Doctor of Education (EdD)
46 Semester Credits / 10 Semesters / 40 Months
Delivery Mode: Online
The Doctor of Education degree focuses in organizational leadership provides professionals with a pathway to becoming E.L.I.T.E. leaders in their chosen field while pursuing a doctoral degree. The College of Education at United States University developed this program to focus on preparing visionary and leading-edge change agents, complex problem-solvers, and effective leaders of various types of enterprises, including education, government, business, healthcare, military, and nonprofit agencies, to become leaders, innovate, and provide new solutions in a time of rapid changes in our society. As a doctoral program, the EdD emphasizes advanced scholarly inquiry, evidence-based decision-making, and the integration of theory and research to address organizational challenges. The program prepares adaptable professionals who are able to generate creative solutions and facilitate positive change and organizational transformation in their professional capacity. Learners are provided with expanded viewpoints relative to problem identification and applied resolution strategies in organizational ecosystems that can be volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. A central component of the EdD is the completion of a doctoral dissertation that demonstrates the learner’s ability to design, conduct, and present applied research that contributes meaningful solutions to professional practice. Graduates develop a scholar–practitioner identity, capable of leading research initiatives, guiding organizational improvement efforts, and influencing policy and practice through data-informed leadership. They are adaptable leaders who demonstrate the ability to disrupt the status quo with creative and useful innovations that lead to change and transformation that is viewed as impactful and valued.
Outcomes
Equity – Doctoral learners create policies advancing equity and social justice that follow ethical and regulatory compliant actions supporting the mission and vision of organizations.
Leadership – Doctoral learners demonstrate leadership skills by integrating theoretical constructs, analyzing the relationship between the leader and the organizational culture, and implementing global leadership thinking within their professional practice.
Innovation – Doctoral learners examine human and organizational dynamics that influence the implementation of innovation in educational enterprises, generate alternative solutions in determining whether to adopt an innovation, as well as create innovative strategic and tactical plans and systems to produce more effective organizations, examining contemporary methodologies to incorporate human and organizational dynamics into the evaluation of innovation initiatives.
Theory – Doctoral learners construct theory-informed decisions for addressing complex problems of practice and integrate theories of change and conduct analyses of relevant innovation and organizational theories.
Education – Doctoral learners employ effective strategies for facilitating organizational learning and are able to critique the effectiveness of communication approaches for diverse recipients.
Core Courses
| EDD800 | Introduction to Advanced Studies | 3 |
| EDD801 | Theoretical Foundations of Leadership and Innovation | 3 |
| EDD803 | Advanced Writing and Research | 3 |
| EDD804 | Foundations of Research Design and Methodology | 3 |
| EDD805 | Leadership for Systemic and Organizational Change | 3 |
| EDD807 | Teaching, Learning, and Leading in Organizations | 3 |
| EDD809 | Advanced Research: The Literature Review | 3 |
| EDD811 | Using Communication to Lead Change | 3 |
| EDD812 | Ethical Dilemmas in Organizational Leadership | 3 |
| EDD810 | Fundamentals of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship | 3 |
| EDD814 | Doctoral Seminar Dissertation Foundations and Research Design | 1 |
| EDD899 | Advanced Synthesis The Proposal | 3 |
| EDD906 | Dissertation I | 3 |
| EDD907 | Dissertation II | 3 |
| EDD908 | Dissertation III | 3 |
| EDD909 | Dissertation IV | 3 |