Supporting Online Students in US-based Professional Doctoral Programs
International Perspectives on Supporting and Engaging Online Learners
ISBN: 978-1-80043-485-1, eISBN: 978-1-80043-484-4
Publication date: 16 September 2021
Abstract
What contributes to US professional doctoral student success in the online space is the subject of this chapter. The online doctoral student occupies two underserved categories of higher education students: doctoral students and online students, both of which have historically low graduation rates (Bawa, 2016; Stone, 2017). A number of US online doctoral programs have significantly higher graduation rates than normal, demonstrating that it is possible to create highly successful online doctoral programs. In this chapter, we apply the R. E. Clark and Estes (2008) conceptual framework of human performance to understanding the factors contributing to doctoral student success in online programs. We look at three stakeholder groups, faculty, staff, and students, and review the factors and solutions that could allow each group to contribute to doctoral student success. This review of the literature is informed by examples drawn from two online professional doctoral programs for which the authors either designed and taught courses, and chaired dissertations, or were enrolled in as a student.
Keywords
Citation
Sundt, M. and Wheaton, L. (2021), "Supporting Online Students in US-based Professional Doctoral Programs", Hoffman, J. and Blessinger, P. (Ed.) International Perspectives on Supporting and Engaging Online Learners (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 39), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 163-180. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120210000039013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited