About
20
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Introduction
Currently embroiled in re-engineering the doctoral dissertation or thesis process for a cadre of international students who have for one reason or another fallen behind. Developing web-based but also personal solutions to the 50% "all but dissertation" issue at most universities.
Additional affiliations
April 2013 - present
DoctoralNet Ltd
Position
- CEO and Founder
Description
- We evaluate and offer subscription services to universities to recruit, retain and complete Doctoral and Research Masters students through a self guided technology driven process orientation to the thesis or dissertation.
October 2002 - June 2005
Colorado foundation for families and children
Position
- Study for the improvement of schooling for students experiencing homelessness in the US
Description
- A three year longitudinal student that covered 6 states with teachers and administrators working with parents in an action research study to improve education for homeless students.
January 1996 - March 2014
Position
- Chair of Doctoral Program
Description
- As the first Chair of a new EdD program we researched dissertation and thesis around the world, educational leadership practices as we evaluated the use of action research in an online program
Education
September 2002 - May 2005
Publications
Publications (20)
Postgraduate education is poised for rapid development and if Deans and administrators will embrace lessons from industry it can actually be a smooth transition. The cost of doing nothing is greater than it has ever been before. Hit and miss development has left Postgraduate Schools (PGS) with disjointed student analytics and student experience is...
Universities in the United States throw billions in revenue from graduate tuition away every year because the university, as an organization, is too timid to take on new technologies when they are offered. That graduate education is unequitable is no secret (Barker, 2011, Espino, 2008). While graduate recruitment focuses on ever wider populations,...
Purpose
Using PhD socialization research as a backdrop, this article delves into the pragmatic issues of program design, proposing a new conceptual model for graduate technology-supported learning environments as an equalizing force.
Design/Methodology/Approach
Lessons from the literature of PhD completion are sorted into the five domains developed...
Graduate / Postgraduate education is changing around the world to meet the demands of older, working, part time student populations at a distance from their universities. This article considers the choices and decisions available to a university administrator as s/he considers how to increase the reach of his/her academic socialization in an age of...
Graduate / Postgraduate education is changing around the world to meet the demands of older, working, part time student populations at a distance from their universities. This article takes a research based look at the issue of higher education working with SaaS companies to increase retention and completion at the graduate level.
Thanks to technology enhanced learning practices, graduate students around the world do not have to flounder in their studies as much as they do. Approximately 40 to 45% of US students entering universities for some form of doctoral degree failed to complete within six years 1. The statistics change according to the general class of the institution...
This list is culled from a discussion among experienced supervisors in the Research Gate community and is published in the hopes that it is useful and helpful to doctoral candidates
http://www.sagepub.com/vip/james/
Writing Your Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to Success
E.Alana James
Tracesea H. Slater
Publishing November 2013
Praise for this book:
"It is extremely readable and candid. As a faculty [member], I want students to know the 'real deal'. The approach offered in this book provides one that is ho...
A practical guide to how to do action research in business, non profits and public administration
Follow the author on Twitter! Alana James has a new twitter feed titled AR4Everything, which covers action research and reports on interesting facts. “Finally we have a data-driven text on participatory action research for educational leaders. Through thoughtful examples and guided instruction, this text makes the case that the complex issues of to...
This paper presents the final analysis of a mixed methodological study of participatory action research (PAR) as professional development. The participants were administrators and teachers studying extreme educational disadvantage caused by homeless and transient living conditions. Two questions are answered: 1. What was the experience of educators...
Of all the varieties of educational disadvantage, issues involving students who are homeless, or who move frequently because of poverty, are perhaps some of the most difficult for public school educators in the US to address. Using a pragmatic mixed methods design, this study evaluates the efficacy of participatory action research (PAR): (1) as a m...
The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare steps taken in the United States and Ireland to prevent students leaving school without sufficient qualifications. The study focuses on the context and attitudes towards educational disadvantage in the two countries and the subsequent policies. The Bridging the Gap (BTG) project supported by U...
Discusses a regional longitudinal action research project in the US to aid homeless students in schools.
Thesis (M.N.M.)--Regis University, Denver, 1998.
Questions
Questions (11)
I have been reading journals today that hinge on methodological experience. I find that many authors use these two terms differently. I look forward to reading the words as we tease out the specifics of what is framework, contextual, and which leads us to technique?
To back up a series on motivation/neuroscience/philosophy/psychology and how their lessons impact the experience of being a PhD candidate (https://doctoralnet.com/blog/) I am looking for guest bloggers (hopefully some students will step up) to share what worked for you - when you were down and discouraged, wanting to quit, what lessons or skills got you through that you might want to share with others.
If you can write 400-800 words we'll publish them on a blog - or leave a few notes here and I'll put together a group message vis research gate.
Thanks community for being willing to help others!\
Alana
I'm in the midst of an environmental scan of ed tech or technology enhanced solutions as they are used in higher ed processes.
On a related tack I am looking for technology as it is used to enhance phd process. Finally, and at any level, what companies or businesses may be supplying ed tech to your university?
Hints, research on these issues, connections with people "in the know" - I'll follow all leads - and thanks!
It is our theoretical position that slow PhD or other types of doctoral completion hinge on higher educations' sole reliance on the apprenticeship model for supervisory support. Universities augment these efforts with training, but those seldom reach all students and when they do they do not have even effects.
We have developed a low per student cost platform to create more efficacious results = and the platform is ready to test. Our pilot studies demonstrated 85% completion in education and business in 3.5 years with students who were older, part time and at a distance from their universities.
It was our hope to test the solution and then rewrite it for other types of complex learning issues - to improve upon what we have learned in e-learning without supplanting the teacher-student-university authority relationships. We find however that universities may be hesitant to join these tests - do our colleagues have ideas to share as to why?
Our advisors suggest PhD completion does not matter in higher education enough to disrupt procedures to test new solutions. Do you think that is true? Does your university enjoy being a leader in higher education, ready to test new technological solutions or have you seen efforts fail and if so why?
Of course anyone out there who thinks their university would be interested in these tests please notify me as well. The videos I have linked to take about 6 minutes each and one explains our ideas in ed theory and the other is an overview for students subscribed into the system.
I was challenged by a businessman in Cork Ireland that PhD Completion did not really matter - not to our universities enough they would change the way they set up the degree, nor to the professors or even the student themselves.
So I ask our community - do we think completion matters? If so who are the heavy hitters in pushing back on the mean of 50% completion in 5 years?
Finally, for all of you who do think it matters I ask you to please take just a moment and put your marker THIS MAP by filling out the THIS FORM.
http://info.doctoralnet.com/register-your-vote-that-phd-completions-matters - register your vote
I'm hoping to establish a visual representation that PhD completion does matter, and then to collect stories and publish them as to what we are doing to reverse the 50% trend.
Your university quality assurance director came to you with a suggestion for a new edtech solution that helps faculty and staff help PhD candidates so that they graduate faster. Two of the options that your director likes are the analytics of how/when students are passing milestones and the extra mentoring which comes with the partnership.
We are designing research in just this situation and want to make sure we have all the boxes ticked. An explanation of the solution we are working with is attached.
Thank you for your ideas.
DoctoralNet Ltd will soon be taking application for professorial consultants to work with students as they design their research and write it up - we want to ensure that we "have all the bases covered."
