I'm looking into doctoral programs but I'm not sure which program is best for me. I have a B.S. in Health Science, a M.S. in Education (Online Teaching) and want a doctorate more for personal gain than professional advancement. I teach secondary school and have considered teaching at college level, but have no great aspirations-I'm about 10 years away from retirement whatever I do. The three programs I've considered are: EdD Educational Leadership or PhD Educational Technology, PhD Health Science, and PhD Health Psychology. If I did decide to use the degree for career advancement, which would provide the most leverage?
Are you wanting to advance with the school? Teach at college? Advance in the corporate world? There really are a lot of interesting options. Many schools even have an interdisciplinary doc that you can design for yourself. Another interesting option is an Ed.D. or Ph.D. in education with a major in college teaching or higher education. Under these options you get to design most of your courses based on what you want to teach in college. If you are looking to move up as a leader, then the admin degrees or health science degrees may be better. If it is just for enjoyment...pick what floats your boat! Good luck!
Career advancement where? In the public school system? Which means going into admin or at least out of the classroom - then EdD is probably better (IMO, But then I'm an engineer). Teaching at collegiate level - either the EdD or PhD. Corporate world - PhD. But really, this is question you have to decide for yourself, because you have to live with it. Which one intersts you the most? Also, take a look at the possible programs, and see if one or the other suits you better. You will probably find, that the program title and content vary from school to school, so select the content you want and do not worry about the title.
if you're going to retire in 10 years then the PhD is not worth the time or money you would have to invest, if you're doing it for career advancement, IMO but if you're doing it for personal achievement, then do whatever subject you find most interesting
major I have no intentions of taking an administrative position in secondary. The only change I might make is switching to teaching at post-secondary level. The one that I think I might enjoy most is the PhD Health Psychology, but I'm not sure if that would be a disadvantage when applying for a college teaching position.
Take a look at theChronical of Higher Education Jobs site and see what has a higher demand. Also look at other education job sites, if the field that interests you is also in demand, good choice.
With a PhD in Health Psychology, you could teach a number of things. Psychology Some classes within an RN or BSN program General Health Classes (Basic, first level) From what I have seen there is a pretty good demand for Psychology instructors at the community college level. Duff
community college teaching I teach as an adjunct instructor from time to time in the Health and Physical Education Department of a CC, qualifying to do so by my MS in PE. Ironically, with a BS in Psych and an MS emphasis in Sport Psychology, I was not also qualified to teach Psychology. Here's the scoop; you need either a Masters in the specific teaching field or 18 hours of graduate course work in the specific field (my sport psych classes were in the PE Dept., and therefore I could not count those and fell a bit short of the 18 hours). If college teaching is what you want, a master's in the field you want to teach will work, especially if you don't want to do research or try for tenure. But hey, a PhD is a great personal achievement IMO, so I say find the program you love and go for it.
It seems to me that Instructional Technology is getting more and more "in demand" in the colleges. But, these are not generally teaching posts. The Chronicle lists many many ed tech jobs though and the pay is not all that bad. Too, instructional technology grads are being sought in corp world as instructional designers.
