The Influence of Tradition, Context, and Research in Doctoral Degree Design

Lorayne Robertson, Bill Muirhead

This paper examines the design of a doctoral degree in a technology-enhanced learning environment (TELE) as a form of design research. Research, policy, practice and design are key elements that can be mutually supportive in degree development. They are also elements that can evolve during doctoral program development if there is an open stance toward innovation. Designing and developing a degree involves significant research into the types of teaching, learning and assessment that have been shown to benefit students in TELE practice. Designers of education programs draw on methodologies from research, design and practice, employing common descriptors that are meaningful to informed audiences across disciplines. While the stages of the doctoral journey are easily recognizable, a design-based research approach can be employed to include innovation and reflection within degree elements and during stages of decision-making. In many ways, design-based research and doctoral program development mirror qualitative research, which has broader, more exploratory approaches embedded in its design. A qualitative research question often involves investigation or exploration (as opposed to an hypothesis). By nature, qualitative research design is formative, iterative, reflective and responsive, as different elements of the research design impact other elements as a phenomenon is explored. Researchers immersed in a qualitative study, or developers immersed in the design of a doctoral degree both participate in design through reflective processes. All of these factors contribute toward the synergies between design-based research and the development of a TELE doctoral education degree.

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