Doctoral Education Online: What Should We Strive For? How Could It Be Better?

Doctoral Education Online What Should We Strive For? How Could It Be

Better?

Cynthia Agyeman, Ph.D

Doctoral Students, Who are They?

• Adult Learners• Self-directed learners• Actively involved in the learning process

• Use of knowledge & life experiences• Make connections to past experiences and knowledge

• Goal-Oriented• learning outcomes should be clearly identified

• Relevancy-oriented• Apply theoretical concepts to real life situations

• Collaboration• Adult learners thrive in collaborative relationships

Doctoral Students, Who are They?

• Practitioner-scholars• Research and Professional Practice (central goal)• Expand Knowledge, improving practices, Assume

Leadership and Administrative Roles• They reflect, negotiate and question perspectives

• Multidisciplinary Professionals• Scheduled Flexibility• Diverse Learning Needs• ADHD

What Should We Strive For?

Four forces currently driving institutional change:

1. Information Technology: Online courses are now a commonplace

2. Competition from New Providers of Educational Services: Cooperate organizations, for profit companies, MOOC, Cardean Univ. (Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon), London School of Economics

3. Globalization of Higher education: Institutions worldwide are marketing and offering courses

4. New kinds of students: Older students, minority students, millennial students



Quality Online Course that meets Quality Matters Standards at about 85% level or better

What is Quality Matters (QM)?• A faculty-centered, peer review process

• Designed to certify the quality of online and blended courses

What Should We Strive For? Quality Online Courses

• Good online instruction is dependent on design of the course.

• Carefully designed for learning and engagement.

• Prevent students from getting lost and ultimately not learn

How Could It Be Better?

Factors: Quality Matters

Tool #1. The QM Rubric

Eight General Standards: 1. Course Overview and Introduction2. Learning Objectives (Competencies) 3. Assessment and Measurement4. Instructional Materials5. Course Activities and Learner

Interaction6. Course Technology7. Learner Support8. Accessibility and Usability

Key components must align.

Alignment: Critical course elements must work together to ensure that students achieve the desired learning outcomes.

Course Design Process1. Begin course design by establishing the major course

outcomes/goals and “big ideas.”

2. Take the major goals and break them down into specific student learning objectives. • What do you want students to be able to do or know for each

concept or skill? • Write your objectives in behavioral and measurable terms.

Course Design Process3. Determine what is acceptable evidence that students have achieved those objectives. (Assessments and Feedback)

• Assignments, case studies, discussions, projects, quizzes, and anything else that you can use for students to demonstrate their mastery.

4. Consider what learning activities you need to provide to enable students to succeed on those assessments.

• Create video lectures, supplemental readings, practice assessments, practice exercises, and find existing external sources

Course Design Process5. Organize your outcomes, objectives, assessments, and teaching and

learning activities into modules.

6. Write an overview/introduction to each module.

7. Review the flow and balance of the course. Is the workload spread fairly evenly throughout the course period?

8. Review the course for engagement

Course Design Process5. Create your introduction to the course.

6. Develop your course syllabus.

7. Upload content and develop the course in LMS.

8. Use the Quality Matters Rubric to review course.

Learning Objectives• What would students need to do as doctoral scholars and

why?• Ask learner-centric questions• Transferable skills• Understand• Knowledge students would need to attain

• What types of skills doctoral students need to learn?

Good Learning Objectives (SMART)

Specific?Will students know exactly what is expected of them?

Measurable?Will students and instructor be able to determine the extent to which the learning objective has been achieved?

AchievableAre the learning objectives within the grasp of the students? - but challenging!

Relevant?Do the learning objective relate to both the students needs and the instructor’s “dreams” for the course?

Time-sensitive?Can the learning objective be achieved within the context/time-span of the course?

Assessment and Measurement• Align with Course and Module learning Objectives• Washer’s (2007) 6 Categories of skill performances• Communication• Collaboration• Problem-Solving• Numeracy• Use of Information Technology• Constructivism: Learn how to learn• Career Development

Forward-Looking (Authentic) Assessment:

• “Look forward” to beyond the time when the course is over.• In what kind of situations do I expect students to need, or

be able to use, this knowledge?• Create exercises, questions, and/or problems that reflect

real-life situations • Assessment should be relevant and meaningful as

possible.• Explain clearly the criteria and standards for assessing

students' assignments/projects.• Provide opportunities to engage in self-assessment

Assessment and Measurement

• Active Student Engagement: Fundamental Components • Collaborative Tasks• Asynchronous Technological Tools for communications• Synchronous video communication•Live lectures and demonstrations•Web resources

• Problem- Based Forms of Learning

Instructional Materials

• Align with Course and Module learning Objectives

• Consult with Subject Matter Expert (SME)• Materials should be clearly explained• Text-based Materials (Books and articles)

• Topics (Modules)• Videos, Lecture capture and Audio

• Topics (Modules)

Course Activities and Learner Interaction

• Align with Course , Module learning Objectives, Assessment, instructional materials and course technologies

Course Activities and Learner Interaction Cont.

• Learning is an active process that involves, RECEIVING INFORMATION AND IDEAS, EXPERIENCE; doing or observing what happens in real world and REFLECTION; thinking about what and how one is learning alone and with others (Fink 2013).

• Interactions and Support• Learner-Instructor – e.g Frequent feedback from instructor and facilitator• Learner-Learner • Learner-Content


• Collaborative Learning• Develop working research knowledge through

communication•Student interactions, expressed values and

ascribed meanings•Discussions and reflections on course

readings• Interaction with peers


• Problem-based Learning (Constructivist Instructional Approach)• Student-centered Learning• Students construct knowledge – Pull individual

knowledge and knowledge acquired through collaborations

• Self-directed learning and research• Example: Publishing

Learner Support

• Technical Support• Accessibility • Academic support

Accessibility and Usability• Ease of Course Navigation

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compliance • Accessibility Statements• Alternative to non-text content• Alternative formats• Captions for videos• Text transcripts• Selectable and searchable contents contained in

PDF documents• Design (color scheme)

Modifying and Enhancing the Teaching and Learning Environment

• Use quality-controlled production process – Quality Matters (QM)

• Use feedback from peer-reviewers, instructors and learners used to modify and enhance the teaching and learning environment

Modifying and Enhancing the Teaching and Learning

Environment Conti.• Address learning needs • Provide multiple modes of communication to

individually and collaboratively develop working knowledge.

• Needed Transformations• Collaborate with other professionals in the field• Learners• Incorporate thoughts, Ideas, Questions and

Concerns mentioned in discussions and reflections•Engagement, Connections and Outcome

• Include pedagogical activities that create awareness of issues in their field

Thank You

References• Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating Significant Learning Experiences:

An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.• Simmons, M., Parchoma, G., Jacobsen, M., Nelson, D., & Bhola,

S. (2016). Designing for Student Engagement in an Online Doctoral Research Method Course.• Washer, P. (2007). Revisiting key skills: A practical framework

for higher education. Quality in Higher Education, 13(1), 57-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538320701272755