Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) 

The Ph.D. degree typically prepares students for the professorate or research posts within labs or think tanks. The Ph.D. is focused on research and will train students to become researchers capable of adding new knowledge within the field of Instructional Systems.

Objectives for Doctor of Philosophy Graduates

Upon completion of the Doctor of Philosophy Program, the graduate will be able to:

• discuss learning processes and implications for the development of effective instruction,

• conduct comprehensive needs assessments identifying important learner, environmental, and task characteristics,

• develop effective instructional materials for a variety of learning tasks, student characteristics, and learning environments,

• evaluate the effectiveness of educational materials,

• practice instructional design skills in a variety of settings,

• apply these skills to a variety of environments,

• interpret and conduct research with statistical and qualitative interpretations, 

• develop professional positions and argue for those positions,

• demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills, and

• provide leadership resulting in the extension of the professional knowledge base.

The Ph.D. in Instructional Systems is intended for advanced professionals who have a master’s degree and wish to strengthen their abilities to do scholarly work and research in one of the educational or training fields represented in Instructional Systems. Ph.D. students are characterized as those who will add to the knowledge base in their field. They study an area for its own sake—not necessarily with an eye toward the practical applications of their discoveries.

Because the Ph.D. is designed to prepare graduates to contribute to and extend the instructional systems field and because contribution to the field involves engagement in formal research, requirements for the Ph.D. include significant preparation in the areas of communications, statistics, and research methodology. The Ph.D. degree is competency-based and has no minimum credit requirement by the Graduate School. That is, your program requirements will be designed to fulfill a set of competencies, which may require the completion of more or less than 90 credit hours. Nevertheless, a doctoral degree is typically a minimum of 90 credits beyond the undergraduate degree.

Course/Program Requirements for Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Students

• You can download a copy of our doctoral handbook for further information on our program, residency, and course requirements.

• For further information on course requirements, click here.