Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership & Innovation

The Introduction to Doctoral Studies course serves as a foundational runway for students entering online doctoral leadership programs, including both the EdD and PhD pathways. This four-week course focuses on the development of a doctoral identity, supporting students as they transition from prior academic or professional roles into the expectations of doctoral-level scholarship and leadership. Emphasis is placed on cultivating a growth mindset, openness to challenge and feedback, and the habits of mind required for sustained inquiry, reflection, and professional growth. Students are also introduced to the technological systems, digital tools, and academic practices essential for success in the program. By the conclusion of the course, students are prepared to engage confidently, ethically, and productively in the rigorous and collaborative work of doctoral study. 

Leadership I: Self Leadership serves as the foundational course in the doctoral leadership sequence and is grounded in the principle that effective leadership begins with intentional leadership of self. This course focuses on the development of self-awareness, personal discipline, and authentic leadership practice as essential prerequisites for leading others. Using a strengths-based approach informed by Gallup's StrengthsFinder framework, students identify and analyze their dominant leadership strengths and examine how these strengths shape behavior, decision-making, and influence. Emphasis is placed on aligning personal leadership practices with scholarly understanding and ethical responsibility, ensuring coherence between who leaders are and how they lead. By establishing self-leadership as the cornerstone of doctoral leadership practice, the course prepares students to engage meaningfully in subsequent coursework focused on followership, team leadership, and organizational leadership.

Leadership II: Team Leadership builds on the foundations of self-leadership and followership by shifting focus from individual leadership capacity to the dynamics of leading and participating within teams. Positioned immediately after Followership: Beyond the Leader, this course emphasizes the relational and collective dimensions of leadership, challenging students to leverage their identified strengths while intentionally engaging the strengths of others. Using an evidence-based framework, students examine team behavior, development, diversity, and effectiveness, with particular attention to how complementary strengths, roles, and followership behaviors contribute to high-functioning teams. A collaborative, team-based learning environment is used to simulate real organizational challenges, allowing students to apply theory to practice through shared problem-solving and reflection. By the conclusion of the course, students are prepared to lead teams strategically by building structures, cultures, and processes that amplify collective capacity beyond individual leadership ability.

Leadership III: Organizational Leadership serves as the culminating course in the leadership sequence, integrating insights from self-leadership, followership, and team leadership to examine leadership at the organizational level. This course focuses on how organizational effectiveness is conceptualized, assessed, and achieved through intentional leadership actions, structures, and culture. Students explore evidence-based approaches to organizational leadership, change management, and continuous improvement, with particular attention to how individual and team strengths are aligned to support system-wide effectiveness. Emphasis is placed on understanding how improvement initiatives are launched, led, and sustained across multiple organizational levels to create lasting, value-added impact. By the conclusion of the course, students are prepared to lead organizational change strategically, leveraging leadership theory, data-informed decision-making, and collaborative capacity to improve outcomes within complex organizational contexts.

Followership: Beyond the Leader examines leadership through the often-overlooked lens of followership, positioning effective followership as an essential component of strategic leadership practice. Serving as a bridge between intrapersonal leadership development and team leadership, this course explores followership as a theoretical construct, a practical skill set, and a dimension of professional identity. Students examine major followership theories, analyze the dynamics between leaders and followers within organizational contexts, and reflect on their own tendencies, strengths, and responsibilities as both leaders and followers. Emphasis is placed on understanding how intentional followership enhances influence, collaboration, and ethical decision-making. By the conclusion of the course, students are prepared to leverage their dual capacities as leaders and followers to engage more effectively in team-based and organizational leadership environments.

The Scholar-Practitioner: Leadership Identity and Innovation serves as the culminating course of the doctoral leadership program, functioning not as a capstone that concludes learning, but as a springboard that launches graduates into their next chapters of leadership practice. Building on the program's foundation in organizational leadership, this course challenges students to integrate scholarship, experience, and innovation into a coherent scholar-practitioner identity. Students critically examine their leadership development, apply research-informed insights to complex organizational challenges, and explore how innovation can be leveraged across evolving leadership roles and contexts. Emphasis is placed on future-focused leadership thinking, ethical decision-making, and sustained professional growth. By the conclusion of the course, students articulate a clear vision for how they will continue to lead, learn, and innovate beyond the doctoral program, carrying their doctoral identity forward into lifelong leadership practice.

Research Design & Analysis I: The Review of the Literature introduces students to doctoral-level inquiry through the identification of an area of professional interest and the articulation of an initial Problem of Practice. Grounded in the Dissertation in Practiceframework, this course focuses on helping students develop academic fluency by engaging with scholarly literature related to their professional context. Students learn how to locate, organize, and critically engage with research to deepen their understanding of existing knowledge and perspectives related to their problem of practice. Emphasis is placed on raising students' academic foundation and preparing them for future writing and inquiry by building habits of scholarly reading, sense-making, and organization. By the conclusion of the course, students are prepared to move from broad interest to focused inquiry and are positioned to engage more intentionally with research and writing in subsequent coursework.

Research Design & Analysis II: Integrated Inquiry I builds on students' emerging Problems of Practice by introducing the foundational components of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research design and analysis through an integrated, inquiry-driven approach. Rather than treating methodology and analysis as separate domains, this course presents research as a cohesive process in which research questions, design choices, data sources, and analytic strategies-including statistical analysis and qualitative interpretation-are intentionally aligned to the leadership problem being studied. Students explore multiple approaches to quantitative and qualitative inquiry and analysis while developing an understanding of how different research choices align with different types of leadership problems. Simultaneously, students begin reflecting on their identity as researchers, considering how their professional roles, strengths, and contexts shape the questions they ask and the approaches they take. By the end of the course, students possess a working understanding of core research concepts and a clearer sense of how inquiry can inform leadership practice.

Research Design & Analysis III: Integrated Inquiry II advances students from exploration to application by guiding them toward intentional research decision-making across qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches. Building on the conceptual foundations established in Integrated Inquiry I, this course emphasizes the selection and alignment of inquiry approaches that best address each student's Problem of Practice. Students deepen their understanding of research design and analysis while evaluating which methodological paths are most appropriate for generating meaningful, actionable insights within their professional contexts. Particular emphasis is placed on clarifying researcher identity, refining the Problem of Practice, and establishing coherence between leadership challenges, research questions, and inquiry approaches. By the conclusion of the course, students are prepared to articulate who they are as researchers, what they seek to study, and how responsible, ethical, and well-aligned inquiry-both quantitative and qualitative-can be used to inform leadership action.

Research Design & Analysis IV: Proposal Design serves as the culminating course of the EdD research sequence and prepares students for formal proposal review, advising, and institutional approval processes. In this course, students synthesize prior learning to produce a complete, dissertation-aligned draft of Chapter 1, including the Problem of Practice, purpose, research questions, and supporting research design considerations. Emphasis is placed on coherence, clarity, and alignment across all elements of the proposed study, as well as readiness for advisor feedback and Institutional Review Board (IRB) submission. By the conclusion of the course, students have a fully developed proposal chapter that reflects their scholar-practitioner identity, demonstrates methodological rigor, and positions them to move confidently into the dissertation phase with a clearly articulated, practice-centered research plan grounded in responsible inquiry.

Dissertation in Practice I: Chapter 1 Approval and Literature Review serves as the formal transition from the research-design sequence into the supervised dissertation process. Building on the study developed in Research Design & Analysis IV: Proposal Design, students work with their assigned dissertation adviser and reader to integrate, refine, and formally present the foundational components of their study as Chapter 1 of the Dissertation in Practice.

Emphasis is placed on ensuring coherence among the Problem of Practice, purpose of the study, research questions, conceptual or theoretical framing, research design, data sources, and proposed analytic procedures. Through an iterative review process, students revise Chapter 1 in response to advising-team feedback and progress through the required adviser, reader, and methodologist review processes. Following approval of Chapter 1, students prepare and submit the study for Institutional Review Board review and complete any associated site permissions, recruitment materials, informed consent documents, instruments, protocols, and data-management plans.

After the Institutional Review Board application has been submitted, students continue refining and expanding the literature review (Chapter 2)developed during the research-design sequence. Emphasis is placed on synthesizing the scholarship that frames, explains, and supports the study. By the conclusion of the course, students have an approved Chapter 1, a submitted Institutional Review Board application, and a substantive draft of Chapter 2.

Dissertation in Practice II: Data Collection, Analysis, and Chapter 3 guides students through the implementation of their approved Dissertation in Practice study. Following receipt of all required Institutional Review Board and organizational approvals, students conduct recruitment, collect and manage data, and apply the analytic procedures approved for the study.

Working closely with the dissertation advising team, students monitor the quality, completeness, and integrity of the research process while maintaining compliance with institutional, ethical, and methodological requirements. Emphasis is placed on implementing the study as approved, documenting research decisions, addressing challenges responsibly, and seeking authorization before making any substantive changes to the study.

Students analyze the collected data and develop Chapter 3 in accordance with the program's four-chapter dissertation structure. Chapter 3 documents the implementation of the study and presents the resulting analysis and findings in clear alignment with the research questions. Students also finalize Chapter 2 and make any necessary revisions to earlier chapters to maintain consistency across the developing manuscript. By the conclusion of the course, students have an approved Chapter 2, completed data collection and analysis, and produced a complete draft of Chapter 3.

Dissertation in Practice III: Chapter 4, Defense, and Completion serves as the culminating research course in the EdD in Organizational Leadership & Innovation. In this course, students finalize Chapter 3 and interpret the findings of their Dissertation in Practice as they develop Chapter 4, connecting the study's results to the Problem of Practice, research questions, supporting scholarship, and conceptual or theoretical framing.

Emphasis is placed on explaining the meaning and significance of the findings, identifying implications for leadership practice and organizational improvement, acknowledging the study's limitations, and developing responsible, evidence-informed recommendations. Students demonstrate their capacity to translate research findings into actionable understanding for the organizations, communities, and stakeholders associated with the Problem of Practice.

Working with the dissertation advising team, students integrate all four chapters into a coherent final manuscript, complete required stylistic and institutional reviews, and prepare for the dissertation defense. Students formally defend the study, respond to required revisions, and complete all steps necessary for final approval and submission. By the conclusion of the course, students have successfully defended and finalized a rigorous, practice-centered Dissertation in Practice that contributes meaningful evidence to an organizational leadership challenge.

ELI 8218 is a repeatable, one-credit dissertation continuation course available by petition for students who have not completed the dissertation within the standard course sequence. To earn a Satisfactory grade, students must complete and receive approval for one new dissertation chapter during the term. A maximum of four enrollments is permitted. This course is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis.