ED 701H Introduction to Doctoral Study – 3 credits May
ED701 is an Introduction to doctoral study. The course includes a program overview, the foundational values of Edgewood College, the role of educational research, APA style writing requirements, the partnership mentor program, portfolio guidelines, and professional standards in assessment. The course covers three topic areas:
- Introduction to and overview of doctoral study, the doctoral faculty, doctoral program support staff, and the doctoral program;
- Technology unit that is designed to teach students how to use blackboard within the context of the doctoral program, access Edgewood College library website, search academic, peer-reviewed journals, and use refworks bibliographic software;
- Cohort-building, or building community through ice-breaker activities and discussions about personal philosophies of leadership
ED 715H Faculty Programs and Assessment – 6 credits Summer
Specific attention is given to issues associated with leadership and research associated with curriculum, faculty, programs, and assessment in higher education. Specific attention is given to emergent research that aids leaders of higher education organizations in deepening their knowledge of the complex yet loosely coupled organization called higher education. Consideration of multicultural understanding and responding to individual differences is emphasized in the process of creating professional learning communities. Topics during the semester are thoughtfully crafted to develop themes that provide access to terms, concepts, philosophical positions, and tensions. Students study the organizational structure and norms characteristic of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed by leaders who are responsible for oversight and decision making in the context of higher education. Candidates are required to research issues and to apply course content to workplace situations in a variety of class experiences and mentoring relationships.
ED 725H Inclusion and Diversity in Leadership – 6 credits Fall
This course provides a broad overview of diversity theory, research, policy and practices at both the K12 and higher educational levels. It is intended to help educational leaders create successful culturally diverse classrooms that will better serve all students. The course examines changing demographics, the academic achievement gap, diverse learning styles, racial, gender and class challenges, and offers strategies for schools to address these issues. The course looks at inclusion as a concept of shared power. It explores the ability of different ethnic and cultural groups to participate in policy, design and decision-making processes in public education. It discusses inclusive excellence and will help students develop a foundation for research-based practices in the area of inclusion and diversity.
ED 735H Communication: Law, Media, and Marketing – 6 credits Spring
The goal of this course is to prepare potential educational leaders with the knowledge, skills, qualities, leadership abilities, and administrative behaviors which will be appropriate and necessary in leadership role. Students are introduced to common legal issues that challenge academic leaders in higher education. Students will learn how to identify potential legal problems and, to the extent feasible, avoid them. Students will also be exposed to the major media serving the higher educational community and learn tips on working effectively with their local media. The course explores the use of mixed marketing campaigns, including the use of social media, to promote higher educational institutions and provides students with information to enhance their institution’s overall marketing efforts.
ED 745H Finance in Higher Education – 6 credits Summer
This course is designed to introduce students to the basics of institutional budgeting and finance. Students will explore topics in planning, external trends, organizational culture, change management, and strategic budgeting in an ethical manner as they relate to department, institutional, and system-level budgeting. Ultimately, students will be expected to deliver a persuasive, research-based case for content or process change appropriate to their institutional context. The course is designed to create significant learning opportunities that will prepare students to make important contributions as a part of an administrative team in a higher education setting. This goal is accomplished through a combination of analysis of relevant case studies, readings from literature and a text, researching current events, and class discussion. Students will have opportunities to apply learning working independently, and as part of teams, in a variety of in-class and out-of-class assignments.
ED 755H Ethical Leadership, Policy, and Governance in Higher Education – 6 credits Fall
A comprehensive examination of the role of leadership at the postsecondary education level, grounded in an historical and conceptual analysis. Organizational theory, models and policies, along with governance, management processes, and leadership from multiple perspectives in higher education are explored. The politics of education is explored in its broadest sense as policy and politics are pursued in the context of social justice and equity issues. Current theory, best practices, and opportunities for practical application are integrated. Particular emphasis is given to leadership behavior theory and ethical practice that has emerged in the field of educational administration/leadership. This course provides opportunities for students to gain valuable insights on leading student services and academic departments within community and technical colleges, universities, and other higher education organizations and agencies.
ED 790H Portfolio and Program Assessment – 3 credits Winterim
The portfolio for the Edgewood College Doctoral program is designed to replace the comprehensive exam for the higher education concentration. The portfolio is designed to demonstrate student competence in knowledge, skills and dispositions acquired throughout the program and used during and after program completion as the student moves through her/his leadership career. This portfolio is developed to demonstrate the “scholarship of leading”; a continual quest toward perfecting a leadership style that could be filled with continuous acts of inquiry, discovery, application, integration and modification of leadership philosophy throughout a graduate’s career.
In a demonstration of competence doctoral students will provide an example of what it means to be a leader as researcher, advocate, craftsperson and professional. These portraiture domains are viewed through the lenses of the Edgewood doctoral program themes of research, inclusion, communication, technology and ethics. The entire portfolio will create a portrait of a student as an “Emerging Leader As”;
- Researcher
- Advocate
- Craftsperson
- Professional
The four portraits are created through reflections, artifacts, and a professional portfolio. The portfolio will demonstrate that a student has successfully completed the requirements of an Edgewood College doctoral program focused on leadership and the demonstration of the Dominican values of truth, community, partnership, compassion, and justice. Through the completion of this process and the tools provided them during the doctoral program, graduates will learn to reflect on their practice as leaders and to assess themselves in their continued “scholarship of leading”.
Through the assessment portfolio the student will:
- Discuss the Edgewood College values as they relate to an ethical focus in educational leadership
- Engage in a focused conversation about inclusion and diversity in educational settings
- Recognize strengths gained in oral and written communication
- Internalize the central tenets of research in education, including the elements of a peer-reviewed research article
- Identify the elements of the Edgewood College doctoral program
ED 801H Introduction to Research – 6 credits Spring
This course introduces students to the process of conducting educational research. Students will learn about the major research traditions such as quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches. Students will discuss common uses of research such as being consumers of research, engaging in practical and applied research, and dissertation research. Students are expected to learn the foundations of educational research, including selecting and refining a research topic, using RefWorks reference management software, creating an annotated bibliography and exploring the use of appropriate methodologies. Students are also expected to become critical consumers of educational research by reading and evaluating published studies. Students are not expected to complete a research study in this course; however they are expected to develop an annotated bibliography and draft research questions that could later be used for their dissertation proposal developed in ED 830.
ED 830H Research Methods – 6 credits Summer
This course is designed to provide students with a working understanding of the varied methodologies and strategies employed in educational research. These include knowing the definition of different approaches, considering philosophical worldviews, reviewing the literature, understanding the use of theory, anticipating ethical issues, and developing writing strategies. Students will be expected to learn the essentials needed to carry out the entire research process from identifying a research problem, to selecting the best methodology to examine that problem, to writing a proposal to study the problem, and ultimately completing the dissertation. In addition, students will be expected to become more critical consumers of educational research, acquiring the knowledge to examine published studies and evaluate the usefulness of the findings and recommendations in relation to their unique professional experience and context.
ED 910H – Guided Dissertation Writing – 3 Credits Fall
Students select a dissertation advisor to work with them, to support guided research and dissertation development. Students are further assigned to an advising community with other students and advisors for the purpose of support and interaction around the dissertation process. Research data are collected and analyzed. The final two chapters of the dissertation are created, reviewed and prepared for final defense.
ED 990H – Dissertation Defense – 3 Credits Spring
The final written copy of the dissertation is prepared. A faculty team is assigned to attend the dissertation defense. Students are provided guidelines for final publication of the dissertation.