Aspen Ed.D Program

You put in words what I had thought over and over again for a long time

But for me, the Ed.D just came at the right time and I guess as we are from the same or similar countries, we do have similar experiences and thoughts.

 

Well put indeed. A doc in Humanities would be so cool. Email the President at [email protected] He may take your suggestion into consideration.

Abner

 

Jackrussell,

Just wondering, are ypu also in academia?
And, is it possible to complete a EdD in 2 years? Part-time?

 

The DETC doctorates are just too new for anyone to know precisely how they will be received, but since there are many instructors on the sidelines with regionally-accredited doctorates it is unlikely there will be any demand for DETC doctoral degree holders soon.

The good news is that there are other completely online doctorates and short-residency doctorates to be earned from regionally-accredited institutions, so the DETC doctorate in education from Aspen is another one of those good solutions to a problem that doesn't actually exist (yet?).

 

I am sure that you are right concerning academia anywhere, but I suspect that industry will judge the degrees from the performance of the individual. The degrees will require the backing of experience to get traction. If I were intent on entering a different profession, then I would go to a more established and credentialed school program. If there is no market for NA Doctorates, then they will go away.

But if I had experience and did not have a large gap in knowledge to jump, why would I spend a larger sum of money to do that when a perfectly good school is available at a lower price? If I wished to enter academia, then perhaps not. How many graduates want to be in academia? Even if they wanted to be, there are limited opportunities. The biggest employers of graduates are not the universities in this country.

Outside the US, most employers will ask if the degree is recognized by the government. In my case, the question will concern the Australian Government recognition of the degree. If the US Dept of Ed recognizes the degree, then GAAP applies. Nobody outside the US really understands the RA/NA debate since most of us have government recognition of degrees.

There is a difference for professional licensing issues. A degree may be recognized but licensing to practice is entirely another matter. The LLB from the Uni of London is recognized as a degree, but legal practice may be another issue. This will apply whether a degree is RA or NA. As in all things,the buyer needs to be aware.

 

If you are asking about a DETC doctorate the effort required is defined here:
DETC Policy C.9 http://www.detc.org/acredditHandbk.html#other
It depends to a large extent how many transferable graduate credits a student has; you need 90 semester units beyond a bachelor degree.

 

Thanks for the link Ian, I'm interested in picking up a doctorate as I am slowly moving into academia. I already have a Master of Science (among numerous other post grad qualification) but I've decided to pick up 2 other Masters before re-evaluate the Doctorate possibility (it will be an extreme value-add plus career booster but I want to pick up the other 2 Master degree and other post grad certificates first.. lol)

DETC Doctorates looks feasible to me (I'm Singaporean Citizen and Australian Resident so as long as its GAPP, it'll work for me

 

I was hoping to find out how many transfer credits DETC does allow for a Doctorate but I couldn't find anything more specific than the "90 semester units" as indicated above. Obviously, no legitimate school could allow that many, but I must ask ...

Does anyone know how many transfer credits Aspen will allow toward the Ed.D. ?

Ted N.

 

There is a partial answer here:
http://www.aspen.edu/edd/index.htm
Candidates must have a masters degree then take an additional 60 units for their doctorate. So I conclude they will take 30 appropriate units in transfer and perhaps more. To get a definite answer contact Aspen U.

 

The doctorate is for teaching and research in college settings. It has little or no unique applicability outside that context; you don't need the doctorate outside the university, but it might be a plus when getting hired for consulting or to speak at conferences. The doctorate also could be useful for those with low self-esteem to pretend they are smarter than everybody, but, again, that's a fairly narrow application.

 

I can't speak for Ed.D. degrees but I've worked for several companies where a Ph.D. is either required or the preferred degree. I work with Ph.Ds in industry, government, and other organizations frequently. I can tell you that in some areas (including my specialties) the research in industry is far ahead of the research in academia (sometime because of security, proprietary, or ITAR concerns).

My last employer hired 'fellows', or promoted people to this level - a requirement was a doctorate in engineering (or a few other sciences) and they were free to work on any program or conduct any industry applicable research.

 

Very true.

Abner

 

Very rarely the case and especially outside the social sciences...

 

PhDs in Engineering are normally preferred for research and development for sure. However, when it comes to PhDs in Business and Education, they are normally useful only for academic positions.

 

The biotech industry employs large numbers of scientists and they typically have doctorates. (PhDs, MDs, or both.)

http://www.gene.com/gene/careers/university/

http://www.gene.com/gene/research/researchvision.html

 

I agree, my sister works in this industry and tells me that a PhD is almost a must. However, these are science degrees that require lab work that can't hardly be done online. The vast majority of online PhDs are in business or education, these degrees have mainly utility for academic positions. I wonder how many companies require accountants or salespeople with a PhD.

 

My wife works for a regional medical provider. The preferred degree for all vice-president/director positions is the doctorate. This is true for both medical positions and areas such as marketing, accounting, education/training, MIS etc.

With all due respect Dave, I think you underestimate the utility of a doctorate outside academia.

 

It seems like many CEO's and upper level execs are pursuing PhD's in Business. I know of two personally. I think with the job market being so tight, many MBA's are competing for BS degree jobs, so the food chain is changing. Jobs in business that seemed to be at the top of the executive food chain held by MBA holders are being filled by more and more PhD's and DBA's. Just my observation.

Abner

 

Does Aspen have a DBA too or was I thinking of some other DETC school that has both an EDD and a DBA or was I totally mistaken?

 

Harrison Middleton University (formerly known as the College of the Humanities and Sciences) www.chumsci.edu offers both the DA (with emphasis in the Humanities and the Social Sciences) and the EDD (with emphasis on the History, Philosophy, and Politics of Education), both based on the Great Books of the Western World. They are accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council www.detc.org and their total program tuition is around $14,000, I believe.