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How Does a Professional Doctorate of Computing Differ from a PhD in Computing?

How Does a Professional Doctorate of Computing Differ from a PhD in Computing?. Donald Joyce UNITEC New Zealand. Background. Unitec unique in New Zealand – “institute of technology” offering certificates to doctorates

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How Does a Professional Doctorate of Computing Differ from a PhD in Computing?

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  1. How Does a Professional Doctorate of Computing Differ from a PhD in Computing? Donald Joyce UNITEC New Zealand

  2. Background • Unitec uniquein New Zealand – “institute of technology” offering certificates to doctorates • DComp only professional doctorate in computing in New Zealand • First cohort in February 2003, first course Critical Issues in Professional Practice • Weekend classes, contributions from academics, practitionersand students

  3. Content and Structure • New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) prescribes - 120 credits of coursework and 240 credits of thesis, all at level 10 • Most professional doctorates in Australia and New Zealand have current issues course(s) and research methodscourse(s) • Critical Issues in Professional Practice 60 credits • Advanced Scholarly Enquiry 30 credits • Research Development 30 credits

  4. Content and Structure Critical Issues in Professional Practice course taken first by all students, fulfils three roles: • consciousness-raising about professional issues • immersing students in level 10 study • identifying possible research topics

  5. Identification of Issues Objectives: • Contextualise issues in professional practice historically and philosophically • Analyse contemporary perspectives • Critically review applications of theory to a situation • Select and scope a variety of research opportunities in relation to professional practice

  6. Identification of Issues • Four major themes: cultural, economic, societal and technical • Issues chosen to be topical, related to one or more of the themes related to interests of staff and students • First weekend: Historical and Philosophical Context Values, Responsibilities and Liabilities

  7. Identification of Issues • Second weekend: Ethics and Professionalism • Third weekend: Class, Culture and Gender Issues • Fourth weekend: Expert Systems and Extreme Programming • Fifth and sixth weekends: Globalisation and Health Informatics • Seventh weekend: Software Development Impact Statements

  8. Student Response • NZQA monitor reported that students were very happy with the programme • Livelydiscussions and class participation • First author and three of the students wrotecomparative study of 27 codes of conduct/ethics/practice of professional bodies in the field of computing and information technology – presented at national conference

  9. Assessment • Presentation of the historical and philosophical context of an issue that spans at least two of the major themes • Presentation of a contemporary perspective on an issue that spans at least two of the major themes • Written report on a critical review and scoping of research opportunities

  10. Assessment • Criteria for assessing presentations developed by first author in consultation with students, used to give formative feedback, then refined • Presentations assessed by a panel of four (three Unitec staff and a visiting professor) • Report assessed by two of the panel • Report and written records of presentations moderated by an external academic

  11. Research Courses 2004 • Advanced Scholastic Inquiry Presentation of research problem, Literature review – published in 2005 • Research Development Presentation of research approaches, Research proposal – approved in 2005

  12. New Intake 2005 • First weekend: Codes of Ethics, IT in Development, e-Tourism, Systems Documentation, Virtual Environments • Second weekend: Collaborative Computing, e-learning, Gender Issues • Third weekend: Community Informatics, Ethics, Professionalism • Fourth weekend: Business Continuity Planning, Digital Libraries, Health Informatics, Outsourcing, Web Technologies • Fifth weekend: Software: Impact Statements, Project Performance

  13. Conclusions Four key differences: • Stages that PhD students go through are formalized and assessed in the DComp • DComp students required to address professional issues in coursework and thesis, with inputs from practitioners at all stages • DComp programme “cohort-based” - increases likelihood that students will support each other • DComp students are part time and have extensive industry experience

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