Student Support and Advising in a New Online Ed. D. of Instructional Systems Technology Program: A design case

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Student Support and Advising in a New Online Ed. D. of Instructional Systems Technology Program: A design case

Marisa Exter
Nulifer Korkmaz
Elizabeth Boling

Abstract

This design case describes an online Ed.D. in Instructional Systems Technology (IST) launched in 2012. We will focus on a key aspect of the design: program advising and students’ relationship with their advisors. While the design was responsive in its earliest stages to organizational constraints, legislative requirements and the known configurations for higher education, it did not include detailed attention to student/advisor relationships. Consequently, the first set of students experienced difficulties and the faculty had to make adjustments. This paper will present critical decisions made during the design of this program and the reasons for those decisions, situations in which decisions did not work as planned, and description of the subsequent revision of the design.

Keywords

Advising, Design case, Doctoral, Ed.D., Online, Program design

Annotation

This design case describes an online ed.d in instructional systems technology launched in 2012. Focuses on program advising and students’ relationship with their advisors.
● Seven of the eight tenure-track faculty had only one year experience advising students in the IY online Master’s program and only four had significant experience with doctoral-level advising at this point in their careers.
● In this doctoral program, there are two types of advising: program advising and dissertation mentorship.
● Students described a range of experiences with their advisors. While some students were very pleased with the level of interaction and support they had received from their advisor, others indicated they felt isolated and confused.
● Expectations for the advising relationship varied between students and faculty and between individual faculty members.
● TO meet concerns, a program coordinator was assigned, sample messages for faculty to send to newly admitted students were created. Templates for several prototypical pathways through the program., a site forum for students was created, general advising session for ed.d students

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About the Study

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