Course Descriptions

The 100% online Doctor of Technology will deliver engaging and relevant instructor-led training, collaboration with your peers and real-world skills while in a comfortable, ready-to-learn atmosphere. The classrooms are strategically designed to ensure that you master core concepts with online instruction and interactions with instructors and networking with other students. The 100% online delivery method offers asynchronous courses which allow students to study at their own pace, accessing instructional materials, at any time.  Complete the 90 required credit hours in 3 - 7 years while balancing your professional and personal commitments. 

Core Courses

• Technology Leadership in the Era of Social Media: This course looks at the Technology Innovation Process (but the tools could be applied to any type of new product or process development) and covers the research, development, management and commercialization of new technology. We will examine the development of technological innovations that have led to the current digital age. We will explore the innovative process by engaging in some “think wrong” activities designed to spur creativity and imagination.  And we will attempt to better understand the roles of sustaining and disruptive technologies and their impact on organizational performance and competitive edge. (3 credits)

• Technology Research & Use of Data Analytics: Examines concepts, models and methods useful for applying data analytics in business environments. Focusing on Hypothesis generation, the capturing, storage and expression of data, analysis for research and visualization. As organizations of all sizes become more complex, the need for analytically minded individuals is growing exponentially. This course will focus on the principles of data analytics, equipping students with a foundation that can be applied to many areas within business and life. This course will utilize a combination of experiential learning, as well as research-based frameworks to build knowledge and offer up concepts for debate. (3 credits)

• Global Supply Chain Management: Examines the flow of the total supply chain function from forecast to product delivery at the leadership level.   This includes an understanding of not only how each function works, but the interaction and reliance on other functions within the process.  Special emphasis is placed on efficient operational concepts in each step of the supply chain and the relationships between cost factors and various supply chain functions/deliverables.   Discussion will take place on the utilization of various Enterprise Resource Planning software. (3 credits)

• Leadership of CyberSecurity & CyberForensics​​: This course prepares students to investigate, evaluate, and manage complex information networks in order to protect organizations and network information and data from threats and cyberattacks. We will discuss threats and types of attacks against computers and network systems, how to analyze security requirements, define security policies, and how deal with cyber-breaches when they occur. Students will be immersed in the cyber-security discipline through a combination of intense coursework, open-ended and real-world problems, and hands on experiments. (3 credits)

• Global Perspectives on Emerging Technologies: Systematic analysis of technology and its international dimensions, including the competencies needed to work internationally both here and abroad. The focus will be on the resources and competencies needed by business, industrial and technological personnel operating in the international context. (3 credits)

• Demographic Leadership: This course provides an overview of current and future demographic trends and how these changes will impact technology and organizational leaders. The world is becoming more ethnically and racially diverse with each passing year. Millennials have become the largest adult generation, surpassing even the Baby Boomers. Women and underrepresented minorities are changing the face of leadership, business, and politics. How can today’s leaders prepare for the unprecedented social and cultural shifts that are coming? (3 credits)

• Analysis of Research: Analysis of research and evaluation of research reports. Emphasis on understanding the application of fundamental statistical methods in design and interpretation of research findings in industrial, technical and human resource development environments. Every graduate student is required to understand the basics of research and how to write a thesis proposal - whether their program requires it or not. This is a requirement of the college and the university. Tech 64600 will introduce students to research and part of the course requirements are to write the first three chapters (papers) of what would typically be a thesis proposal. This is a course requirement and it meets college and university requirements. To successfully complete this course, students must  pass the two CITI research quizzes and write three chapters (papers) that would normally go into a research proposal. This will demonstrate a student’s  understanding of what is involved in proposing and conducting research.  (3 credits)

Elective Courses

• Contemporary Issues in Organizational Leadership: This course will provide an overview of many contemporary Issues in leadership to include topics such as but not limited to:  paradox of the dual role of leader and follower, generational differences in the workplace, working parents and family leaves, working from home, job mobility factors, job stability, impact of technology, moral and ethical business climate, complexity and faster pace work environment, leader self-awareness and self-regulation, etc.  We will also focus on what is needed to be a great leader in these various situations, and paths to improving leadership and thinking skills. (3 credits)

• Leading and Managing Technology Organizations: This course examines what it takes to create, sustain, lead, and grow technology-rich, innovative high-performance organizations. Research has shown that organizations are most effective when they develop and implement a strategy that fits the demands of a changing (dynamic) external environment. (3 credits)

• Coaching and Mentoring: This course explores strategies for enhancing employee performance through relationship building, goal setting, improved communications, and talent development programs. The techniques of coaching and mentoring provide the emotional nourishment and energy needed to transform team members and carry forward the best traditions the company. An entire value system is communicated throughout an organization by those who mentor others. Mentoring is an effective vehicle for driving your strategy and gaining a competitive edge. (3 credits)

• Leading Diverse Global Teams: This course will provide students with the skills and strategies to lead multicultural, virtual, and global teams. We will examine the factors that affect success or failure of global teams, how to deal with issues of culture and diversity, and how to manage a virtual team. (3 credits)

• Negotiating in a Digital Age: This course provides practical guidelines for virtual negotiation. It is a new age, a digital age. And face-to-face and telephone negotiations are giving way to negotiations online, using email, Google Docs, groupware, video conferencing, etc. to bring parties together across great distances. Whether interviewing for a new job or negotiating a trade deal, digital technologies provide opportunities to connect. But is it an improvement? We will discuss the legal and ethical issues pertaining to virtual negotiations and explore how the Barrier Effect and Objectification serve as impediments to effective integrative negotiations. (3 credits)

• Global, Legal, Ethical Issues for Technology Leaders: This course examines the global, legal and ethical issues that influence global technology leadership and management.  Topics include ethical decision making; management; global issues; intellectual property and innovation; business law; relevant international laws, public policies and regulations, risk management, strategic alliances and joint ventures, and issues of organizational sustainability. This course relies on the case-study approach and covers a broad range of current and emerging technologies and businesses (3 credits)

• Technology Law and Policy: Due to the enormous economic importance of intellectual property (IP) and the rapid pace of technological innovation, companies and governments have sought to protect their property rights vis-à-vis new technologies through new regulations, international laws, trade agreements, and policies. This course explores many of the legal and regulatory issues that govern, restrict, and protect companies engaged in global trade and commerce. (3 credits)

• Interpersonal & Group Skills for Leaders:  Developing and improving interpersonal and group dynamic skills for effective leadership in organizations. Emphasis on action learning and real-world application of skills. (3 credits)

• Project Management in Business & Industry: The factors influencing decisions during the initiation, implementation and termination of industrial and manufacturing projects are examined. Students work as project teams, using project management tools to develop implementation strategies. (3 credits)

• IT Business Analysis: Students learn the foundational knowledge needed to effectively perform skills, techniques, methods, and processes used by the Business Analysis profession and based on the Business Analyst Body of Knowledge (BABOK) and PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA). (3 credits; 1st 8 weeks)

• IT Project Management (IT experience required): Understand the application of a project management framework, select and apply the best practices, learn the necessary artifacts to initiate, plan, execute, control and close projects. Effective use of PM tools to manage projects. (3 credits; 1st 8 weeks)

• Smart Manufacturing Applied Technologies: This course addresses new content focusing on the 9 core capabilities and technologies that are at the forefront of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. It also discusses the three core principles driving this transformation particularly with the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) to create digital, smart, and connected systems using data to optimize key business drivers and objectives in manufacturing. The goal is to enable faster, flexible, and more efficient processes to produce higher-quality goods, reduce manufacturing costs, increase productivity, and foster industrial growth. These new concepts have not been previously taught at Purdue. 

• Strategic Planning & Marketing : This course examines concepts, models, and methods useful for developing strategic initiatives in industrial/technical business environments. Focuses on planning concepts, including industry structure, strategic mission, organizational structures, competitor analysis, and related areas. (3 credits)

• Emerging World Class Leadership Strategies: The theoretical foundations and empirical research associated with emerging strategies and theories in world-class leadership.  Includes discovery of critical leadership skills and behaviors, investigating critical leadership strategies, rethinking the sources of leadership, and self-discovery of leadership strengths and weaknesses. (3 credits)

• Strategic Management of Technology:  This course will focus on understanding competitive forces and how organizations strive to build sustainable competitive advantages through business and technology. (3 credits)

• Independent Study:  A maximum of nine (9) semester hours of independent study credit (TECH 69000) may be included in a plan of study. Independent study courses require a specific proposal and approval process. TECH 69000-Authortization Form must be completed.  (1-9 variable credits)