Vanderbilt University Online Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development offers an online Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership and Learning in Organizations. The program is designed for professionals with a passion for promoting positive organizational change. Graduates will be equipped with the knowledge, understanding, assessment skills, and data analytic skills to lead organizational change in varied professional settings.

The Ed.D. curriculum focuses on three areas of knowledge: data and analytics, leadership and organizational development, and learning and design. As a cohort-based program, students follow a prescribed course sequence with a group of peers and complete the program in three years. Additionally, students attend one campus immersion each year at the Nashville campus, allowing them to meet faculty and cohort members, participate in collaborative projects focused on developing critical leadership skills, and demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills disseminated thus far.

As well, the immersions allow students to build relationships and integrate their knowledge and skills through interdisciplinary application, professional practice, and analytical challenges. Campus Convening III takes place at the end of the program, and students present their capstone projects to faculty, peers, and practitioners. In the program’s final year, students complete an intensive capstone project involving independent research and data analytics, embedded within a group project.

The online Doctor of Education in Leadership and Learning in Organizations program draws applicants from various fields, such as K-12 and higher education, corporate, and community-based settings. The curriculum covers topics such as leadership theory and practice, organizational behavior, leading inclusive organizations, public policy, human resource economics, psychological learning perspectives, learning in communities, research design, applied statistics, data science, and qualitative methods of inquiry.

The online Ed.D. program comprises 84 credits; 54 from the Ed.D. program and 30 credits from the participant’s master’s degree. The program begins in the summer semester only and students take two courses per semester.

Vanderbilt University delivers courses through the Brightspace online Learning Management System (LMS). Ed.D. courses meet once per week in the evening. Participants should have Monday through Thursday evenings open as one course might meet one evening and a different course another evening. Students are not able to choose when courses meet. In addition to the live, discussion-based class sessions, asynchronous activities include recorded lectures, collaborative projects, and case studies.

Admission considerations for the online Ed.D. program include the quality of the application materials, academic and professional achievements, and the scope of the applicant’s leadership experience, which must include at least three years of relevant leadership experience. applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, a high level of verbal and quantitative ability, and at least 30 applicable graduate-level hours for transfer, preferably from a completed master’s degree, with a grade of B or higher in all coursework.

Application materials include official transcripts, a statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, proof of leadership experience, and the results of TOEFL or IELTS language scores, if applicable.

Leadership and Organizational Development courses include Leadership Theory and Practice; Learning in Organizations; Organizational Theory and Behavior; Responsible Leadership: Conceptualizing the Ethics of Leadership for a Democratic Context; Public Policy and Administration; Economics of Human Resources; and Leading Inclusive Organizations. Learning and Design courses include Psychological Perspectives on Learning, Learning and Design in Context, and Designing for Learning in Communities.

Data and Analytics courses include Research Design; Strategy and Analytics; Applied Statistics; Data Science; Program Evaluation; and Qualitative Methods of Inquiry. Students also attend Campus Convenings I-III and complete Capstone Seminar I-II.

Vanderbilt University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).