Doctor of Adult & Community College Education

The Doctor Adult & Community College Education (Ed.D.) degree is designed to prepare practitioners for leadership and teaching positions in their work with adults. To meet the needs of full- and part-time students, most courses are offered once per week during late afternoon or evening hours. Some courses are regularly available in summer session, weekends, and through distance-education technologies.

Specialization Areas

All students persuing this degree must select one of three specialization areas, which are areas of advanced study. The specialization areas are: Adult and Continuing Professional Education, Health Professions Education, or Training and Development. Each specialization is designed to provide foundational preparation in the following specific areas of study:

• Adult and Continuing Professional Education
• Health Professions Education
• Training and Development.

For more information, contact a program coordinator for your specific area of interest.

Charlotte Cohort (Distance-Education Option)

If you live closer to Charlotte, our Charlotte Cohort distance-education option may suit you. Whether you prefer face-to-face or distance-learning options, the department offers something to meet your learning needs. Learn more...

Course of Study

There are five major areas of course work: core courses, specialization in one of the three areas, research, an interdisciplinary component, and the dissertation component. In addition, all graduate students are expected to pass the Adult and Higher Education technology competencies through a testing out procedure. Further information is noted on the department's technology web page.

The program has a 72-credit-hour minimum requirement. (Up to 18 credit hours from the master's degree may count towards the doctorate with approval from the committee. Please note the policy for transferring credit hours.)

Core Courses (15 hours - to be taken at the beginning of the program)

A. Doctoral Orientation

EAC 711 - Reflective Practice and Research Inquiry (3 hrs) * To be taken in the first year of study

B. Programming and Evaluation

EAC 703 - Programming Process in Adult & Higher Education (3 hrs)

C. Foundations

EAC 710 - Adult Education: History, Philosophy, Contemporary Nature (3 hrs)

D. Teaching and Learning

EAC 759 - The Adult Learner (3 hrs)

E. Organization and Administration

EAC 712 - The Change Process in Adult Education (3 hrs)

Research Competency (12 hours)

Students will be expected to take a minimum of 12 hours in research inquiry, design, and/or methodology courses. As a prerequisite, all students will be expected to either have had an introductory research inquiry course within the last seven years or will be expected to take EAC 595A (Topical Problems: Introduction to Research in Adult and Higher Education) or equivalent as the first course in their research sequence. This introductory inquiry course will not count toward the 12 hours of doctoral level research hours.

Doctoral students will be expected to have identified their dissertation research problem, research inquiry method, conceptual framework as well as started their literature review during the early to mid-portion of their coursework. The desire of the department is for students to develop their skills and knowledge towards becoming thoughtful, self-directed researchers who pursue critical practitioner-scholar inquiry.

For the required minimum of 12 hours, each student will be expected to take 3 semester hours of statistics (in their early coursework) and then select 9 semester hours from one of the two research paradigms (quantitative or qualitative).

I. Statistics (3 hours)

ST 507 - Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences I - OR -
ST 508 - Statistics for Behavioral Science II
ST 511 - OR - Equivalent statistics course as approved by your chair

II. Research Focus (Please select A or B to reflect your dissertation research method) (9 hours)

A. Quantitative Research Dissertation Focus

1. Introductory Quantitative Course

SOC 711 - Research Methods in Sociology ( 3 hrs)
PA 515 - Research Methods and Analysis (3 hrs)
Equivalent course as approved by chair
OR if individuals will be doing survey research, they may consider
EAC 720 - Use of Secondary Survey Data in AHE (3 hrs)

2. Advanced Quantitative Course - to include research design, advanced research analyses, or related course(s) as approved by chair

3. Other Quantitative Course (i.e., quantitative proposal development course)

EAC 803 - Research Seminar in Adult and Higher Education, as one option

B. Qualitative Research Dissertation Focus - (9 hours)

1. Introductory Qualitative Course

EAC 785 - Qualitative Research in AHE (3 hrs) - OR - Equivalent course approved by chair

2. Qualitative Inquiry, Collection Strategies, or Qualitative Analysis course. Course or research project as directed and approved by chair (Please refer to TRACS for EAC 795A - Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis)

EAC 795 - Qualitative Data Collection & Analysis

3. Advanced Qualitative Course

EAC 790 Advanced Qualitative Research Design (3 hrs)

Interdisciplinary Component (9 hours)

Students will be expected to pursue nine hours of interdisciplinary work outside the department. [Note: department policies regarding this requirement as well as requirement for a member of the faculty from outside the department of AHE to be on the doctoral committee.]

Dissertation Component (12 hours)

EAC 895 - Dissertation Research. A maximum of 12 semester hours of dissertation credit may be applied to a student's graduate plan of work.

Preliminary Examination

Each doctoral student is required to take a preliminary examination no earlier than the end of the second year of graduate study. Preliminary examinations are evaluated on a pass or fail basis. To be admitted to candidacy the student must pass the preliminary examination.

Choosing and Scheduling Exams

After consultation with committee, student will decide on Option A, B, or C.Dates for writing will be determined by the student in consultation with the committee.

Preparing the Exam

The chair of the committee will coordinate the development of the examination.

Examination Options

Option A

The committee will examine the student on each of four core areas

• Foundations
• Teaching and Learning
• Programming and Evaluation
• Administration and Organization

in four 4-hour sessions. The committee shall determine the timing-- not to exceed one (1) month. The committee will ensure adequate space and proctoring as required. Questions prepared under this Option should be designed to evaluate the student's ability to recall from memory significant concepts that he or she has learned and to synthesize theories and concepts into cogent treatments of the literature in the assigned area.

Option B

The committee will examine the student on each of the four core areas

• Foundations
• Teaching and Learning
• Programming and Evaluation
• Administration and Organization

by allowing the student one (1) month to explore the questions in depth without supervision (i.e., "take home"). The student will employ written, visual, or electronic resources but will not be allowed to cause his or her work to be edited or improved by other individuals.

The questions prepared under this Option are to be formulated to require both broader and more in-depth analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and structuring of theory, research, and practice than that required in Option A.

Option C

The committee will examine the student on a carefully orchestrated prospectus designed to link theory, research, and practice to a research area of interest to both the committee and the student. The outline of the exam will be presented to the committee, and a negotiated design outline will be approved.

After negotiation, the student will study and write for a period of time not to exceed six (6) weeks and will prepare a written document highly relevant to one or more of the core areas and the student's research interest.

The purpose of this exam option is to demonstrate a high level of synthesis and evaluation of relevant material. The student will also be able to demonstrate originality and intended applications of the theory, research, and practice to a specific area of interest.

Conducting the Exam

It is the responsibility of the student's advisory committee to conduct the exams (place, time, etc.). The information below applies to Option A.

Any handwritten responses are to be photocopied by the chair, one copy retained by the chair, and one copy returned to the student for typing.

When typed copies are returned to the chair, the chair will check them against the handwritten copy to insure true typed copy.

Both typed copy and handwritten copy are to be submitted to the chair. Copies will be made and the student's work will be distributed to the committee for evaluation.

Assuring Performance

It is the responsibility of the advisory committee to ensure that the graduate student demonstrates high standards of scholarship.

The chair of the advisory committee notifies the Director of Graduate Programs of the committee's assessment of the student's performance on exams as either of the following:

• Unconditional Pass
• Conditional Pass
• Fail.

Elaboration on Procedures

Scheduling Exams

When the student will write is a matter between the student and the student's advisory committee. The Option chosen is the responsibility of the committee based on their collective determination of which Option is best for a particular graduate student.

The writtens may be taken before or after the committee has accepted the student's dissertation prospectus.

Preparing the Exams

In Options A or B, the written exam questions in the core area will be prepared by the student's advisory committee within the context of the student's area of professional specialization.

In Option C, the process will result in a negotiated agreement between the committee and the student. It is expected that research competencies can be evaluated within the context of the four content areas:

• Foundations
• Teaching and Learning
• Programming and Evaluation
• Administration and Organization

How these areas are to be sampled within the context of the student's professional specialization is the responsibility of the student's committee.

Program Coordinators for Adult and Community College Education

Adult and Continuing Professional Education

Dr. Susan Bracken
Assistant Professor of Adult Education
Department of Adult and Higher Education
300 J-Poe Hall, Campus Box 7801
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7801

Phone: 919.513.3706
susan_bracken@ncsu.edu

Health Professions Education

Dr. Duane Akroyd
Professor and Program Coordinator
Department of Adult and Higher Education
300-N Poe Hall, Campus Box 7801
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7801
Phone: 919.515.1745
duane_akroyd@ncsu.edu

Training and Development

Dr. Timothy Hatcher,
Associate Professor & Program Coordinator
Department of Adult and Higher Education
310-M Poe Hall, Campus Box 7801
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7801

Phone: 919.515.6246

 

DEPARTMENTAL ADDRESS &
CONTACT INFO

Dept. of Adult & Higher Ed

Poe 300, Box 7801

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, N.C. 276195-7801

919.515.6241