THE CHALLENGES FACING TODAY'S STUDENTS
When comparing the completion rate to the substantial number of people
enrolled in graduate programs, it appears that securing the graduate
degree might be quite competitive and challenging. The support systems
to help these individuals organize themselves, successfully navigate
through, and complete these programs are antiquated at best. Of all
the Ph.D. candidates enrolled in graduate
programs
across the U.S. at a given time, it is estimated that approximately
50% will complete the program. While there are numerous reasons for
this statistic, the one most often sited by students is a lack of time.
In addition, the role overload of their major professors, committee members or academic advisor to supervise graduate students through a more helpful process, is based on a prevailing “old school” attitude, which suggests that part of the learning process is figuring it out. However, “figuring it out” can be a time consuming, isolating, and lonely process which could lead to many months of procrastination. The effectiveness of this learning approach provides a challenge in and of itself.
Part of ERI’s interest is to identify and/or provide technologies and support systems that introduce a new learning paradigm to increase the student’s competitive advantage in completing the degree.
The process of obtaining a postgraduate degree is different from the process required to obtain an undergraduate degree. As a general matter, acquiring the undergraduate degree is similar to the high school experience in that the program is structured. If a student attends class on a daily basis and satisfactorily completes a set of prescribed courses in a particular discipline, then the student will graduate.
Undergraduate students have the benefit of a syllabus that outlines assignment completion dates and guides them through the required coursework for the semester. Thus, from the first day of instruction the student knows what is required to finish the course. As an undergraduate, if a student completes the coursework, the student earns a degree. Hence, the process is quite straightforward and somewhat comparable to the high school format where every hour of every day was prearranged for the student.