University of the Cumberlands Online PhD in Information Technology

Discussion in 'IT and Computer-Related Degrees' started by Marcus Aurelius, Jan 29, 2018.

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  1. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    I believe you are taking ITS831 Info Tech Importance in Strategic Plan which does sound rather dry. I'm taking Cryptography which should be more fun than it is.

    The book, Cryptography InfoSec Pro Guide, is poorly organized and doesn't do a great job of explaining things in any meaningful depth. The instructor also does not seem to be particularly knowledgeable about the topic and only provides about a 15 minute lecture each week and much of it is on APA formatting. This week's lecture video was from an earlier recorded class in January. In order to complete the assignments I spend a lot of time searching the web.

    There is generally a weekly discussion topic, a 2-3 page paper, and a quiz. This week was the midterm, so we did not have any papers or discussion topics to complete. The quizzes and midterm are pretty basic, but I'm new to cryptography, so I am spending several hours researching the topics for the papers and discussion.

    I cannot say that I'm impressed with the course, but it is forcing me to learn new information about cryptography, so I am definitely learning, it is just not very efficient as I'm learning more from the web than from the course instruction.

    Course signup for summer is available so I signed up for Windows Digital Forensics and am hoping the program improves.


    2018 Summer I G
    MSDF531/Lecture/01 - Windows Digital Forensics | Credits3.00
    This example-driven course instructs the student to build a skillset in order to perform digital forensics examinations in the Windows environment. The core skills necessary to perform forensic analysis of digital data will be covered. We will learn how to acquire and analyze data from a Windows system. Many digital forensics tools and techniques will be used in this course.


    Are you going to stay with the program?

    I'm still waiting for my ID and to see if any of my prior courses transferred.
     
  2. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I am not sure yet, I bombed the midterm for sure. I was not able to complete the exam in 90 minutes; I completed only 67 questions out of 94 questions. The midterm was very much specific information from the book words by words. It is graduate level, it should be general knowledge in critical thinking. I hope he curved the grade.

    I'll stay in the program if I get a B or above, but being a full-time single dad with two little kids learning is not easy as I thought. I enjoy going back and learning programming languages to develop my own mobile applications, then studying for a Doctorate degree. How did you do with the midterm?
     
  3. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    My midterm was pretty simple, the questions were all from earlier quizzes. The Cryptography course is time consuming, but has not been too bad. However, I dropped my earlier scheduled Summer I class and signed up to take Intro to Data Mining for the Summer II session which starts July 2nd.

    I decided to take Summer I off due to some scheduled vacations and did not want to have to worry about homework assignments; also I wanted to make sure my classes transferred from my masters before continuing in the Information Technology Content Specialty track. When I initially applied, I assumed that most of my master level courses would transfer, but my master classes were in the digital media field, so I have only found three courses from my masters degree that match corresponding Cumberlands' courses; as of yet, only one has been approved for transfer. Were your master degree classes successfully transferred?

    The PhD IT program is not what I had hoped. I was hoping to learn more hands-on computer skills, but the coursework appears to be mostly about policies and case studies, rather than learning technical skills. I guess that makes sense at the doctoral level, I was just hoping to learn how to program with python or learn mobile applications, or at least have to use a computer to create or do something.

    I'm surprised you had a midterm, I thought that at the doctoral level, the courses would be more on writing and research projects. I'm not great at tests, nor am I interested in memorizing a bunch of stuff I'll never use again. I have started looking into different doctoral schools to attend, but Cumberlands is pretty cheap, so the price is hard to beat. I'll see what grade I get in this class and will have two months to think things through before starting up again in July.

    Have you looked into any other doctoral programs?
     
  4. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    edX has courses, certificates and MicroMasters programs for stuff like that and the costs are usually pretty small.
     
  5. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I have not signed up any course yet until I want to see what is my first grade of the course. I thought the policy does not allow you to transfer credits that already to the issued degree? I requested to transfer more than 18 credits from my Ph.D at Nova Southeastern University and 6 credits from CISSP certification into the Cybersecurity specialization. I have not received any update yet. I am still looking into University of Leicester's Ph.D in Management with whatever research topic, but technology management area is limited. The price tag is the same, but I have to pay out of my pocket since my employer does not reimburse.

    URL: https://www2.le.ac.uk/research-degrees/phd/management/distance-learning
     
  6. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    You are right about transfer credits, but the credits I'm trying to transfer are towards the PhD and not a masters so I was told that they could transfer, since they are not the same degree and since I already had another masters degree. So you could use your MS to get into Cumberlands' PhD program and transfer everything from both your MPS and your PhD credits from Nova, as long as the courses were within six years.

    The Leicester degree looks interesting, but I'll probably stay at the Cumberlands as it should take less time to complete the Phd from Cumberlands. Besides Cumberlands is a lot closer to me than Leicester and it appears I would have to visit Leicester at least twice. I'm not getting reimbursed either so the travel would add considerably more expense.
     
  7. sherick

    sherick New Member

    onlymybest, I joined this site just so I can track this and get more info along the way. I just submitted my application.

    "Content Specialty Area: A content specialty area of at least twenty-four hours must be earned in one of these disciplines: Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Digital Forensics, Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, or other related discipline at the discretion of the Dean of the School."

    Do you know where I can find more information in regards to the "Content Specialty Area" ? I only see 3 of there program which come from the Masters, but fail to get info in regards to what they mean by "other related discipline at the discretion of the Dean of the School".
    http://gradweb.ucumberlands.edu/information-technology-degree-program/msdf/overview
    http://gradweb.ucumberlands.edu/information-technology-degree-program/overview
    http://gradweb.ucumberlands.edu/information-technology-degree-program/msit/overview/course

    I have a MBA already but doubt any of the courses will transfer over. But was curious in regards to you getting credit for CISSP. I have Comptia certs (Network+, Security+, etc) that are still active, would I be able to get credits for them? How can I find more info on this.

    Thank you so much in advance. I plan to follow your route and stick to this program till the end.
     
  8. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    Awesome @sherick! Glad to have you as a soon-to-be fellow student. I can only find the three Content Specialty Areas, I have asked twice, but never received an answer. I'm guessing the other areas are something they are planning for the future, as this program is barely a year old. Much of the information about the program is available in the Graduate Catalog at https://www.ucumberlands.edu/downloads/academics/catalogs/graduate/CIS2017-19.pdf. I doubt any of the MBA courses will transfer over, as I believe you need a masters to get in, but anything past the MBA could transfer if the course is similar to one offered at Cumberlands. So far my adviser has only told me that one class transferred, which was the IT project.
     
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  9. sherick

    sherick New Member

    Awesome, I plan to take the "Information Technology" route since I work in the analytics space and the courses listed align perfectly with it.

    From reading online, I believe you can take 8 weeks courses or 16 weeks courses (please confirm?). I plan on taking the 16 weeks courses in Fall and finishing the following 2 classes this year:
    ITS 530 – Analyzing and Visualizing Data
    ITS 632 – Introduction to Data Mining

    16 weeks should let me handle the course work at a sane pace (fingers crossed).
     
  10. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    Good question about sixteen week courses, but I don't think the 16 week courses are available to online students, but I could be wrong. I was told to take courses that end in /01 such as ITS632/Lecture/01. I'm scheduled to take the course starting July 2nd. The book for the class is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133128903/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 or you can rent it online, etc. If you search for courses at https://selfserve.ucumberlands.edu/SelfService/Search/SectionSearch.aspx it looks like the 16 week courses are on campus.
     
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  11. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    The 16 weeks course is only available for Executive Ph.D in IT, which they are taking two courses at once. While online students are on 8 weeks, but taking 1 course at once. So, it is still the same...as for 1 course per term is considering full-time.
     
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  12. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    No, those certifications cannot use for credit. Only the following certification CISSP by ISC2, CISM by ISACA, (GISP, GCFA or GCFE) by GIAC, and Juris Doctor degree.

    If travel is not an issue for you, I would recommend the Executive Ph.D program over the online one. I chose completely online because I have no way to make to the residence as a full-time professional and full-time single dad with two little kids.
     
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  13. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    The Data Mining book comes with slides and project examples at https://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~kumar001/dmbook/index.php. I'm trying to get a head start on the Data Mining course starting in July. The book contains a huge amount of information, I cannot imagine we will be able to get through much of it in an eight week course, but if we stay ahead of the course before it starts, it should be manageable to do in eight weeks.
    Some of the information about the course appears to be available at Course-Hero and the Academic-Essays, at https://www.coursehero.com/file/27651929/Term-Paper-for-ITS632docx/ and https://theacademicessays.com/632-introduction-data-mining-final-term-paper/ respectively.
     
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  14. sherick

    sherick New Member

    Thank you guys for your help, this is really helpful.

    Hmmm, fitting midterms, assignments and final in 8 week is pretty aggressive. But I will take your approach and try to review the book beforehand.
     
  15. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    Cryptography has been very doable. I knocked most of the reading out before class started and maybe spend four to six hours a week on the assignments. I probably spend more time than most students. The midterm was made up of previous quiz questions so it was pretty simple and we didn't have any assignments the week of the midterm so we could study. I still have two weeks to go and a final exam, so I may change my mind before it's over, but so far it hasn't been that time consuming.
     
  16. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I almost complete with the ITS831; I wish I signed up this course last out of all of the core and specialization courses. The course is similar to CISSP; where it touches all 13 domains of the Information Technology and Business.

    1. The information System Strategy Triangle
    2. Straeguse of Information Resources
    3. Organization Strategy and Information Systems
    4. Digital Systema and the Design of Work
    5. Information Systems and Business Transformation
    6. Architecture and Infrastructure
    7. IT Security
    8. The Business of Information Technology
    9. Governance of the Information Systems Organization
    10. Information Systems Sourcing
    11. Managing IT Projects
    12. Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and Analytics
    13. Privacy and Ethical Consideration in Information Managing
     
  17. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    Awesome, as hopefully that will help prepare me for the CISSP exam then.
     
  18. sherick

    sherick New Member

    Do you guys know how we can search for course syllabus to find out what book is being used for the course. I am weighing the option of going for the core course "Data Science and Big Data Analytics" as my first class just to get an idea how doctorate level courses compare to masters level courses for this program.
    *If they don't let me take "Data Science and Big Data Analytics" , than I will just take ITS-632 as my first course.
     
  19. onlymybest

    onlymybest Member

    Once you add the class and register, the website will ask you if you want to buy the books for the class and provide a large link to buy or rent the book. I added Business Intelligence and then dropped the class afterwards; it didn't appear to cost me anything to do so. I believe the book for Business Intelligence was at http://a.co/60g1BPK or you could rent it online or the like.

    I asked for the syllabus for courses, but I was told that I would have to contact each professor for a syllabus, although sometimes you can find them on coursehero.com.

    There isn't any order in which you have to take courses, but your comprehensive exam is over the doctoral courses, so I'm saving the doctoral courses for the end, that way those classes will be fresh in my mind before the comprehensive exam.

    Edit: Please post what book is used for that class, if you register for it. It would be appreciated.
     
  20. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    All the books are available at the University of the Cumberlands bookstore.

    TS 831 01 2018 SUMMER I
    REMOVE COURSE
    [​IMG]
    MANAGING+USING INFO.SYSTEMS (LOOSELEAF)
    REQUIRED |By PEARLSON
    • EDITION: 6TH 16
    • PUBLISHER: WILEY
    • ISBN: 9781119244288
    from $43.20 - $86.65
    These materials are included in your course. Go to class first.x" data-tooltip-direction="top" style="box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 1px 2px inset; position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 235px; height: 33px; line-height: 33px; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); float: left; text-indent: 10px; background: url("../img/sprites.png") 200px -237px no-repeat white; border: 1px solid rgb(167, 167, 167); cursor: default; overflow: hidden; padding: 7px 0px;">SELECT FORMAT
    ITS 833 01 2018 SUMMER I
    REMOVE COURSE
    [​IMG]
    INFORMATION GOVERNANCE
    REQUIRED |By SMALLWOOD
    • EDITION: 14
    • PUBLISHER: WILEY
    • ISBN: 9781118218303
    from $60.00 - $80.00
    These materials are included in your course. Go to class first.x" data-tooltip-direction="top" style="box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 1px 2px inset; position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 235px; height: 33px; line-height: 33px; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); float: left; text-indent: 10px; background: url("../img/sprites.png") 200px -237px no-repeat white; border: 1px solid rgb(167, 167, 167); cursor: default; overflow: hidden; padding: 7px 0px;">SELECT FORMAT
    ITS 834 01 2018 SUMMER I
    REMOVE COURSE
    [​IMG]
    CYBER ATTACKS:STUDENT EDITION
    REQUIRED |By AMOROSO
    • EDITION: 13
    • PUBLISHER: ELSEVIER
    • ISBN: 9780123918550
    from $52.45 - $69.95
    These materials are included in your course. Go to class first.x" data-tooltip-direction="top" style="box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 1px 2px inset; position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 235px; height: 33px; line-height: 33px; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); float: left; text-indent: 10px; background: url("../img/sprites.png") 200px -237px no-repeat white; border: 1px solid rgb(167, 167, 167); cursor: default; overflow: hidden; padding: 7px 0px;">SELECT FORMAT
    ITS 836 01 2018 SUMMER I
    REMOVE COURSE
    [​IMG]
    DATA SCIENCE+BIG DATA ANALYTICS
    REQUIRED |By EMC EDUCATION
    • EDITION: 15
    • PUBLISHER: WILEY
    • ISBN: 9781118876138
    from $45.00 - $60.00
     
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