The Coordinator of the ECT doctoral program is Professor
Jan L. Plass (212 998 5658, jan.plass@nyu.edu).
The ECT doctoral program is interested in the design of rich, technology-based
multimedia learning environments and in conducting research on factors
that influence learning, as individuals engage with these environments,
and as groups interact with them and each other. ECT doctoral courses
and research focus on those representational features and structural
characteristics of technology-based learning environments that may, in
a particular set of circumstances, have cognitive, affective, motivational
and socio-cultural significance for learners who interact with them.
From the perspectives of both designers and design researchers, faculty
and students work to identify, and explain why, not only design elements
but also cognitive, social, cultural and emotional factors either motivate
and scaffold learning or inhibit and interfere with it.
ECT faculty and doctoral
students, together with researchers associated with CREATE projects
and institutes, represent widely differing areas of inquiry in the
field of educational technology, from the design of narrative features
in games that support problem solving to the effects of narrative structure
in linear video dramas on the exercise of critical thinking; from the
role of prior knowledge on learning from different forms of representation
in simulations of science principles to the design of technology-based
environments that support the social construction of knowledge to strengthen
collaborative and negotiation skills; from the design of electronic
portfolio environments that scaffolds metacognition to the comparative
effects of fictional reality and testimonial reality on attitude change.
ECT students and faculty draw
implications for design and develop frameworks for research from a robust
interdisciplinary understanding of human learning, comprised of perspectives
from the cognitive sciences, the learning sciences, developmental models
of learning, constructivist and constructionist philosophies of learning,
and social learning theory. Other fields that inform ECT doctoral
study include communication design, information design, multimedia
learning theory, human-computer interaction, human symbolization and
aesthetics.
- Doctoral
Requirements
The Handbook
for Doctoral Study details course and research requirements,
policies, and procedures for students in all Steinhardt doctoral
degree programs.
Within the School-wide framework, ECT's requirements for the
doctoral degree follow.
The Ph.D. in ECT is a 57 credit program, comprised of two major
categories of course work: ECT coursework (21 credits);
and "School-wide doctoral requirements" (36 credits),
research- and dissertation-related coursework required of all doctoral
students in The Steinhardt School. The Coordinator of the doctoral
program and faculty academic advisors assist students in making
course selections and planning course sequences both appropriate
to general doctoral guidelines and relevant to students' individuals
goals and interests (all ECT faculty serve as academic advisors
to doctoral students). All courses taken must be at the graduate
level which, at NYU, are numbered at the 2000- and 3000-levels
(and at equivalent graduate levels in other schools at NYU, should
doctoral students take their electives in NYU schools other than
Steinhardt).
- Course
Requirements
ECT Specialization Courses (21 credits required)
Requirements
ECT Foundations
E19.2174 Cognitive Science and Educational Technology
I (3)
E19.2175 Cognitive Science and Educational Technology
II (3)
Doctoral Seminars
E19.3076 Advanced Seminar in Research & Practice
in Instructional Technology (3)
Electives, selected remaining 12 credits from
courses in these categories:
ECT Foundations
Design Foundations
Design Electives
Research Courses
Steinhardt Doctoral Requirements (36 credits required)
See Steinhardt
Handbook
for Doctoral Study for definitions of these courses or course
categories:
- Educational Foundations (6)
- Content Seminar, in ECT (3)
E19.3311 Content Seminar: Research in Instructional
Technology
- Research Electives (15)
- Specialized Research Method (3)
- Dissertation Proposal Seminar (3)
- Cognates, professional electives related to specialization
(6)
- Research
Requirements and Benchmarks
As doctoral students advance through their course work and develop
expertise in a particular area of inquiry, they begin to formulate
the questions that will define their doctoral research process. This
process is comprised of a series of benchmarks, the first of which
is meeting the requirements for admission to degree candidacy.
- The candidacy paper
- Candidacy approval
Admission to degree candidacy
- Appointment of dissertation committee
- The dissertation proposal
Application to University Committee on Activities Involving Human
Subjects
The dissertation proposal review
- Dissertation research and writing
Final oral examination
Final dissertation approval
For ECT students this step involves writing the candidacy paper,
a scholarly examination of a critical issue or problem at the intersection
of learning, media and technology, with the guidance and support
of an ECT faculty advisor. In the candidacy paper, students review
relevant theory and studies previously conducted concerning this
issue or problem, with a view toward establishing important directions
to pursue in their own dissertation research.
After admission to candidacy, doctoral students' next benchmarks
include developing the dissertation proposal and the appointment
of a dissertation committee; these steps typically interact, as
students make progress on the proposal while identifying appropriate
committee members who, in turn, as selected, contribute to students' progress.
During this period, students have the benefit of additional support
in the Dissertation Proposal Seminar required of all doctoral students.
Depending on the types of studies students plan, this phase might
also involve applying for approval to conduct their studies from
the University Committee on Activities Involving Human Subjects.
The dissertation proposal, once approved by the students' committee,
is formally reviewed by an advisory panel of faculty with relevant
expertise. When approved, students begin the longer process of
conducting their studies with the continued guidance and support
of committee members. The last benchmark is the final oral examination
of the completed dissertation, conducted by the dissertation committee
and two outside readers.
See Steinhardt Handbook
for Doctoral Study for descriptions, procedures, deadlines
and additional details concerning all research requirements.