course work based DL doctorate

I hope to finish my Australian DL MEd TESOL degree sooner or later (more sooner than later I hope). This is coursework and proctored exam based (University of Wollongong). I am looking for a course work based DL EdD in TESOL from any country. I am not interested in a research degree (dissertation only) based doctorate. Does anybody have any advise?

adelheid

 

Re EdD

Hi Adelheid,

I don't believe there is any DL or non-DL doctorate purely based on coursework. (I looked and I didn't find any when I was interested in pursuing one). Any of the Australian EdD programs would have disseratation components. I think the value or ration is anywhere from 20 to 40 percent coursework, and 80 to 60 percent dissertation.

If anyone out there know of one, I would be interested in learning about it, too.

Good luck on the M Ed TESOL. I enjoyed doing mine.


Kenneth K. A.

 

Yes, good luck to you, too, KKA!

adelheid

 

pretty rare

I have been looking for a distance doctorate for sometime.
The previous post is right-on.
Touro is the most attractive program. It has course work and a dissertation. It is regionally accredited.
Others that are interesting are NorthCentral's. It is a candidate (the last I knew) for regional accreditation.
All the best!

 

Southern Cross University will have one out by the start of 2003 that does not have a thesis but a series of published [thematic] papers linked in a thesis type application for final assessment.

University of Ballarat also has a papers based thematic plan.

However, even at Masters level you are not doing essays - or is it different at Woollongong? The degree of rigour will be higher and you will HAVE to do some original research - how else would you write?

Also with the Ausrtalain programs a coursework masters is regarded as terminal so what evidence of research and high level study do you have to present for entry? ...or would you do a 10-15,000 word research paper as entry?

 

You might want to take a look at the University of Exeter's taught EdD program in TEFL. See http://www.ex.ac.uk/education/subjects/tefl.htm

Cheers,

 

Exeter is Research/Thesis based

This is NOT a coursework degree.

It reads '...a structured modular programme of study requiring at least two years of full-time or four years of part-time study culminating in a thesis of approximately 40,000 words. This degree is specifically directed towards professional development through research and is therefore of particular relevance to experienced practitioners in education....'

I have done very extensive searching for what Adelhied rewquests, but to no avail.

My argument is, that for those of us who are teachers but essentailly PRACTITIONERS, there MUST be dcotoral level advanced coursework available somewhere.

If someone find that place, I would also like to know.

 

Coursework Doctorate

There is one liberal arts doctorate in the U.S. that is course based. It is the Doctor of Arts (DA). While not an EdD, you might be able to
structure the content to more or less suit your
interests, depending on the specific program. My
impression is that the DA is not too useful for
gaining tenure track positions in four-year universities, as it is not a PhD or EdD; however, it may have some prestige at the community college level, either in the teaching or administrative realms.

 

Re: Coursework Doctorate

...then for those of us who are the offspring of recycled convicts at the arse end of the world, are used to free, yes FREE education for bachelors, masters and doctorates.

So, we now have to consider paying.

So who has the lowest cost courses?

Non accredited institutions ...

...and we go around in a circle again

 

RE DAs

Greetings,

I have not found a DA program that can be done in a DL format. Certainly there is a few out there, and I do mean a few, but they are in areas that are not education based. Nonetheless, they are in deed equal in their level to the EdD or PhD or other doctorate. In deed, a doctorate is a doctorate is a doctorate.

The following link is an

example:http://www.mtsu.edu/~chem/da.html

Also, I seem to remember that there is an association for doctor of arts programs. But, I can't remember the link. I shall try to find it but someone may be able to beat to it.

Kenneth K. A.

 

DA again

http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwcpt/position_papers/fountaine.htm


Reconsidering the Doctor of Arts Degree

By Tim Fountaine,

St. Cloud State University

Years ago (1988) Billie Wahlstrom argued presciently that building curricula that balance research, theory, and technological expertise would enable program administrators to resist pressures to supply businesses with merely, though highly, skilled practitioners. Determining the standards for technical communication programs, she says, needs to be a collaborative effort between the academy and industry that aims to teach students the skills and habits of mind required to “understand and critique the uses to which information is put.” Such sentiments to cultivate critical multiliteracies among technical communicators resonate in numerous subsequent publications (e.g., Johnson-Eilola, 1996; Cope and Kalantzis, 2000; Snyder, 1998; Taylor and Ward, 1998; Selfe, 1999; Cooper, 1996; Southard and Reaves, 1995; Selber, 1994), all of which underscore the changing roles of communication and communication technologies in contemporary culture.

Critically responding to technological change has guided many developments within technical communication programs. Even so, a quick survey of recent discussion threads of the ATTW listserv, for example, intimates that a service identification—or the perception of one—persists in educational institutions and in industry, which devalues the work technical communicators do and disempowers us politically.

My position paper will discuss the merits of reviving the Doctor of Arts (D.A.) degree as a programmatic alternative to certificate programs and the Masters and Ph.D. degrees. Perhaps especially for smaller institutions and universities who must differentiate their graduate programs from those of other regional competitors to obtain funding and legislative approval, the applied doctoral degree may offer students and academics a flexible structure—that could be operated much like an institute--to forge alliances across disciplinary (and departmental) boundaries. As a specialized professional degree, one that is meant to position technical communicators as teaching managers within business environments, the D.A. degree may also provide valuable opportunities to invigorate academe-industry ties to programmatic discussions and reposition the roles of technical communicators more favorably within an information economy.

Works Cited
Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis, eds. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. New York: Routledge.

Cooper, Marilyn M. (1996). Educating Postmodern Technical Communicators. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, September 26-28, Oxford, Ohio.

Johnson-Eilola. (1996). Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age: Five Key Projects. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, September 26-28, Oxford, Ohio.

Selber, Stuart A. (1994). Beyond skill building: Challenges Facing Technical Communication Teachers in the Computer Age. Technical Communication Quarterly 3.4: 365-391.

Selfe, Cynthia L. (1999). Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The Importance of Paying Attention. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.

Snyder, Ilana, ed. (1998). Page to Screen: Taking Literacy into the Electronic Era. New York: Routledge.

Southard, Sherry G. and Rita Reaves. (1995). Tough questions and straight answers: Educating technical communicators in the next decade. Technical Communication 42.4: 555-565.

Taylor, Todd and Irene Ward, eds. (1998). Literacy Theory in the Age of the Internet. New York: Columbia UP.

Wahlstrom, Billie J. (1988). Undergraduate and Graduate Programs in Technical Communication: Defining the Differences. Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

Hello Adelheid

Well, I might have found something that may be what you were looking for.

Edith Cown University in Australia seems to have re-designed its EdD program, it may be more course-(unit)-based than research. I am not sure, but the it seems to be that way:

Edith Cowan University DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

Course Code P58 (Fee paying Australian students)

Course Code L08 (International students and HECS‑liable Australian students)

The Doctor of Education is a forward looking course with a strong orientation towards the development of skills required by education institutions at the cutting edge of educational and social change. The course as an overall aim will prepare students for leadership roles in the knowledge society.

COURSE LOCATION AND MODE OF STUDY

This three year course is available by full-time or part-time study on Churchlands, Joondalup and Mount Lawley campuses and at the South West campus in Bunbury. It is also available by external study.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Admission will require the completion of a relevant Masters degree. At any point in the programme students can consider transfer to the PhD programme in Education and vice versa.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course comprises six units:

EDU7101 Methods of Investigation*

EDU7102 Learning in the Knowledge Society*

EDU7103 The Governance of Education Institutions*

EDU7104 Education and the Global Economy*

EDU7105 Curriculum and the Knowledge Society*

EDU7106 Constructing the Portfolio*

*Proposed new units

I hope that helps. May be you can investigate it further and report back on it.

Kenneth K. A.

 

To KKA:

The DA degree is aimed at teaching at the university undergraduate level, as opposed to being a research-based PhD. Likewise, while the EdD is weighted toward education and pedagogical theory, the DA has a few pedagogy courses, but concentrates instead in another discipline such as biology, chemistry, library science, etc.

Frankly, I do not see the DA holder as providing some kind of technological communication link between academe and industry/business. The holder of the PhD in Business or Management who specializes in one theoretical aspect (the practicing scholar), and the generalist DBA who excels in the application of knowledge in the field (the scholarly practitioner) both fill that role very adequately and more expertly.

The DA has a useful niche, but we ought not try to project its capabilities beyond realistic intents and capabilities.

 

A doctorate is a doctorate is a doctorate. The difference is application. After all, the word means teacher in its essence, and all forms of doctorates (not the medical or juridical, as in the US) are teaching qualifications.

 

I don't deny that a doctorate is a doctorate in the broadest sense. Nor do I disagree that while academic doctorates are always welcome in teaching, that professional doctorates are enjoying greater demand in the teaching realm, as deans and department chairs scramble to bring a practical slant into the classroom to counterbalance pure theory. But that is where our common ground ends.

1) I believe that nearly everyone on this board would admit that there is a pecking order of doctorates. That is to say, using business doctorates for this example, that the PhD in Business, being research based, is the highest doctoral attainment, that the DBA, a professional degree aimed at practical application of theory is a lesser doctorate, and that the DM is lowest on the totem pole within the discipline. 2) Given that the DA focuses in a limited number of fields within the arts and sciences realm--chemistry, biology, music, mathematics, foreign language, and library science to be very specific but not totally inclusive, its value in "communicating technology to industry" will not be as effective as the PhD or DBA with a concentration in technology management, I'm afraid, all wishful or whimsical thinking aside. This is not to say I disrespect the DA or question the DA as a legitimate degree in any way. To the contrary, I believe the DA is perfect for what it is designed do as a credential--to enable one to teach at the undergraduate level in a specific discipline. From the current DA offerings, though, that does not yet appear to target itself toward business and management, unless I missed something.

David April
BA, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
MBA, Boston College
ACM, Boston College
DBA, California Pacific University
C.A.M., Institute of Certified Professional Managers
CM, Institute of Certified Professional Managers
CRM, Institute of Certified Records Managers