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Online doctoral degree as an international trend during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and experiences
Date Issued
2024
Citation
Dos Santos, L. M., Lo, H. F., Wu, J., Kwee, C. T. T., Zhao, H., Wu, Z. L., Chen, L., & Wang, Y. (4 Jul 2024). Online doctoral degree as an international trend during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and experiences. 2024 International Conference on Open and Innovative Education, Hong Kong Metropolitan University.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Internationally, there are two types of doctoral degree training systems, the American and the British system. The American doctoral training system requires learners to complete a series of coursework in a cohort, whereas the British system tends to complete a doctoral thesis as the only requirement. Under the American system, doctoral learners usually study their coursework as a cohort for two years as one of the preparations. Learners usually continue with their thesis afterwards. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities have started to offer onlineonly doctoral degree programmes for students who cannot spend time on campus. Many American learners tend to receive their coursework training together with other classmates in order to exchange knowledge and ideas. During the online cohort, such interpersonal discussions can be missed. Based on this situation, the current study
wants to understand the motivations for selecting such online doctoral programmes and the challenges during the online learning voyage. Under the guidelines of the Social Cognitive Career and Motivation Theory and Self-Efficacy Theory as the theoretical frameworks with the purposive sampling strategy, up to four programs and up to 25 currently enrolled doctoral learners will be invited to join the focus group activities, remarkable item sharing, and memberchecking interview sessions for qualitative data sharing.
As this is an ongoing project, the researchers will categorise up to five themes and 10 subthemes for this study. Based on some of the previous studies and the theoretical frameworks, potential themes can be (1) career development, (2) surrounding individuals and environments, and (3) personal considerations. The final themes and findings will be reported during the final stage of this study This study will contribute to (1) the sustainable development of online doctoral degree learners who want
to achieve their doctoral degree as part-time learners, (2) university leaders who can develop online or blendedbased doctoral degrees that can meet the needs for many part-time learners who cannot study on campus, and (3) curriculum and materials developers and designers who can create learning materials for students who may rely highly on online learning and technologically assisted materials
for their advanced coursework and knowledge, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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