Courses - Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership

This course examines classical and contemporary theories and styles of leadership and their application to a variety of professional and global settings. The role of vision, persuasion, mobilizing constituencies, and other dimensions of effective leadership are examined from a theoretical and practitioner perspective. Students conduct research on leadership theories and practices relevant to their particular academic and professional interests.

This course introduces students to the study of ethical leadership and provides the foundation for value clarification, ethical decision making, and responsible leadership in diverse organizations and communities. Elements of ethical leadership such as cultural proficiency, social justice, equity, and privilege are examined. Students will investigate applications and practices relevant to their academic and professional interests.

Students learn statistic distributions, confidence intervals, estimation, effect size, and hypothesis testing. Topics include proper application of statistical methods, analysis of data utilizing statistical software, interpretation of parametric and nonparametric techniques, and presentation of findings in a variety of organizational issues and scholarly pursuits. Students will examine application of statistical analysis and practices relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course introduces major theories and approaches to research, assessment, and development of public policy. Students develop a policy paper on a topic of their choice at the local, state, regional, or national level. Students will investigate applications and practices of advocacy and social change through policy development relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course offers students practical experience in policy development at the national level. Students will travel to Washington, DC, or a similar venue; will experience policy development at the federal, state, or local level; and will meet with policy makers, lobbyists, and leaders in government and national associations. Students are required to participate in a trip to Washington, DC, or a similar location. Students will incur travel costs (which vary in relation to airline, hotel, food, venue, and materials). Prerequisite: EDD 753A.

This course examines global issues and policy alternatives at the intersection of technology, innovation, and social change. It applies principles of micro- and macroeconomics to investigate alternative economic distribution systems, taxation, educational challenges, planet sustainability, intellectual property and trade, poverty eradication, social justice, health care, and economic and workforce development. Students will investigate applications and practices of global economics and policy relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course discusses and examines economic distribution and policy systems with local, national, and global leaders in private and government sectors, public education and learning institutions, social enterprises, health care, and commercial and manufacturing in contrast to the United States. It immerses students in an international destination to gain experiential perspective on alternative economic and policy approaches relevant to their academic and professional interests. Students are required to participate in a trip to an international location. Students will incur travel costs, which vary in relation to venue, airline, hotel, food, and learning material.

This course immerses students, as future global learners, in a dynamic exploration of technology-integrated learning tools and solutions available to global organizations, learning communities, and educational settings. It explores current and future-ready technologies and their intentional application for experiential, collaborative, social, and blended learning across organically or formally developed learning organizations and online communities in K–12, higher education, and private and public sectors. Students will investigate applications and practices in virtual learning relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course examines legal, political, and regulatory processes and issues confronting organizations. Topics in the course include intellectual property law, educational law, torts, criminal and contract liability, the laws regarding electronic communication, encryption, internet security, and ethics in cyberspace. Dispute resolution and negotiation techniques are also included. Students conduct research on legal principles and practices relevant to their particular academic and professional interests.

This course focuses on analysis, design, development, implementation, and assessment of learning-based solutions to organizational challenges in a variety of learning organization environments including K–12, higher education, and private and public sectors. It introduces models and methods of learning theory and cognition and learning assessments as a response to identified needs and gaps in intended organizational results. Students will investigate applications and practices of learning design, cognition, and evaluation relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course focuses on innovation and change in organizations in response to environmental and technological induced disruptions they bring to organizations or systems. Organizational change theories and models, futurist literature, and major world trends in innovation that impact sustainable change efforts in education, health care, social enterprises, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and related disciplines are examined. Topics include models and strategies in anticipating, creating, and managing change; collaboration; overcoming resistance to change; and creativity and innovations. Students will investigate applications and practices of organizational change relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course explores the theory and practice of designing, conducting, and applying statistical software for analyzing and interpreting data and presenting findings in experimental, quasi-experimental, and nonexperimental procedures for organizational research and evaluation. Sample size planning and methods of assessing the credibility of published research are discussed. Students focus on quantitative measures and the statistical description of variables. Students will investigate applications and practices in quantitative research relevant to their academic and professional interests.

This course introduces students to research designs within the qualitative tradition. Topics include the collection and interpretation of qualitative data and methods of minimizing threats to the trustworthiness and authenticity of qualitative studies. Students learn specific techniques for the analysis and interpretation of qualitative data. Students will be expected to utilize appropriate software to conduct content, semantic, and sentiment analysis relevant to their academic and professional interests.

The course addresses organizations; alignment of organizational structures and intended outcomes; and how they deal with culture, employee behavior, and values. Students will examine strategies designed to create and evaluate knowledge, including the psychological basis for human action, individual and organizational learning, communicating across cultures, and intellectual capital. Students will research and examine organizational theories and practices relevant to their particular academic and professional fields.

New venture creation, theory, strategy, and practice for organizational leaders are explored. Students will conduct a comprehensive study of the process of shepherding an entrepreneurial idea from formulation to fruition by forming new ventures in for-profit, not-for-profit, and philanthropic organizations.

Students apply their knowledge, skills, and values to a real-world problem. Students will work with an external company as their client and identify a project-based issue, concern, or problem; identify a set of strategies to meet the projected goals; seek the assistance of a mentor in achieving the goals; and begin to implement strategies to achieve a solution to the issue or problem. The consultancy course spans more than one semester and includes plan preparation and approval, implementation of the plan, presentation of results to clients, and an evaluation of the projects. Full completion of the Consultancy Project sequence requires completion of each sub-course: EDOL 764A and 764B.

Students apply their knowledge, skills, and values to a real-world problem. Students will work with an external company as their client and identify a project-based issue, concern, or problem; identify a set of strategies to meet the projected goals; seek the assistance of a mentor in achieving the goals; and begin to implement strategies to achieve a solution to the issue or problem. The consultancy course spans more than one semester and includes plan preparation and approval, implementation of the plan, presentation of results to clients, and an evaluation of the projects. Full completion of the Consultancy Project sequence requires completion of each sub-course: EDOL 764A and 764B.

Students examine a broad range of advancements in theory and practice in their respective areas of interest. Examples of possible areas may include social innovation and entrepreneurship; school safety; institutional advancement; innovations and future of learning technologies, such as AI, 3D learning and virtual worlds, aerial, cloud, and mobile technologies; financial management of public institutions; open-source electronic platforms; interactive gadgets or media mashups; managing in technological environments; pre-K–12 administration; private and charter school administration; societal factors affecting education and equity; nonprofit management and leadership; mixed-methodology research methods; and other similar topics.

The purpose of the Comprehensive Examination Seminar is to assess the doctoral student's ability to integrate the doctoral coursework by preparing a paper which will address a real-world problem, dilemma, or issue synthesizing the leadership, learning, and change coursework. The paper will be evaluated and defended orally before a committee of faculty members. Prerequisites: EDD 700, 724, 755, 759, 763, and 765.

Under the direction of a dissertation chairperson, dissertation research is individualized and tailored to aid the student in completing the dissertation requirement. In dissertation study, students engage in preparing their research proposal and hold a preliminary oral with their chair and committee. In order to have a preliminary oral, formally presenting their proposed dissertation research, students are required to have successfully completed their research methods and data analysis courses. For EdD students, these courses include: EDD 734, EDD 766, and EDD 767. Upon successfully completing the preliminary oral, students officially become doctoral candidates. Students then continue their dissertation study through final defense, manuscript review, and finally to the publication stage. Students must be enrolled continuously in dissertation study for 2 units per term until completion. Registration in and completion of a minimum of two terms in ED 791, EDEL 791, or EDOL 791, successful completion of coursework and their comprehensive exam are required prior to holding a final dissertation defense. The earliest a student may hold a dissertation defense is in the third term in which they have registered for ED 791, EDEL 791, or EDOL 791.

Dissertation students who have successfully completed the final oral defense of their dissertation and the manuscript modifications required by the dissertation committee may enroll in this course for a fee of $100. A completed Form F4 must be submitted to the associate program director to enroll in this course. Students are eligible to enroll in this course for up to two consecutive semesters. If the dissertation has not been APA-cleared and submitted after two semesters, students will need to re-enroll in the appropriate doctoral dissertation research course.