Purdue Global (PUG) EdD in Leadership and Innovation

[walruspanda]

Do the professors for 780 and 810 seem reasonable in that if I were to start this program and had a vacation for 2 weeks during one of those classes that it would not cause an issue? The program advisor I spoke to couldn’t really answer if I could work ahead or make up work etc.

I took a two-week vacation in the middle of ED710 and ED720, so yes...with some caveats. First, you have to work ahead on assignments -- which is definitely possible, since you have all of them at the beginning of the term. So as long as you're willing to put that work in early in the term, it's possible. The second issue, though, is there are weekly discussion posts as well. You can write this ahead of time (I've done that a lot), but you also have to respond to a certain number of students' posts as well, and that has to be done during that week. So you can't go down to zero work those two weeks (unless you have a very understanding prof), but you can go down to, say, an hour or two of work those two weeks.

[Coachr21]

Do the professors for 780 and 810 seem reasonable in that if I were to start this program and had a vacation for 2 weeks during one of those classes that it would not cause an issue? The program advisor I spoke to couldn’t really answer if I could work ahead or make up work etc.

I took a two-week vacation in the middle of ED710 and ED720, so yes...with some caveats. First, you have to work ahead on assignments -- which is definitely possible, since you have all of them at the beginning of the term. So as long as you're willing to put that work in early in the term, it's possible. The second issue, though, is there are weekly discussion posts as well. You can write this ahead of time (I've done that a lot), but you also have to respond to a certain number of students' posts as well, and that has to be done during that week. So you can't go down to zero work those two weeks (unless you have a very understanding prof), but you can go down to, say, an hour or two of work those two weeks.

I really appreciate your insight, I am really trying to decide between a few programs and am currently leaning Purdue, so this settles my conflict. But yeah I mean I’m sure on my trip I could muster up enough time for that in the evenings. With their platform is it cell-phone accessible or would I need to bring a laptop with me to access it? I would not wanna bring my expensive laptop over seas so if so I’d try and buy like a Chromebook or something just for that purpose if phones wouldn’t be enough for discussions. i appreciate your insight!

[walruspanda]

I really appreciate your insight, I am really trying to decide between a few programs and am currently leaning Purdue, so this settles my conflict. But yeah I mean I’m sure on my trip I could muster up enough time for that in the evenings. With their platform is it cell-phone accessible or would I need to bring a laptop with me to access it? I would not wanna bring my expensive laptop over seas so if so I’d try and buy like a Chromebook or something just for that purpose if phones wouldn’t be enough for discussions. i appreciate your insight!

Sure, I've written short responses to posts on the PUG mobile site -- it can definitely be done. (It can't be done on the PUG Pulse app, though, which is otherwise pretty good.) It wouldn't be my preference to write something longer on...but my teenage kids and their nimble fingers probably would have no issue with it. It's not a problem.

[walruspanda]

Apologies for no updates in a while -- busy with school and life.

I'm midway through ED820, which is the second of four Applied Research Project courses...for now. (Will get to that ominous clause shortly.) Chapters 1 and 2 in my ARP have been approved; chapter 3 has been turned in and I'm waiting for approval. IRB is the second half of this course, and ED830/ED840 are chapters 4/5 respectively. And then I'm done!

Consensus view is that these courses used to be harder than the 700s, but not excessively so. PUG leadership been disappointed in the quality of some of the ARPs, though, so they've been cracking down a bit in various ways, which has made the 800s more difficult in ways that some of my classmates are upset about. (Having read some of the ARPs, I think PUG made the right decision, quality-wise.)

Anyway, the structure of the degree used to be 8 courses of coursework (the 700s), which could be completed in 4 terms, then the 4 ARP 800s courses in 4 more terms, for a total of 8 10-week terms, or around 20 months (including breaks). As part of this change to increase ARP quality, the degree is now 6 courses of coursework (which still takes 4 terms, since ED780 can't be taken with another course), followed by 6 ARP courses (slowing down the writing), meaning 10 10-week terms instead (or a bit over two years). I don't disagree with these changes, actually -- though I think I'm in the minority -- but it does slow down the degree a bit.

[walruspanda]

Hey, another of my irregular updates for the PUG EdD degree.

I'm now in the latter half of ED830, the third of four Applied Research Courses (for my cohort; read my last post for more). I've submitted the first four chapters (all but the conclusion) of my ARP for final approval...inclusive of everything, it's roughly 150 pages right now. I'm still on track to receive my degree in March 2026, although more students have been sent back to complete extension courses recently than in the early days of the degree, so it's always possible I'll be delayed another term to June. At this point, I'm terribly impatient to get this done, but other than writing the best ARP I can, there's not much I can do.

Many more changes to the degree even since the last time I wrote in August. All the ARP courses have been redesigned. The structure for the ARP was changed...and annoyingly, my cohort had to change our ARP to the new structure, which took me nearly 20 hours of additional (and to my mind, unnecessary) work. There is now a defense of sorts at the end, which there wasn't before; I say "of sorts" because you're sent the questions you need to respond to, and then you're given 24 hours to record a video response of 20 minutes or so. All ARPs now need to be published in the PUG library at the end, which I don't know why that wasn't a requirement to start with. Overall, I think 80 percent or so of the changes they've made are positive ones, although some are causing havoc with my particular cohort (probably not true for future ones). I would still likely recommend the program, but it's certainly a less enthusiastic recommendation than I would have had, say, two terms ago.