The very idea of an online doctoral degree strikes many academics as odd. How can online learning provide the kind of research resources typically required by doctoral study? How does an online program reproduce the rigor of doctoral examinations, the energy of seminars, and the experiential learning of working in a laboratory with a leading scholar or group of scholars?
Students who pursue doctoral degrees through any of the non-traditional routes, whether limited residency programs or fully online programs, need to ask themselves why they are choosing such programs over traditional doctorates, what they are gaining by such a choice, and what they may be losing in terms of both education and the market value of the degree.
These questions become more complex when one realizes that doctoral education is in the process of a major overhaul. What are the new trends in doctoral study?
Across the world, universities, government agencies, and others have been asking tough questions about the purpose of doctoral study. In the United States, Congress has raised questions about the costs and benefits of open ended programs in which many students pursue degrees for years without finishing dissertations. European universities, as part of the European Economic Community's (EEC) Bologna Process, which is an ongoing EEC negotiation, have been working to redesign all levels of higher education, but especially doctoral study. And developing nations, particularly China, are trying to figure out the best way to create excellent doctoral programs that can compete--in research productivity--with the developed world.
Here are some of the trends.
Doctoral study, many feel, should make a clear contribution to a national economic and social agenda. In many northern European nations, this has meant that corporations, universities and governments have joined together to create doctoral research teams that try to enhance local economies by developing new products or processes.
There is growing agreement that all doctoral students should have common training in statistics, research methods, and epistemology--the study of how we reach conclusions and what constitutes knowledge.
Further, the trend is toward doctoral programs that are cross-disciplinary, so that graduates learn not only their own fields, but also become acquainted with related areas.
Increasingly programs involve significant teamwork, so that students graduate not only with advanced and specialized knowledge but also with highly honed abilities in writing, speaking, explaining concepts to people in other fields, and effective collaboration.
Altogether, this model is what Europeans call Mode II doctoral study. The old style--Mode I--was the independent scholar model, according to which a student worked on his or her own and produced a dissertation that might have limited interest to others.
American doctoral programs tend to require substantial amounts of coursework. They provide deep and broad education. European programs often allow students to focus on a narrowly defined project, with the result that graduates may not have the depth or breadth of education that Americans receive. American programs often leave students to work alone; the newer European programs emphasize collaboration.
More information about trends in doctoral programs can be found in the book Toward a Future PhD: Forces and Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide, edited by Maresi Nerad and Mimi Heggelund, University of Washington Press, 2008. I am the co-author of the introductory chapter and the conclusions. The Seattle Declaration at the end of the book offers an agenda for the future of doctoral study.
No doubt reviewers on this site will explore the offerings of many online doctoral programs and offer their own recommendations.
Anyone who looks at the most widely available online doctoral programs will notice some obvious features.
Online doctoral programs tend to be offered in management fields, whether the content being managed is public health information, information technology, or personnel management. In these fields, a student can be given a solid grounding in statistics, research methods, and then a body of post-master's coursework.
Depending on the quality of the supervising faculty, a student may be able to complete a meaningful dissertation project and accomplish the overall objective of all doctoral programs, which is to become a self-directed researcher with highly developed critical and analytical skills.
Before making a deposit, a prospective student should ask around about the ultimate use of a doctorate. Online doctorates may provide excellent education and help with career advancement. Will a particular doctorate enable a student to enter college teaching or work in a major research center? On a cost/benefit analysis, how does an online doctorate really compare to a good, local program at a public or private university?
It goes almost without saying that students should carefully examine the accreditations of any online program to be sure that the sponsoring university has American regional accreditation. For more information about accreditation and university rankings, see my series on Choosing a College in Tough Economic Times.