Aspen Ed.D Program

Discussion in 'Education, Teaching and related degrees' started by jackrussell, Oct 14, 2009.

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  1. ebbwvale

    ebbwvale Member

    I am seeing more professionals employed within the criminal justice industry with Doctorates. They are not academics, but senior management within governmental criminal justice agencies.

    I occasionally attend a professional conference and the professional practitioner with a Doctorate is appearing more often now as a presenter. In fact, one of my bosses has a PHD and is a senior police officer. One police officer, junior to me, has two Doctorates. Why I don't know, but he is engaged in running a senior management training and development program.

    Our service also has PHD's employed for the purposes of evaluating programs in various areas of the service, but then we are a larger police agency than most. Across government at both state and federal level, Doctorates are increasingly common in the senior management. It is almost the exception in some areas to find less than a PHD running the ship.

    Good or bad, needed or not, they have arrived and I cannot see them going away at the CEO level in governmental bureaucracy. I would argue that a PHD is not needed in government. A professional Doctorate, enabling a senior person to intepret and apply research, is more important than the ability to undertake it in the first place. This market niche may suit colleges like Aspen and business more than a PHD more suited to academia. I suspect that what Aspen is aiming for in any case.

    The student, instead of a thesis, builds a business case centering upon all the aspects of actualisation of research. The business case is then marked, not a thesis. Is there a market for this or is this what a DBA should be about?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 24, 2009
  2. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

  3. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Well, sad to say it, but there seems to be little demand for humanities and social science docs within academe.

    Those seem to be the sort of docs one goes for "just for fun"; i.e., you do it because you like the field, you love studing obscure topics (like the Civil War Diaries of Black Women Preachers or the Everyday Lives of Women Slaves on a Mycenaean Royal Flax Plantation or whatever) but you have little expectation of an actual professorship and so you develop a Plan B career path if the only thing you do with your doctoral degree is frame it and hang it on the wall.
     
  4. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    Word, Home Skillet. Earning a doctorate is a serious endeavor meant for college teaching and research, which is why we should try to ask these ignorant little lambs a few question before they go to be sheered.
     
  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Dave: Sorry about the previous time when I yelled at you and made a comment like "Only Dave can tell you whether you are asllowed to do a doctorate" (or something like that). My above comment was not communicated correctly if I left people with the impression that it (getting a PhD in History) was a just for fun thing to do just on a lark. What I did mean was that, given the scarcity of history professorships, one would need a second battle plan (maybe museum curator, historical archivist, historical editor & publisher,etc.) to sipport onesself if one is not among the few PhDs in History who actually land full-time tenure-track positions. I meant that a PhD in History is something you do for the love of the field, not for the money (although finding a degree-relevant means to support onesself would be nice, if it happens. :eek:).

    EDIT: Also, there's the self-fulfiullment reasons: remember Dr. Bear's story of the 94-year-old guy whose 1910 PhD in History dissertation predicting World War I was rejected and who, after a lifetime of teaching with "just" a master's, completed his PhD in History just shy of 100?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 27, 2009
  6. tomball

    tomball New Member

    I vote for a Decorate of Arts in Self Studies - 10 to 15 unit requirement, with a 2 -3 page dissertation (cut and paste allowed) No testing please.
     
  7. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    My favorite non-degree is the doctorate of custodial arts...

    There is a lady who comes in once a month (because I can't afford more as an underpaid teacher) and does a blitzkrieg maneuver on our bathrooms and kitchen.

    It is rapid and devastating but also a thing of genius and beauty, like a ballet.

    On her, I confer the doctorate of custodial arts with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities thereto appertaining.
     
  8. AdjunctInstructor

    AdjunctInstructor New Member

    Anyone working toward Aspen University's Ed.D.?

    I am hoping for opinions, satisfaction level and any other information concerning the program. I decided to not accept Walden University's Ed.D. admissions offer because of the overall cost. Still in Liberty University's Ed.S. program and love it. I am considering moving on to Liberty University's Ed.D. but want to know more about the Ed.D. at Aspen University before the low tuition deal is no more on July 16, 2011. I do not have to have a regionally accredited Ed.D. as I will have a regionally accredited Ed.S. and for my goals a regionally accredited Ed.S. coupled with a D.E.T.C. accredited Ed.D. is fine.

    Any information given is greatly appreciated.
     
  9. Psydoc

    Psydoc New Member

    Fine for the time being; but how far into the future can you predict. For the difference in $$ I would go for Liberty's Ed.D. and enjoy the security of the RA degree. Just my .02 worth.
     
  10. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Getting opinions is good, but there's only one unique you. You already know you like Liberty's approach and that's valuable information. Think very carefully before you discard that familiarity at the doctoral level.

    -=Steve=-
     
  11. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I agree with Steve and PsyDoc. There is nothing wrong with a DETC degree, but I would choose a RA degree anytime because it is more widely accepted. Aspen is cheaper, and you would get a good education, probably just as good as Liberty, but would an Aspen degree take you where you need to go? It might not, therefore a degree from Liberty is a better choice. IMO
     
  12. AdjunctInstructor

    AdjunctInstructor New Member

    Thank you all for your advice

    I Thank you for the sound advice. Aspen is a good nationally accredited DL University. However, someday I may regret not going with the regionally and NCATE accredited Ed.D.. The price of Aspen's Ed.D. is enticing; but there is no question that LU has more smoothly operating Ed.D. program. Again, thank each of you for the advice
     
  13. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    I would say that if you know for certainty that you will never have need of the RA EdD for career satisfaction or advancement since you have the EdS AND the cost of the LU EdD in terms of time and travel is a negative...go for the Aspen EdD. In that scenario you will have everything you need from the Ed.S. and you will earn an accredited doctorate from Aspen. Again, if the EdD is more for personal satisfaction then you may have to weigh investing the family's finances in something that will not pay for itself. The 7000 dollars for tuition at Aspen (for the whole program) is incredible.

    It is certainly a choice to make carefully because money aside, you will spend a few years of your life working on the doctorate no matter where you earn it from. If earning the LU EdD will open doors you need open then it may be worth the extra investment.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 29, 2011
  14. AdjunctInstructor

    AdjunctInstructor New Member

    Thank you Garp

    Your advice is well taken. Thank you very much. I have read more than once that the NA accredited degree is a "vanity" degree which could be true for some. However, real learning takes place regardless of the ROI or utility of the degree. So vanity plays a small part in why I would like to earn the cheaply priced DETC doctorate. But the fact that I am acclimated into the LU program. Moreover, 27 credits of my Ed.S. transfers into the ED.D. at Liberty and only 9 transfers into Aspen's Ed.D. because of DETC policy. Tough decision to make. After the July 16th Aspen's spectacular bargain ends and if I do not choose now I will not pay more for the DETC doctorate in education ROI would then have more impact. It does seem the D.Sci. computer concentration will always be a good bargain because a consultant would find utility for the DETC applied technology doctorate. So there is a probable difference in utility between the Ed.D. and D.Sci. degrees. Regardless what I decide what you and the others has help me think more critically concerning this. In fact, the responses has led me to do an informal s SWOT analysis on this. Thank you.
     

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