Doctorate of Education Completion Course Descriptions

30 Total Credit Hours

Program Requirements 

• EDU 950 – Ed Leadership Foundations & Ethics 3 credits. This course introduces students to the Dominican ethos as it relates to students’ leadership identity, professional lives, and their doctoral work. The foundations of educational leadership are the cornerstone for this course. Students will complete the necessary ethics training for conducting research and build their expertise as it relates to academic writing and scholarly research. Students will have an opportunity to build community with their cohort members as well as become familiar the tools and resources vital to their successful completion of their dissertation. 
• EDU 955 – Ed Leadership Research Discernment 3 credits. Students are guided in making the connection between their role as an educational leader and contributing to the field of educational leadership through their dissertation research project. This course is designed to guide students as they draft the first three chapters of their dissertation. Students continue to hone their study and align the critical components of their study through instructor feedback. Students learn about and incorporate their particular research method into their prospectus. Students continue to work in writing groups, conduct peer reviews, and incorporate instructor/advisor feedback. 
• EDU 960 – Research Methods and IRB Proposal 3 credits. Students will devote time to completing their research design, develop their instruments for collecting data, and prepare the IRB paperwork. Students will receive guidance in developing instrumentation (survey design, interview/focus group protocol, observation rubrics, etc.) Students will be introduced to Qualtrics, a survey design tool. Students will learn about the ethics of research and will develop an IRB proposal. 
• EDU 965 – Proposal Writing & Presentation 3 credits. Students engage in continued alignment of their critical study components including problem statement, purpose statement, theoretical/conceptual framework, literature, and method. Students present a mock proposal and get feedback from cohort members to finalize their proposal. Students continue to meet in their writing groups and incorporate instructor and advisor feedback. Students end the course with a formal proposal to their committee. 
• EDU 970 – Data Collection 3 credits. Students continue to meet in their writing groups. Students will begin to gather their data and are supported by advisors and experts. Students incorporate committee feedback into their proposal document. Students begin to collect data, as they continue to gain knowledge and skills related to academic writing and research through peer interaction and guidance by the advisor. 
• EDU 975 – Data Analysis 3 credits. Students continue to meet in their writing groups. Students meet with research methodologist to analyze data and determine preliminary results. Students learn how to use the tools for analyzing quantitative and/or qualitative data, depending on their data set, and they work with a research methodologist to analyze their data and determine results of preliminary data analysis. 
• EDU 980 – Study results and discussion 3 credits. Students attend classes to work with each other, their advisors, program experts, and their peers to communicate their findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Students receive significant and substantial feedback on their findings from their advisors, committee members, and program experts to determine the conclusions and recommendations to be drawn from the data. The objectives are that students will complete their data analysis, work closely with advisors, editors, and writing groups to analyze data and communicate results. 
• EDU 985 – Guided Dissertation Writing Minimum Credits Awarded: 3 – To be taken a minimum of 3 times to earn at least 9 credits. Continuous enrollment in ED 985 is required until dissertation is complete. Students submit their final draft of their dissertation to the Coordinator of the dissertation process, who then sets the defense date and distributes the student’s document to the committee. Students prepare the defense presentation. Upon successful completion of the defense, students incorporate feedback from the committee to prepare their document for publication to UMI. Students will successfully defend their dissertation through a presentation to their committee members. Next, students incorporate suggested changes and submit their document for publication.