Doctorate of Education (EdD) Degree Programs: online or on-campus in Portland, Oregon.

The first-year writing journey begins with a focus on the scholar as a writer: the writer’s identity. Candidates explore their current and past writing practices and processes, and then articulate who they currently are as writers. The course also focuses on issues such as writer’s block, writing anxieties, and APA style citation practices.

This course is grounded in the belief that it is the responsibility of educators to employ ethical practice in the daily activities of their personal and professional lives. Candidates examine the underlying assumptions and implicit or explicit theories that can support or erode ethical practice, as well as human subjects research issues of harm and deception. As a result of activities and discussions, candidates transform their personal and professional ethical lives and priorities.

This course moves the candidate journey from an examination of their identity as a writer to examining the elements of style in their current writing practices. Candidates improve their own writing through a detailed examination of style. Candidates become more proficient in making stylistic choices for their academic writing, including choosing appropriate words, constructing and punctuating sentences, and weaving paragraphs into elegant compositions.

Based on the view that an individual’s beliefs influence his or her actions in powerful ways, this course encourages candidates to reframe their worldview to move away from knowledge transmission towards transformational learning. Candidates deconstruct conformity to social and cultural canons which have permeated U.S. public schools. They examine theories that are meant to catalyze social transformation and individual change, and develop their own theory and practice of transformative learning for social change.

This course emphasizes the key role that the research literature plays in knowledge use and creation at the doctoral level. Candidates strengthen their skills in locating literatures relevant to their research areas and in reading the literatures critically and efficiently. Through analyzing articles to identify the techniques scholarly writers use, candidates pinpoint the choices writers make to effectively communicate ideas as well as to create and support knowledge claims.

This course emphasizes fostering environments where creativity, inventiveness, and entrepreneurship are expectations in the culture. Topics are investigated through popular literature and case studies of individuals who have made significant breakthrough contributions in science, music, art, and business. The course addresses questions like, can creativity be learned? How critical is it for organizations to innovate? Candidates tap into their creative potential and discover its value for personal growth and the health of the organization.

This course moves beyond the analysis of literature to the practice of developing synthesized arguments that are grounded in the literature. Candidates explore ways of engaging with other scholars’ voices to develop their own argument about a research topic.

This course focuses on helping candidates internalize the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and values necessary for facilitating organizational improvement in schools and colleges. In particular, it zeros in on the theory and technology of Organizational Development (OD), and the what, why, and how of planned change in diverse educational settings. The course content is undergirded by person-centered values, democratic leadership skills, the ideology of service-management, and is aimed at facilitating excellence in student-centered teaching and learning.

In this course, candidates explore several possible dissertation topics to identify the potential viability of them. The candidate then selects one topic to explore in more depth in preparation for the initial literature review in EDDC 706. Candidates leave this course with an essay that explores the topic along with a list of possible questions to ask about the topic.

The first course specific to your concentration.

In this course, candidates develop a Comprehensive Connection Paper that applies the core curriculum and literature to a dissertation topic that was explored in EDDC 704. Candidates demonstrate the ability to analyze and synthesize core learning, and apply theoretical and practical knowledge to a viable research topic. Candidates write and submit a first year critical assessment for review by the program in order to demonstrate readiness for advanced dissertation research and writing.

The second course specific to your concentration.

This course focuses on library research in support of a literature review along with continuing development of candidates’ academic writing. The course emphasizes the interrelatedness of critical reading, writing, and thinking in the pursuit of identifying and understanding the research literature on a topic. Candidates locate and closely examine peer-reviewed, published research articles on their chosen dissertation topic. Candidates leave this course with a substantial annotated bibliography of literatures completed literature matrix.

The third course specific to your concentration.

Candidates use the annotated bibliography and matrix to write an initial Literature Review that presents an argument about the state of research on their topic. Substantial time is devoted to critiquing previously written Literature Reviews to help the candidate understand the differences between a well-written and a poorly-written literature review. The completed literature review provides a foundation for developing a quantitative and qualitative research question and prospectus in EDDR 708 and EDDR 709.

The fourth course specific to your concentration.

This course develops scholarship and understanding in social science quantitative research. Candidates write an initial quantitative research prospectus based on the quantitative research question developed in EDDR 707. Candidates identify their research niche (find a gap, weak connection, or alternate connection in literature), establish their niche (situate the research question in context, purpose, and conceptual framework), and occupy their niche (state the proposed study’s significance and nature, operationalize variables/attributes, and determine assumptions, delimitations, and limitations).

This course prepares candidates to conduct sound quantitative research. Emphasis is placed on understanding quantitative research designs, identifying target populations, sampling, identifying comparisons, selecting appropriate measures and analyses, including descriptive and inferential statistics, and incorporating previous research and pilot studies to support a research study. Survey, correlation, causal-comparative, and comparative designs are examined. Candidates determine the appropriate quantitative research design, data collection tools, and analysis measures to answer their social science research question.

This course develops scholarship and understanding in social science qualitative research. Candidates write an initial qualitative research prospectus based on the qualitative research question developed in EDDR 707. Candidates identify their research niche (find a gap, weak connection, or alternate connection in literature), establish their niche (situate the research question in context, purpose, and conceptual framework), and occupy their niche (state the proposed study’s significance and nature, operationalize variables/attributes, and determine assumptions, delimitations, and limitations).

This course prepares candidates to examine research problems in a relativistic, yet systematic manner. Candidates are trained to conduct qualitative research through the coherent study of methodological designs of narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, action research, and case study. Emphasis is placed on recognizing the issues of alternative knowledge claims, validity or trustworthiness, and in-depth fieldwork. Candidates determine the appropriate qualitative research design, data collection tools, and analysis measures to answer their social science research question.

The candidate develops and executes a feasible, ethical, and scientifically valid research study and completes a dissertation to report the development, execution, and completion of the study. The dissertation includes: a logical, organized introduction; synthesized literature review; well-articulated and sound methodology; scientifically valid presentation of data analyses and results; and, well-developed discussion and conclusion. The dissertation is defended before the committee and revised for conformity with program and university publication standards.

NOTE: Must take a minimum of eight times. May be repeated for up to 78 credits within the seven-year time limit to earn the degree.

The candidate develops and executes a feasible, ethical, and scientifically valid research study and completes a dissertation to report the development, execution, and completion of the study. The dissertation includes: a logical, organized introduction; synthesized literature review; well-articulated and sound methodology; scientifically valid presentation of data analyses and results; and, well-developed discussion and conclusion. The dissertation is defended before the committee and revised for conformity with program and university publication standards.

NOTE: Must take a minimum of eight times. May be repeated for up to 78 credits within the seven-year time limit to earn the degree.