DE Summit 2011 Winning Poster

1. Design, technology choices and interactive processes in an online doctoral program
Dr Debra Hoven
Centre for Distance Education
Athabasca University, Canada
debrah@athabascau.ca
Process through the program
http://cde.athabascau.ca/programs/doctoral/intro.php
• cohort-based (8-12
students)
• 4-year program: fully online
• initial online intro session
(June)
• 5-day f2f orientation (August
1st year)
• 1 course per semester = full-
time
Professional
doctorate: EdDE
• 1st meeting online (June)
• Collaborative assignment
distributed
• PBL process
• Experiential learning
• F2F: cohort-building activities
• Discussions with potential
supervisors
Orientation • Advanced topics & issues in
DE (10 months)
• Advanced research in
education
• Teaching & learning in DE
(+internship)
• Leadership & project
management in DE
Coursework
• Proposal & candidacy defence
preparation
• 2-weekly synchronous sessions
• Assessment pieces drive &
driven by candidacy defence:
• Dissertation evaluation
• Literature review
• Draft proposal
• Feedback + refinement
Research
seminar I • proposal to supervisor for
revisions
• slides to supervisor for review
• online timed rehearsal
(Elluminate: recorded)
• slide-by-slide feedback
• student review of recorded
rehearsal session
• Defence in Elluminate (or
similar) with video ID check
Candidacy
defence
• Research Seminar II (SN +
synchronous)
• Ethics approval
• Skype, Elluminate or Connect
sessions: 2 to 4-weekly
• Project implementation
• Writing & revisions (comments
& tracking)
• Online defence as per
candidacy
Dissertation &
defence

2. The Cohort Model – Pros & Cons
Issues in Doctoral Research & Supervision by Distance
Some generic & some specific to DE:
• ABD
• Dropout in early stages of project or dissertation
• Lack of support structures & processes: staff & students (
Malfroy (2005)
• Student isolation (Denicolo, 2004)
• Inadequate writing preparation (Kamler& Thomson, 2004)
• Poor supervision skills (Connell, 1985)
Some solutions in Cohort Model & Social Networking
Ask me:
 why these issues occur …
 how they can be addressed?
 what pedagogies can be applied?
 what technologies can assist?
And the dark side …
 focus internal to group
 over-cohesiveness
 “us-and-them” phenomenon
 age-related phenomena
On-going research…