Ed.D. in one year at NCU

Re: Re: Re: Ed.D. in one year at NCU

Andy,

I don't buy this either. We are complaining that we want academia to accept DL PhDs as equal as B&M ones but online schools keep granting degrees in record times.

I understand that technology can help to accelerate the degree requirements at certain point but from a typical 5 year to a 1 year is non sense to me.

 

I am a big fan of NCU, but I hope they don’t get into the habit of awarding doctoral degrees in record time. I truly hope Amy’s feat was an exception and doesn’t become the norm. As far as completing a doctorate in record time: I know of one person who completed her PhD from Walden in 1-½ years. According to her, she was very strict about how she used her time. She made every second of every day count. Personally, I don’t think completing a doctorate in such a short amount of time is a good thing. How can one possibly absorb nine courses, a comp, and a dissertation in that amount of time?

For the life of me, I can’t figure out how someone could possible complete an NCU doctorate in a little over a year. NCU’s courses are just as rigorous as the ones I had for my masters, which was from a B&M university.

 

Bearing mind I am not enrolled at NCU but at a rival, the bottom line is that mass speculation aside, we really do not know Amy's situation. And NCU is regionally accredited - they would not have publicizes her accomplishment, if they felt there was anything that would not stand scrutiny.

 

I suggest that we attempt to avoid jumping to erroneous conclusions regarding a student's expeditious completion of an Ed.D at NCU without carefully examening this matter more carefully. Keep in mind that in the past myriad premature negative opinions and conjecture were being promulgated that NCU would not obtain RA accreditation and subsequently that their courses were too easy resulting in at least one poster dropping out (although returning at a latter date). However, as we all know, this premature speculation was incorrect and NCU is thriving very well!

So at this point all we know as FACT is that the student in question had to complete 51 credits. No more, no less.

Let us also keep in mind the following possibilities:

1) In many cases an advanced ABD student is not starting from scratch! Many such students have formulated a doctoral topic as well as possibly conceptualized their research methodology and/or possibly completed a comprehensive literature review. So it is quite possible that such an individual has a substantial amount of research material that would enable them to complete their remaining coursework expeditiously as well as orient and integrate their coursework into their Ed.D dissertation, thereby being able to "kill" two birds with one stone! Therefore, a very dilligent student, putting in many hours of work, in a school such as NCU with its flexible course completion protocol, could possibly complete a substantial body of their coursework and an Ed.D dissertation!

2) As mentioned in an earlier post, the Ed.D dissertation at NCU does not require an original contribution of knowledge required of the Ph.D and is just not as demanding or time consuming to complete.

3) NCU's Ed.D, in contrast to the Ph.D program, does not require a defense of the dissertation. Preparation for the defense of a dissertation can take significant time and not having this requirement shaves off a great deal of time.

4) This student's accomplisment is isolated and cannot be generalized into speculation regarding the "ease" of NCU's Ed.D programs. There will always be outliers in any similar situation and when one considers that there are approximately 2,400 students attending NCU there will be some students progressing very rapidly, those in the middle and others who will take an inordinate amount of time.

The bottomline is that there are plausible factors that can explain how this student could possibly complete an Ed.D, so expeditiously.

 

EXACTLY.

 

Well, see, I ...

I'm the guy who wrote that press release about NCU's first education degrees.
I'm the guy WHO TYPED THE WRONG YEAR in that press release.
I'm the guy who is laboring under a bit of a cloud here at the ranch over that error.

It should have read 2004--NOT 2005.
Drs. Peterson and Jama, by dint of much hard labor, were able to earn their Ed.D. degrees in TWO years--still a remarkable feat, though not quite as amazing as the utterly implausible one year I originally said.

Naturally, I'm looking around for someone else--anyone else--I can blame for this horrible error, but it looks like it was mine and mine alone.

They run a good school here at NCU and nobody just waltzes in and out of their degree programs. Ask any of our students ...

But thanks for your interest. It's nice to know somebody reads my work.
--Bert "Mr. Dim" Woodall

 

Thanks for posting Bert. We all have days like this. Today just so happened to be one of those for me.

I am glad to see that Amy’s degree wasn’t earned in a little over a year. I think NCU has a terrific thing going and I would hate to see all of those good things get discarded due to rumors about the university “handing out” degrees. You are correct to say that NCU is not in the habit of letting people waltz in and out with a degree. NCU’s degree programs are not easy and, because of that, I will someday be proud to say that I earned my doctorate.

 

Hello everyone,


Bert, thank you for bringing clarity to us. I have looked at NCU with great interest and while 2 years to earn an Ed.D is still remarkable, it makes more sense. I also want to explain that my intention for starting the thread was not in any way to attack or demean the accomplishments of Dr. Jama and Dr. Peterson.


Regards,
Maria

 

Here, here! I 100% agree.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my coursework at NCU so far and will be proud, in God only knows how many years, to hang my doctoral diploma on the wall!

Allison

 

Re: Well, see, I ...

No problem! Your error is not the issue. What is really interesting is how expeditiously such incorrect information leads some very well educated posters to prematurely jump to erroneous and negative conclusions. This occurs without initially attempting to assess the likelihood of such a scenario, as the one you presented, occuring. This would make an interesting paper; perhaps an Ed.D dissertation at NCU!

 

Proposing a topic, organizing a committee, getting the topic approved by the committee, getting the IRB approval, collecting data and writing the dissertation in one year would be a nearly unbelievable task. Completing an entire doctorate in one year is impossible, unless the course work and dissertation can overlap. Traditionally, this has been verboten.

Still, I know of only one case at California Pacific University (California State Approved) where this happened and the student was extremely bright and motivated. It took me from 1996 to 2003 of part-time effort to complete the DBA at California Pacific. I've never heard of a one year doctorate from a regionally-accredited school.

Dave

 

Typo

I know the original post on the site was a typo and the completion was a bit longer. What I wanted to mention is that I know people getting Ed.D. from Seton Hall University in two years.

The Executive Ed.D. is comprised of 6 weekend sessions per year and an extensive summer program of 4 weeks.

So if a B&M school with defined semesters can complete the program in 2 years, why wouldn't a DL school have the same time frame? With DL you have less structured semesters. And the friends at SHU are without transfer credits. The biggest difference? $51,000 for SHU.

From SHU.edu site

"Program Overview
The Department of Education Leadership, Management and Policy offers an accelerated cohort group doctoral (Ed.D.) degree for certified and practicing school administrators. The degree modules include studies in organizational theory, policy analysis, computer technology, research procedures, leadership strategies, curriculum management, leadership institutes, fiscal affairs, school law, dissertation seminars and mentoring. The modules are offered on weekends (Friday – in the evening; Saturday and Sunday – during the day) for the Fall and Spring semesters, and days and evenings during the summer. This accelerated degree program may be completed in two years."

 

Re: Typo

The question is, whas the EdD degree earned while working full time? If the students at NCU were able to complete the degree while holding a full time job in two years then I would think that still a bit too little considering that a part time student normally spends between 10-20 hrs per week for a part time degree.

To me, it doesn't really matter how long it takes to earn a degree. At the end, if the graduate is really weak, it would be the market that will filter the graduate.

The graduate wouldn't be able to meet the tenure requirements as he wouldn't be able to publish within the required time frame and students would complain about the lack of knowledge of the individual. Students and coworkers hardly ask where you got your degree, but if your performance is low then they will start wondering.

 

Executive EdD

The Seton Hall program is for working administrators. So not only are they working, they are working demanding jobs.

Someone getting an EdD is probably in education. With two months off in the summer, one can get a lot done.

I also think two years is quick if the person needs to take all required classes. But if someone is ABD at NCU and taking the 24 credits for dissertation and it takes them two years think how that compares to Seton Hall which is all courses plus dissertation in the same time. Are DL schools more strict than Seton Hall? Perhaps.

 

Scott,

What did NCU finally decide on with regard to your EdS? How many credits do you have to complete for the EdD?

Did you see my last post on your thread with regard to Liberty?

 

Who says doctoral programs need to take a long time for working professionals?

George Washington University offers a local cohort DSc program that will take no more or less than three years. The first two years consists of coursework while the last year consists of the dissertation and defense.

The catch...GWU charges over $900 per credit hour for the program and if you don't successfully complete and defend your dissertation at the end of the third year (with the cohort), you don't graduate.