By News and Internal Communications

Rio Grande Valley, Texas – Grad School Hub, a website that provides information for finding the best universities to pursue a higher education degree, has ranked UTRGV’s online EdD in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Educational Technology program third in the nation, behind Oklahoma State and top-ranked University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

“Its distributed campus across the Rio Grande Valley delivers a wide range of exceptional and innovative educational opportunities throughout the region,” the website said, citing UTRGV’s Forbes ranking, its fourth top degrees listing on Online College Plan, and its 10th best master’s education ranking in Washington Monthly. “Sponsored for $5.14 million, the College of Education and P-16 Integration has 91 percent retention in 32 programs, including the EdD Specialization (in Curriculum and Instruction with specialization) in Educational Technology Online.”

Dr. Laura Jewett, coordinator for the Curriculum and Instruction EdD program, said she’s pleased that Grad School Hub has recognized UTRGV’s online program, which enhances the educators’ career opportunities in the P-12 and higher education arenas by enabling them to design, develop, teach courses and conduct research through web-based environments (e-learning).

“We have a stellar program that helps both traditional and non-traditional students complete a doctoral degree online in one of the fastest growing fields in education,” she said. “This is an excellent program for educators and emerging scholars looking to take on a new challenge in today’s world, where new forms of technology are being integrated into the classroom, curriculum and educational research.”

Grad School Hub says its mission is to provide expert information “on high-quality accredited graduate degree programs offered by the nation’s best universities, to help you find the program that best fits your needs.”

To determine the national rankings for EdD online programs focused on Education Technology, the staff of Grad School Hub conducted a virtual search using the Institute of Education Sciences’ NCES College Navigator database to help teachers pick the best and least costly online education technology EdD.

“We considered graduate schools where advanced degrees in educational or instructional technology had distance learning options,” the website says. “Since EdDs and PhDs are in limited supply, we accepted programs with hybrid formats. We used the 2016-17 tuition data to arrange the universities from highest to lowest mean price for in-state graduates.”

The website cites UTRGV’s Average Graduate Tuition at $5,439 per year.

“The 66-credit, post-master’s program has an April 15th application deadline for certified cohorts with minimum 3.25 GPAs to further intellectual inquiry in tech-oriented instruction,” Grad School Hub says of UTRGV’s online EdD (in Curriculum and Instruction with focus on) Educational Technology program. “Prescribed courses from online pedagogy to educational IT communication are delivered through synchronous online and hybrid seminars culminating in one-on-one dissertation coaching.”

To learn more about the EdD program, visit UTRGV Graduate College at www.utrgv.edu/graduate.