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Agile Approach to the Dissertation Process

Agile Approach to the Dissertation Process. Daniel Evans, Hjalmar Delaude , Jamente Cooper, Kenneth Melie , Robert Nardelli , Rodger Hughes, Sivakumar Pillai, Istvan Barabasi , Zachary Dall and Kathleen Brush. Introduction.

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Agile Approach to the Dissertation Process

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  1. Agile Approach to the Dissertation Process Daniel Evans, Hjalmar Delaude, Jamente Cooper, Kenneth Melie, Robert Nardelli, Rodger Hughes, Sivakumar Pillai, IstvanBarabasi, Zachary Dall and Kathleen Brush

  2. Introduction • Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and information Science uses an AGILE method to the dissertation procedures for students in the Doctor of professional Studies in Computing (DPS Program). • Research begins on day 1 and continues through the 5th semester • Idea papers, direct interaction with DPS professors, and an omnipresent dissertation notebook for annotating emerging thoughts are introduced in the first semester. • An Idea for dissertation can be explored and abandoned if it doesn’t yield a new and intriguing focus question. • Selecting a dissertation thesis that sustains high interest is vital to a Doctoral candidate’s successful completion.

  3. Premises and Assumptions • The DPS Program is designed to be completed in 3 years • There is only 1 admission process per year • Every DPS student starts in the FALL semester of their admittance year • A DPS student will officially graduate once he or she successfully presents, sustains, and defends a Research Dissertation. • Dissertation defense can take place at any time during the program with approval from the DPS faculty

  4. Hypothesis Pace University’s DPS program, using an agile approach, allows for students to earn their doctorate degrees within a shorter time frame in comparison with conventional doctorate programs

  5. Literature Review • Doctoral Dissertation origins are obscure • Originated within the Catholic Church during the medieval period • First known doctoral defense was conducted in Paris in 1150 A.D. • Focused on Scriptural Texts with students having to demonstrate their knowledge and mastery of canonical texts • Demonstration consisted of a combination of • Opponency (instance of opposing) • Disputations (disputing or debating) • Lectures • Faculty would critically attack an argument and student would have to defend using his knowledge

  6. Literature Review cont’d • Current Dissertation as we know it first appeared in 17th century Germany • Education system was loosely based on a apprentice to a guild formation • A student normally studied under a Master for a period of 7 years • Put their knowledge to the test by defending their abilities while being questioned by Masters of that discipline • Movement was away from the church, focusing on scientific knowledge

  7. Literature Review con’t • Germans created the Doctor of Philosophy using the original meaning of the Greek words phylos (to love) sophie (wisdom) • There was also a division in the types of doctoral degrees at this time • With the shift to research-based education, doctoral programs led to two paths: Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) • MD revolves around the practice of applied knowledge • Ph.D. revolves around the generation of knowledge • The modern Doctoral dissertation was modeled after the German model and first appeared in the United States at King’s College (now Columbia) in 1861

  8. Literature Review cont’d • Being research-based, the Doctorate of Philosophy allowed for the mastery of a wide variety of subjects from literature to music to law and the sciences • Requirements for a Doctoral Degree vary from country to country and discipline to discipline • In general, a candidate must present a dissertation or a thesis that consists of original academic research that is worthy of publication in peer-reviewed context and they must defend their work before a panel of experts • The panel will decide if the dissertation is passable or if there are any issues that must be addressed before the dissertation is accepted.

  9. Pace DPS In Computing Agile Dissertation Process • The program has been evenly matriculated throughout the 15 years of existence • The class size range from 20 to 11 with the mean being 15 • Seidenberg School of CSIS started their DPS program in 2002

  10. Benefits of DPS dissertation • Throughout the 15 years of the DPS program there have been many dissertations that have been researched, defended and published • As per technology changes so does : • Class schedule • Class material • Class curriculum  • Knowledge students bring to the courses • Dissertation ideas and topics

  11. DPS Topic We have analyzed 15 topics within this paper: Agile Security Statistical methods Software Development Mathematics Pervasive Web Services networks National Language Recognition AI ComputerScience Patterns Computer Education Web-Internet

  12. First 5 years: 2002-2006 • During the first 5 years of the DPS dissertations, the research focus predominately pertained to Business, Computer Science, Patterns, and the Web/Internet. • Interesting Fact: • The impact of these 4 areas diminished substantially over the next 10 years, but interestingly all 4 areas of study persisted with about 5% of total research topic interest. • However, after the initial five years, the doctorate students continue to diversify their research into new IT areas.

  13. Second period: 2007-2011 • After 2011 a sudden interest in AI stopped and substantial number of dissertations focused on IT Infrastructure and Cloud Computing areas. • Agile topics are mainly present within this period. • Activities in many areas can be performed in agile style and iteratively, including traditional areas such as supply chain management and operations as well. • This behavior actually re-occurred again later during the 2013-2014 period, showing that improving agile practices will drive subsequent positive impact and renewed creativity in delivering agile dissertations at Pace DPS.

  14. Third period: 2012-2016 • Within this period we saw a strong and renewed interest towards AI and security • Also Pattern recognition became a popular topic once again w. student, with a renewed focus for Software Development, Web Services, and Agile Development Processes. • Interesting Fact: • Web services evolution, such as micro services, was involved in all these three areas • We also saw a renewed interest towards pervasive computing, statistical methods, and software modeling • Security was also became a hot topic during this time, where student studied pervasive methods for authentication

  15. Next to come • Concluding the topics that were analysis, we found that the Pace DPS Program must improve the velocity in getting DPS Dissertations finalized • We also need to promote new topics and areas of interest with a deeper dive within the fields of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, next generation of Web/ Internet topics, including Social Computing, Security, and Pervasive computing (IoT and others).

  16. COMPARISON WITH TRADITIONAL PROCESSES • 123 DPS students who graduated from the program during a 15-year time period (2002 – 2016). • Shortest tenure in the program was approximately of 930 days (roughly 2 Years, 6 Months, and 20 Days). • longest tenure in the program was approximately of 5,477 days (roughly 15 Years, 0 Months, and 2 Days). • 39.02% (48 students) of the total graduated DPS students finished the program between 2 and 3 years. • Rate of students graduating in the DPS program has a general average of 51.14%. • Total number per Class of graduated DPS students is decreasing.

  17. COMPARISON WITH TRADITIONAL PROCESSES

  18. COMPARISON WITH TRADITIONAL PROCESSES

  19. COMPARISON WITH TRADITIONAL PROCESSES • Assuming same time period. • Pace University DPS Program has its peak in the interval > 2 Years and <= 3 Years - Positively (right) skewed distribution. • Other conventional PhD Programs have their peak in the interval >= 10 Years - Negatively (left) skewed distribution. • The point of intersection is between 5 to 6 years tenure and 10% to 15% of total graduated students.

  20. COMPARISON WITH TRADITIONAL PROCESSES

  21. Conclusion • Last 15 years that graduate students can produce complex research studies and finish their doctorate within 3 years on average. • Rigors of the program still exist which are solidified by the overall graduation rate of 51%. • More diverse material researched every year. • The DPS program is quite competitive and simply streamlines the entire doctorate program rather than extend the studies as is the case with conventional PhD programs. • Future research pertaining to the matter could identify the diversity within conventional PhD programs in contrast with Pace DPS research topics.

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