Doctor of Philosophy - Learning Sciences

Degree Requirements

1. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.00 or higher for all course work taken at the doctoral level.
2. Residence Credit Requirement: A minimum of 50 percent of the total credits required to complete the doctoral degree not including transferred and dissertation credits must be earned at UNLV after admission to the doctoral degree program.
3. Each student must satisfy a scholarly paper requirement by the time he or she has completed 36 credits (Review I). The student must be primarily responsible for carrying out and reporting a study under the supervision of a program faculty member. The requirement may be fulfilled in one of two ways. First, the study may involve the collection and analysis of some empirical data (for example, a pilot study) resulting in a scholarly paper that is submitted to either a professional journal or as a proposal to an annual conference of a national organization. Second, the paper may consist of a literature review that is submitted for publication in a quality, peer-reviewed journal or submitted for presentation at a national conference. Prior to beginning, projects must be approved by a supervising faculty member. Once completed, students must submit to the program coordinator: (a) a copy of the paper, (b) a submission acknowledgment, and (c) a completed Review I form from the supervising faculty member.
4. Students must complete a one-semester or summer internship (EPY 794) with an employer.  The purpose of the internship is to provide students with real-world experience in designing, implementing, or evaluating a learning environment, so as to augment students’ depth of knowledge and skills as Learning Scientists.  The internship is also intended to enhance students’ employability.  The internship, which may be paid or unpaid, must be with an employer (for example, text book publisher, school district, U.S. military, hotel/casino, museum); these may include appropriate units at UNLV outside of academic departments.  The internship may, however, also be part of an academic research partnership involving these entities.  The student is responsible for securing an internship opportunity.  The internship may be completed at any point in the program prior to advancement to candidacy.
5. The internship must result in an academic research product (paper or report) that is partially or fully authored by the student.  Proposals for internships that specify the employer, end product, and nature of the work must be approved by the student’s advisor before the internship commences.
6. In consultation with his/her advisor, a student will organize a dissertation committee of at least three program members. In addition, a fourth member from outside the program, known as the Graduate College Representative, must be appointed. An additional committee member may be added at the student and department’s discretion. The committee must be chaired by a program faculty member with a primary affiliation with the Department of Educational Psychology and Higher Education or co-chaired by such a faculty member and a program faculty member with a primary affiliation in another department. Please see Graduate College policy for committee appointment guidelines.
7. Students must successfully complete a preliminary examination. This formal assessment will focus on areas of knowledge that are most relevant to the student’s dissertation topic. The student and his/her committee will determine the content of this examination. The student and his/her committee will determine the content of this examination format in that it will focus on in-depth reading and writing directly related to the student’s proposed dissertation topic as well as on the student’s mastery of previously learned core information.
8. After successfully completing the scholarly paper requirement and preliminary examination, students can submit a formal dissertation proposal to their doctoral committee and submit the accompanying “Prospectus Approval” form from the Graduate College. The doctoral committee will determine the acceptability of the prospectus. Upon completion of the dissertation, a defense will be scheduled and conducted in accordance with the Graduate College’s policies for thesis and dissertation completion.