Online Option

The Information Quality and the Information Science Tracks can be completed online though the Online campus. Only three campus visits are required for Candidacy Examination, Oral Research Proposal, and Oral Dissertation Defense.

Students admitted to the online tracks can only enroll in courses that offer “9Ux” sections. For example, INFQ 7303-9U1, is the online section of INFQ 7303, Principles of Information Quality. Students not in the online tracks can still enroll in certain types of  “webcast” sections to accommodate schedule constraints if they are not required to attend all classes in-person, e.g. international students on F-1 or J-1 visas. Students enrolled in webcast sections may still be expected to come to the classroom for exams, presentations, or activities for which the instructor requires attendance. Please review the course syllabus or contact the course instructor if you have any questions.

Online and on-campus courses cannot be mixed during the semester. Students in the online program can only enroll in 9U sections. However, students can change admission between semesters. For example, if a student begins the program in Little Rock as an on-campus student, but later is transferred to another state by her employer, she can change her admission to online and continue her program remotely.

Blended Online Model

The online program for the Computer and Information Sciences Ph.D. program is a blended, concurrent webcast model. When the instructor begins the class, which has a scheduled meeting time, they begin the live webcast and also records the session. Online students can join the live webcast and interact with the instructor and other students in the class, or listen to the session recording later.

Assignment deadlines for online and on-campus students are the same. This includes exams. If an on-campus exam is proctored, then online students are required to use a proctor. The student is responsible for finding and nominating a proctor from a recognized proctoring organization such as a local college or university or a commercial proctoring service. UA Little Rock Testing Services will validate the proctor nomination, and if approved, will send a copy of the exam and administration instructions for the proctor to give to the student. Remote students are responsible for scheduling their exam as close as practical to the day and time of the on-campus exam. Students are also responsible for any associated fees or costs.

Campus Visit Requirements

All of the 75 hours of course requirements can be completed online. However, three of the non-course requirements must be completed on the UA Little Rock campus. The three requirements that require the student to appear in-person on campus are:

  1. The candidacy examination requirement
  2. The dissertation proposal defense requirement
  3. The final dissertation defense requirement

International Students

International students can only enroll in the online program if they participate in the courses while residing in their home country, and as such, are not required to apply for a F-1 or other type of U.S. student visa.