Ph.D. in Education – Brief Student Program Guide

Educational Computing, Design, and Online Learning

College of Education

Kansas State University

Rev. 6/09

Entry into the Ph.D. Program (Year One)

Establish Program of Studies and a Doctoral Committee

The program of studies should be completed within the first year or 9-12 hours. This committee is composed of 4 people – your major professor and three others, one of which must be from another department. This program is located in Curriculum and Instruction (Elementary and Secondary Education Departments, combined). This committee will be responsible for providing questions for your Preliminary Examinations, which are taken over halfway through the program, reading your dissertation proposal and meeting, as a committee to review it before you are allowed to collect data, and then convening for your final dissertation defense. This committee should be contacted within the first year or so.

Take Courses According to the Program of Study

Your program includes a previous master’s degree (30 hours) and a minimum of 30 hours of coursework, plus 30 hours of dissertation research. Those not having a master’s degree in Education or technology skills typically have one or more prerequisite courses to take to acquaint themselves with the field before beginning work on the Ph.D.

___ See On-Line Assessment Forms and Surveys for Ph.D. Candidates at

https://www.coe.ksu.edu/assessment/curin/

___ See the Ph.D. Student Learning Outcomes at https://www.coe.ksu.edu/assessment/curin/docs/phd-learningoutcomes.pdf

___ See the Checklist for Responsibilities and Assessment in the Ph.D. Program in Curriculum & Instruction at https://www.coe.ksu.edu/assessment/curin/docs/PhDChecklist08-1.pdf

___ Submit approved Doctoral Program of Studies form to Graduate School. See this page for the Program of Study form at

http://www.k-state.edu/grad/gscurrent/guideforms/doctoral.htm

Years 2-6*

Begin Taking Dissertation Hours
After taking the EDCI 887/888 sequence the first year, the student will have read and written enough to begin working in earnest on the dissertation proposal. Work on the proposal provides a basis for beginning to work on the Preliminary Examination questions. Contact Dr. Talab to begin writing and see the Dissertation Hours Guide.

Schedule Preliminary Examination After Completing Half or More Courses in Program of Study

___ When coursework is over half-way completed talk to individual committee members about Preliminary Exam Questions to be answered. Schedule this discussion several months ahead of the exam. It takes 2 days, with questions written for each committee member or what ever form the question assignment should be (paper, article, etc.).

___ See the Student Self-Assessment Surveys at

https://www.coe.ksu.edu/assessment/curin/

___ Submit Ph.D. Preliminary Exam Form. Fill out and submit the Request for Preliminary Examination Ballot at http://www.k-state.edu/grad/gscurrent/guideforms/doctoral.htm

___ Doctoral written Preliminary Examination completed

___ Begin taking 1-2 hours per semester of Dissertation Research, EDCI 999, in order to prepare Dissertation Proposal for Committee (See Dissertation Hours Guide, available from Dr. Talab for information on how to proceed)

Dissertation Proposal

___ Take Institutional Review Board Modules in order to be able to work on Dissertation proposal at http://urco.ksu.edu/IRBOverview.html

This work is often undertaken during a Qualitative Research course, as well.

___ Develop dissertation research proposal with Dr Talab, based on research done in Dissertation Hours taken previously.

___ Convene meeting of Doctoral committee to review proposal. If proposal is accepted, then an IRB form on the dissertation must be submitted and accepted in order to proceed with the study.

Get “Application for IRB Approval of Human Subjects Research” from IRB and fill out. Dr. Talab must be principal investigator and send in the form to the IRB (call 785-532-3224 for the IRB to download application). The candidate must register and log in, then complete the form. Contact Dr. Talab for information and forms.

____Continue to take at least one Dissertation Hour each semester until the Dissertation has been successfully defended. At that time credit for all 30 hours will be given. Prior to that time, students receive either an "NC" for doing work or an "I" for not making progress. Summers are not required for Dissertation Hours, though some students find this the best time of the year to work on it.

Dissertation and Final Defense

___ Conduct study, collect and analyze data.

___ Request meeting of doctoral committee for final defense.

___ Develop PPT of overview of study for this meeting.

___ Convene dissertation committee for oral doctoral dissertation defense, which takes one to one and one-half hours to complete.

___ Fill out forms for completion of dissertation and 30 research hours at

http://www.k-state.edu/grad/gscurrent/guideforms/doctoral.htm

___ Submit electronic dissertation to Graduate School (call 785-532-6191) and see this page for templates, forms, tutorials and information at http://www.k-state.edu/grad/etdr/index.htm

___ Fill out diploma information.

___ Degree is then awarded.

Important websites at KSU:

Doctoral forms

http://www.k-state.edu/grad/gscurrent/guideforms/index.htm

Dissertation Forms

http://www.k-state.edu/grad/etdr/index.htm

Graduation/Commencement Information

http://www.k-state.edu/grad/gscurrent/guideforms/comminfo.htm

*Note: You have six years to complete all coursework and the dissertation.