This orientation seminar introduces the Ph.D. in Information Systems and Communications program to the newly admitted students. The faculty and the curriculum courses are introduced to the first-year cohort. Initial contacts are made between students and faculty to get to know each other and their contexts. Students write an orientation and reflection paper on the Ph.D.-ISC program in relation to their contextual, academic, and professional needs. 1 Credits
1 Credits

This colloquium seminar gives students the opportunity in the third-year cohort to present their progress on research to receive constructive feedback from their peers for possible improvement. 1 Credits
1 Credits

Theories in Action in Information Systems and Communication This foundational course establishes the context by which scholars have developed and applied theories and application of theories in information systems and communications which attempt to describe incremental developments, innovations, communication practices, impact and applications of technology within organizations and society in the early 21st century. Theoretical application will be analyzed first at the individual level and enhanced to include individuals within the organization to finally organizations and their adaptation to technological innovation. Through a series of readings, case study analyses, and application exercises, students explore the information centric attributes (behavioral and technological) of the information age organization and the information infrastructure required to support it. Focus is on information systems theory, problem analysis and strategy, and framing as modeling techniques. Research topics are introduced and developed. 3 Credits
3 Credits

This course focuses on cybersociety, which introduces students to how the world of technology affects aspects of their everyday lives. Computer-mediated communication?s technological, societal, and organizational evolution, impact, immediacy, and integration into daily life has altered how individuals perceive information, generate information, and interpret information. Students will learn about the impacts of emerging technologies, information overload, and the differences between information, misinformation, and disinformation. The social, economic, global, and ethical impacts of technology and computer-mediated communication will be explored. Readings, case study analyses, and reaction papers will guide learning in this course. 3 Credits
3 Credits

This course teaches students to understand a doctoral research process by assessing an organizational or community context to identify needs or problems, frame those needs or problems as either problem statements, and formulate research questions or hypotheses. It provides an overview of a dissertation topic, its delimitations, purpose, anticipated outcomes, anticipated results, and recommendations supported by sufficient sources to write a dissertation. The course will help students to write the first draft of their dissertation proposal to be revised and fine-tuned further in the dissertation process. Topics covered include: identifying a relevant research problem, articulating clear research questions or hypotheses, and applying appropriate theories in ISC, and building an argument to support the purpose and significance of the study. Methodological approaches are not the focus of this course. The major deliverable for the course is the dissertation proposal that will serve the basis for the first two chapters of the dissertation: Introduction and Literature Review. Throughout the course, students refine their ideas by writing and presenting them to peers and faculty at Colloquium Seminar II in the Fall 2 term. The course also provides a review of APA format. 3 Credits
3 Credits

Information Technology and Online Social Behavior Online technologies have fundamentally changed the way humans communicate, socialize, and work today. This course explores concepts of computer-mediated communication and analyzes the role of social media and other online communities in society. Historical discourses of digital technology and the evolution and structure of social media and online communities will be discussed. Topics addressed include digital sense of self, credibility and trust in online social systems, digital reputation management, ethical online behavior, ethics in social media management, co-creation of digital media content, data privacy issues, and the attention economy. Students will use information systems theories such as social capital theory, social identity theory, social comparison theory, and uses and gratifications theory to analyze online social collaboration and behavior issues. Students will utilize communication theories in relationship and crisis management to explore ways in which reputation management, grounded on the foundational concepts of audience, ethical communication, and decoding and encoding of information, can be used to evaluate problems observed in digital media. 3 Credits
3 Credits

Theory Development and Knowledge Management This course covers principles and theories of knowledge management (KM), including underpinnings of the creation, representation, preservation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge in both academic and organizational contexts. It introduces IT-based approaches to knowledge in the KM field and covers foundational concepts such as the differences between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, as well as the challenges of managing knowledge, including communications and cultural issues. It emphasizes both industrial relevance and academic rigor in knowledge creation and management and discusses the role of theory in achieving academic rigor. It provides advanced knowledge in theory development and practice, centered on the use of knowledge in information systems and communications (ISC) research. It demonstrates how to create and manage knowledge with conceptual and theoretical modeling techniques and the application of these techniques in ISC research. 3 Credits
3 Credits

Rhetorical, Semiotic and Ethno-cultural Foundations of Information Transfer and Communications This course focuses on the complex relationships among information systems, and human communications and behaviors. By using rhetorical, semiotic and ethnographic approaches this course describes and analyzes systems of meanings, contextualizes information systems or informational situations, and grounds for informing actions and objects. The course explores four major questions: (1) What are the ethno-cultural, sociological, and psychological effects of the rapid development of technological innovations historically on information systems and communications for decision-making and problem solving? (2) What are the implications of living in a culture that values technology as a solution to most of its problems for digital natives and digital immigrants? (3) How does rhetoric, semiotics and ethnography clarify the technology-human communication interface and provide a foundation for systems of meanings for different generations in multicultural settings? (4) How and what do humans communicate in face-to-face and mediated communications? Topics include: situated rhetoric, ethno-cultural analysis and semiotics as a bridge between rhetoric and ethnography, hate speech leading to hate acts (speech act theory), language and action affairs, and frames and semantic (meaningful) structures. 3 Credits
3 Credits

This course gives students the dedicated time and support for completing the dissertation proposal literature review for their selected topic, building on and modifying the decisions made about the topic in the Research Process course, ISCM 8130. This course?s final paper will serve as the full draft of the dissertation proposal parts Chapter 1: The Introduction and Chapter 2: the Literature Review. This includes (1) demonstrating the ability to select interdisciplinary relevant literature, confirming and disconfirming, that enables students to understand and weigh the arguments, claims, contexts, methods, theories, findings, and implications of what is known about the topic, (2) engaging in intellectual debates with various authors and colleagues to further develop understanding of topics and research processes, (3) grasping and articulating the limitations of and gaps in the knowledge base, and (4) organizing and assembling a coherent argument of their own for conducting their research.
3 Credits

Advanced Research Design for Information Systems and Communications This 2nd year course provides students with the knowledge and guidance to prepare a methodology chapter for their dissertation and to become researchers in information systems and communications. Students explore typical, current, and emerging research designs relevant to the field, while gaining a depth of understanding in specific approaches that can be used for their own dissertation research. The course enables students to write and argue for a study methodology including sections focused on research design and process, sampling, instrumentation, data collection procedures, data analysis, limitations, and research ethics. Students learn to critically examine the methodologies of published studies, their peers' proposals, and their own proposals to identify assumptions, examine suitability of approaches, and ensure the soundness of research. Through iterative cycles of writing, presenting, and feedback with the instructors, advisors, and peers as the audience, students refine their methodology chapters in preparation for their dissertation proposal defense.
3 Credits

Data Analytics: Managerial Perspectives This research course introduces theories, concepts, techniques and applications of data analytics - a managerial approach to data collection, data analysis to support a wide variety of management tasks and decision-making, from performance evaluation to trend spotting and policy-making. Students explore various systems for data analysis such as multivariate data analysis, data mining (web and text mining), data warehousing for information use and transfer, cloud computing, and crowdsourcing in order to create data-based or knowledge-based and decision support systems for personal and organizational decision making. Topics include descriptive analytics and statistical modeling, predictive analytics, large-scale data analytics, prescriptive analytics, operations analytics, data models and analytics in communication, data governance, metadata analysis, multimedia analytics, and big data analytics, and how to deal with limitations of big data and data analytics. Future trends and emerging technologies are introduced that may impact analytics, and decision support.
3 Credits

This course provides students with practice using quantitative methods to evaluate, adapt, improve, or verify the effectiveness of information or communications systems and technology in an organizational or other social setting. As such, the course surveys traditional social science research methodologies?survey methods, experiments, content analysis, and evaluation research and examines their application in today's research environment. Course includes readings and discussions, demonstrations, case analysis, analysis of archival data, panel and individual presentations.
3 Credits

This course explores qualitative research theories, such as grounded theory, ethnography, discourse analysis, and rhetorical criticism, and analysis techniques to interpret qualitative data collected through data collection methods such as participant observation (emic and etic approaches); individual interviews; focus groups; case studies; document analysis (e.g., library sources and digital databases); action research; longitudinal studies; narrative and discourse approaches; and in-depth interview methods by utilizing rhetorical and ethnographical symbolic interpretations (Qualitative I). The course also introduces data collection tools such as qualitative surveys, web-based questionnaires, and interview questions. It teaches how to design a qualitative research project for a specific context; how to collect data and analyze it; distinguish primary and secondary sources; credible or misleading sources and how they impact the validity and reliability of data; and minimize the observer's or the researcher's personal bias. It also introduces software available for qualitative data analysis. The course addresses ethical issues in conducting qualitative research (Qualitative II). 3 Credits
3 Credits

The goal of this course is to introduce the advanced statistical methods such as ANOVA, ANCOVA or regression analysis. The course is designed to give a thorough overview of each method and the examples of the studies where this method can or cannot be applied. The students will continue learning the concepts of quantitative analysis by defining and calculating correlations, variance, covariance, and other concepts. The students will enhance their knowledge of sampling by working with groups and interpreting the between-group and within-group effects. They will use SPSS and other tools to prepare the data, run the tests and interpret the test results. Finally, the students will use their knowledge of quantitative methods both in designing their own research and in reviewing the research methodology used by others. 3 Credits
3 Credits

This course focuses on utilizing the tools of economics to examine the complexities of defining costs and benefits in making decisions about information technology (IT) and IT investments. To that end, the course will examine the core concepts of the economics of information systems (IS) and contemporary themes and research topics. Students are introduced to commonly used methodologies of economics such as econometrics, cost-benefit analysis, supply and demand, game theory, and system net benefits. The course also introduces basic economic ideas involving information economics, economics of digitization, the role of market structure on information based economies, the economics of information security, and public policy.
3 Credits

This course enables students to research legal and security issues and challenges that individuals, organizations, and communities face in today's cyber space. Current and emerging technologies and their impact on the changes and rapid expansion of state and federal laws will be examined in the context of the increasing cybercrimes and cyberwarfare such as identity theft, fraud, software hackings, cyber-attacks on organizational and governmental properties by foreign hackers, property rights violations, online stalking, plagiarism, bullying, sexual harassment, threats, and the dark web propaganda of misinformation and disinformation services. How to defend and prevent one's privacy and security in the digital age are explored. The course covers the following topics: information security; cybersecurity law, policy & management; IoT security & privacy; application security; cybersecurity defense; computer & software security; digital ethics, free speech vs. hate speech, and human behavior-based security. 3 Credits
3 Credits

Contemporary Issues in Information Systems and Communications This course explores contemporary issues and topics in Information Systems and Communications (ISC). The issues and topics are selected from current research by various professional and research associations in ISC, including but not limited to artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, quantum computing, cybersecurity, health informatics, gender gaps in ISC, cross-cultural research in ISC, technical communication, and emerging trends and innovations in information systems and communications. Students are expected to explore, review, discuss, and evaluate the contemporary issues and solutions in ISC from peer reviewed publications. 3 Credits
3 Credits

This course is designed to enable students to analyze and interpret data that they have collected for their dissertation. The course does not cover the technical details of quantitative/statistical data analysis or qualitative/coding data analysis. Rather, it focuses on taking the results from such analyses and reporting them in a way that adequately conveys the findings and the researcher's interpretations of those findings. Attention is given to the best ways to represent different types of findings, to include narrative descriptions as well as tables, figures, and infographics. Students will be taught the structure and necessary elements that should be included in the results/findings chapter (typically Chapter 4) and the discussion chapter (typically Chapter 5) of a dissertation. Emphasis will also be given to best practices for writing the discussion chapter, including elements that should be included in a scholarly discussion of findings, such as recommendations, key findings, theoretical implications, practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research. The aim of this course is to aid students in writing their results/findings chapter and the discussion chapter of their dissertation. Students who have not successfully collected data before entering this course may be required to use sample data for class assignments.
3 Credits

This course is designed to help students to work on the further development of their dissertation topics in collaboration with their newly selected dissertation advisors along with other dissertation committee members. The course provides hybrid-learning platforms via face-to-face, synchronous, and online faculty-doctoral student meetings, strategies to assist writers in working and finalizing the problem statements, research questions and related components of the Research Process paper from ISCM 8130. The dissertation advisors are expected to spend 28 contact or teaching hours with their dissertation advisees for the duration of this course. For more details about the responsibilities of the dissertation advisor, see the Student/Faculty Handbook, 2B. The Dissertation Committee and Advisor and 2C. Responsibilities of the Dissertation Committee Members.
2 Credits

Course description unavailable, please contact Academic Services.

2 Credits

Course description unavailable, please contact Academic Services.

4 Credits

This online course is designed to enable students to understand and apply research methods drawn from Communications and Information Systems methodologies, for collecting data to answer research questions or test proposed hypotheses. The course includes instruction on data collections procedures for both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to construct feasible and purposeful research designs and outcomes. The primary focus is on methods most appropriate for students' needs, but a range of methods will be reiterated and covered in the following methodology courses: ISCM 8130 Introduction to Research Process for ISC, ISCM 8150 Advanced Research Design for ISC, ISCM 8240 Qualitative Research Methods for ISC, ISCM 8230 Quantitative Research Methods I for ISC, and 8250 Quantitative Research Methods II for ISC. Ethical issues in research are reinforced, and researcher assumptions, personal bias, and design limitations are addressed. The aim is to prepare students for writing Chapter 3: Methodology and finish data collection. 3 Credits
4 Credits

Course description unavailable, please contact Academic Services.

1 Credits