How To Write A Doctoral Program In Africa

Doctoral Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa

I. Manresa / P. Rebaque / L. Villarejo Community Initiatives

Office of Learning Technologies Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

learningtechnologies.uoc.edu

Addis Ababa Seminar July 2012

0

.

Index

1. Session & portal goals

2. Methodology

3. Users Study Outcomes (some)

4. Prototype feedback

1

.

Goal of the session

To get feedback on needs, expectations,

contents and possible uses of the portal

through a brief presentation of the work

done.

1

.

Goal of the portal

To encourage the exchange of ideas and

information related to doctoral progrs.

and its overall management in order to

provide relevant inspiration.

2

.

Methodology - User Centered Design



Goal: To conceptualize and design the portal's functionalities through the

acquisition of user needs, experiences and difficulties.



Tools:



Context provided by research studies from IAU



Users study

-

Phone interviews with 6 potential users (professors, heads of department, doctoral program coordinators, Vice Rectors) and a IAU representative.

- Personas: descriptions of archetypal users that depict the key characteristics, goals and behaviour of target users, as observed during the research process.

- Scenarios: stories that describe how the ideal user experience should be (both emotionally and functionally).

3

.

Users study outcomes (some)



The portal should essentially allow:

– To access to relevant PhD education documents that can inspire

the design or improvement of strategic, management and

academic policies.

– To know (and make known) information about the university in

terms of what is done, by whom and how.

– To provide information about tools for online collaboration work

and to share online information and documents, rather than

considering the portal as “a place of using online tools”



Potential user profiles and country-specific needs are quite

diverse.



Barriers have not been found in communicating with others,

3

.

Users Study - Persona 1

Erick

Having examples and guidelines on how to enhance the quality of doctoral programs from other institutions can be useful to define strategies for the creation of new doctoral programs at my university. Age Occupation Use of technology Goal Needs 49

• Regularly uses a computer and the Internet.

• Frequently uses e-mail, but not social networks, chats or forums • Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Senegal

• To define strategies to create different doctoral programs based on ICT in 2016

• Guidelines of doctoral programs’ deployment related to ICT at other universities • Recommendations on the implementation of doctoral programs in Applied Sciences • Documents on the influence of ICT in African universities

strategies to create different doctoral programs

(1/4)

Erick is Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Senegal. Given that this

university offers a degree in Computer Science, and there is growing evidence that ICTs are an engine of social and economic change, he has the mission to

develop the strategies

needed to start several doctoral programs

focused on ICT by 2016.

IAU has told him that there is a portal that provides useful information for what he wants, so he decides to visit it and investigate what kind of information is provided there.

strategies to create different doctoral programs

(2/4)

Erick accesses the portal and finds a section with

technical documentation about

doctoral studies

, such as

creating and managing doctoral programs

,

funding

,

how to enhance supervision of doctoral students

.

Looking through the documentation available in this section, Erick finds a

document on

"Successful Implementation experiences of doctoral programs in Applied

Science

in Cameroon”.

He also finds a

document drawn up by the University of Kenya on the impact of

ICT in society and universities

. He decides to download both documents so as to read them later.

strategies to create different doctoral programs

(3/4)

In another section Erick finds

documents on how to enhance the relationships with

European universities

, and as well a section with

information on different

international associations

and some of them on ICT. Eric thinks that this kind of information can be useful to develop doctoral programs in ICT bearing in mind the strengthening of current relationships with international institutions

With all the documentation he has found, Erick believes he can go ahead rapidly in the formulation of strategies for the future doctoral programs in ICT.

strategies to create different doctoral programs (4/4)

And since he has found documents related to the management and development of doctoral programs from other African universities within the portal, he

decides to upload a

document

on this issue drawn up by his University in order that other institutions can access it.

Finally, Erick also locates a

section on how to improve the supervision of PhD

students

, so he decides to download it and send it to the various departmental heads and hence be distributed to supervisors.

4

.

Prototype feedback



We would like to get feedback about:



Information you find useful.



Information you find useless.



Information you find difficult to compile/maintain.



Information you miss.



Information, if any, you are not willing to share.

5

.

Ideas around the portal's name



Concepts to build up on:

Reflection / Innovation / Knowledge / Sharing /

Networking / Inspiration (muse) / PhD /

Sub-Saharan Africa ...



Some ideas:

– Evoking images: Adzap (baobab) / Kulu (Turtle)

– IDEA (Innovative Doctoral Education in ss Africa)

– Literals: AFRIDOC / e-doctoral / PhD ss Africa

Feedback needed on:

- Information in the portal (needs, expectations...)

- Portal's name

Thanks

[email protected]

I. Manresa / P. Rebaque / L. Villarejo Community Initiatives

Office of Learning Technologies Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

6

.

Persona 2

Michael

In order to create a new doctoral program, time, technical information and contacts are critical. I wish I had examples and information from other universities.

Age Occupation Use of technology Goal Needs 41

• Regularly uses a computer and the Internet.

• Frequently uses e-mail, but not social networks, chats or forums

• Doctoral program coordinator in applied psychology at the University of Cameroon • Teacher in the subject of basic psychology

• To create a new doctoral program in the neuropsychology of sleep.

• What institutions are doing doctoral programs on the neuropsychology of sleep or similar? • What are these doctoral programs like (courses, subjects, itineraries, etc.)

• How to create, manage and coordinate a program of this type • What kinds of experts/teachers are needed?

• What kinds of research results have been achieved? • What kinds of resources or materials are needed? • To contact an expert on this topic to get some advice

6

.

Scenario: Create a new doctoral program (1/4)

Michael is the doctoral program coordinator in applied psychology at the University of Cameroon, and the Vice-Rector for Research entrusted him to

create a new doctoral

program in neuropsychology of sleep

to commence in 2014.

Michael has already experience in the creation of new doctoral studies, as he led the organization and creation of the applied psychology doctoral program, which he also

coordinates. However, the new doctoral program in the neuropsychology of sleep will have its impact on the neuropsychology field, which he currently does not have much experience and knowledge, so

he needs to search for information on similar doctoral

programs to find out how to start.

Recently, the IAU reported to him that

there is

a new Portal that provides

information on doctoral programs from other sub-Saharan Africa universities

, so he decides to visit this Portal to see if it could be useful for his purpose.

6

.

Scenario: Create a new doctoral program (2/4)

Michael accesses to the Portal, and sees a

section to find information on doctoral

studies carried out in other universities

. He searches the neuropsychology of sleep, and finds that there is a doctoral program in the neuroscience of sleep offered by the

University of Nigeria. He accesses to this doctorate and finds

information about

subjects and itineraries

, as well as the

kind of research conducted

,

thesis and

projects developed in this field, and laboratories

that the University of Nigeria has. He considers that this kind of information is useful because in this way he gets the idea of how to organize the neurological itinerary that the future program doctoral will have, and also the kind of laboratory and instruments that are needed.

6

.

Scenario: Create a new doctoral program (3/4)

He also sees a

section on profiles of teachers

,

managers and collaborators

working on this doctoral program, as well as their contact information. Michael notes down the email address of the coordinator to write to him later.

For what he has seen so far, Michael believes that all the information he has found is

extremely useful, and also very easy to find. He thinks that

the Portal will save him a lot

of time in searching information

, specially if he compares it with the time and effort he had to invest in searching information he needed to create the doctoral program that he

6

.

Scenario: Create a new doctoral program (4/4)

He goes back to the homepage, and sees a

section on e-tools

. He accesses and finds

information on tools to share documents and work collaboratively in an online way, which will be very useful for managing and sharing the documentation that will be generated for

the

creation of the doctorate.

Finally, he finds a

board

at the homepage, in which it is announced that the University of Madagascar needs an expert in health psychology to supervise doctoral students of Primary Health Care in Africa. Michael thinks in his colleague Andrew for this position.