Deep Thinking on a Pivotal Program

By Andrea Bennett on August 27, 2009 11:14 AM

The Ed.D. program in the USC Rossier School of Education offers an innovative approach to doctoral dissertations.

Students join thematic dissertation groups of eight to work together on an important problem of practice. Students learn together, mirroring the collective work to improve educational systems in the real world.

But the question is how to help students engage in this collective dissertation work?

Designers of the USC Rossier Ed.D. wanted to avoid the problems created at other universities where individual students need to create a unique research topic and find their dissertation chair among the faculty.

The practice is part of the redesign the school’s program underwent in 2002, and it is a far cry from what most Ed.D. students face in the dissertation process, said USC professor David Marsh, who led the design and implementation of the school’s program.

“In most doctoral programs, students are left on their own to secure a topic and a chair. They have to search for a committee and beg a faculty member to be their chair. It’s up to the students to figure it out,” Marsh said. “It’s the one and only time they’re going to do a dissertation. So it’s very high stakes, and there’s little support at those other universities.”

USC Rossier created a strategy to launch the dissertation process in its Ed.D. program. On Aug. 22, the sixth annual Summer Conference helped about 150 Ed.D. students match up with their thematic dissertation group.

Throughout the day, 16 groups of faculty made 40-minute presentations, and each student attended up to three presentations that best fit his or her career goals and interests.

The results of the conference were stunning.

“I felt energized and ready to take on the biggest academic challenge of my life,” said Ed.D. student Sabrina Chong. “Will it be tough along the way? Absolutely. However, I took comfort after the conference in that I’ll have good professors and colleagues to get me through it.”

Ed.D. student Elizabeth Peisner said that prior to the conference, she was worried she wouldn’t find a thematic group that fit with her personal desire to assist disabled populations in higher education.

“My mind was blown wide open,” Peisner said of attending a presentation on investigating best practices for international campuses, partnerships and degree programs led by Michael Diamond and Mark Robison, who encouraged her to incorporate her interest into their thematic group.

“I found myself exploring my passion for disabled populations, but on a potentially global scale,” she said. “I was so heartened to find faculty to be true to my field of interest, but approach it from an entirely new slant.”

Similar epiphanies were experienced by students with interests across the spectrum.

The topics consist of practical problems of practice - not the theoretical problems Ph.D. students tackle - and thematic groups allow each student to contribute his or her talent to solving the problem, much like they would in a real-world education setting.

Students have a week to submit their top three choices, and they are matched according to their needs and career goals. Most of the students get their first choice, but it isn’t always the topic they had in mind when they first arrived at the conference, said Kathy Stowe, executive director of the Ed.D. program and assistant professor of clinical education for USC Rossier.

“There are so many choices and so many faculty are involved. That’s the beauty of it,” Stowe said. “We tell them to come with an open mind. So many times students looking at one particular topic come to the conference and walk away with a different perspective.”

That was the case for Ed.D. candidate Brent Forsee.

“I thought it was excellent,” Forsee said days after the conference. “I thought I had my choices pretty much summed up. Now, due to the quality of presentations, I am thinking much deeper about what I want to do.”

Marsh said the conference is indicative of an innovative Ed.D. program that sets students up to succeed.

“It’s a pivotal, positive part of the program. I love to see a conference where students are excited because they can see faculty are going to support their learning and help them complete their degree,” Marsh said. “They’re just blown away.”

For more information about the Ed.D. program at the USC Rossier School of Education, visit http://rossier.usc.edu/academic/edd/

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