proposal. The committee will review the student's preparation and probe the student's knowledge of the field through oral examination. The results of this examination, which may include "pass" and "no-pass," may also include conditions that must be met (which may include additional coursework) prior to proceeding with the admittance to candidacy and commencement of the research proposal. Students should consider the need to pass the Oral Examination during the selection process of their courses and other academic activities in order to ensure that they align with their intended area of dissertation research.