Online Doctor of Education - Higher Education Leadership

This course introduces students to historical and contemporary foundations of higher education with specific focus on ethical leadership and reflective practice. Students will be introduced to educational inquiry and build knowledge and skills in academic research and writing.

Students will become familiar with higher education leadership from the perspective of the student experience through study of student development theory, student services, student engagement, and through application of theory to practice in student affairs.

This course provides a general overview of various aspects of leadership in higher education including theories, multiple frames approach, strategic planning, and various decision-making models.

Students will be able to identify educational research methodologies and methods and understand the importance of research design and paradigms.

The context of higher education is an increasingly complex and increasingly competitive environment. This course discusses the contemporary and future roles of enrollment management, the nature and scope of institutions in higher education, and constituency engagement.

Students will be immersed in dissertation research and writing through workshops, presentations and critique groups.

In this comprehensive course students will develop strategies and leadership skills that will enable them to lead in an academic environment. Topics will include academic structure, governance, faculty tenure, emerging roles of faculty, and unions. Students will identify leadership roles in academic planning and curriculum development and will identify current and emerging issues in the academic environment in higher education.

Understanding the context of higher education prepares future leaders to confront most any issue if they have a grasp of organizational theory in higher education, power, conflict and crisis management, and organizational behavior.

This course focuses on understanding the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. Students will have the opportunity to learn different forms of analysis but can concentrate on the most appropriate type for their own study. Writing results and conclusions for a research study will also be discussed.

Higher education is constantly evolving and changing. Future leaders must be prepared to understand, manage and implement change. This course focuses on change models, barriers and resistance to change, innovation and the future of higher education. Students will be exposed to the concept of design thinking as a tool for innovation in higher education.

These one-hour courses allow students to develop an area(s) of emphasis through online course work focused on a particular skill or knowledge.

The second residency includes presentations and workshops for advanced research and writing.

Leaders now and in the foreseeable future are held to many types of performance and accountability measures from different external and internal forces. This course discusses the role of assessment and data for decision-making, accreditation, and the basics of financial management.

This course provides an overview of the key policy and legal issues in public and private higher education. Students will learn how policy, legal, and finance intersect and are integrated to solve complex problems.

This course focuses on completion of the research, writing, revisions and editing of all parts of the dissertation.

This final course is to review and defend the comprehensive portfolio through a professional conversation and an oral presentation.

Each student will complete a proposal of the research study including the research idea, statement of the problem, its background and significance, a review of the literature, and a proposed methodology and research design to address the problem of practice in higher education leadership to be addressed in the study. The proposal must be approved by the end of semester 4 and the student must receive a grade of P indicating approval of the proposal by the student’s faculty advisor/dissertation chair and program faculty members. Prerequisites: EDHL 750, 751, 753, 755

Each student will prepare a formal presentation and orally defend the dissertation of practice. The EdD program is complete when the student’s dissertation chair, program faculty members, and program director give approval. Prerequisites: all required program coursework, EDHL 764 and EDHL 790.