Doctor of Adult & Community College Education

Specialization:
Adult and Continuing Professional Education

General EdD information


Student Advisory Worksheet

The specialization in Adult and Continuing Professional Education (ACPE) for the doctor of education degree is targeted to individuals who seek to foster change in individual adults, as well as through groups, communities, organizations, and society. This specialization offers several unique opportunities to learn a core body of knowledge and process, as well as advanced study in specific adult and continuing education programs and institutional settings. The program is based on a reflective practice approach, offering practitioners and scholars opportunities to reflectively and critically integrate their professional experience with adult education knowledge and practice skills.

Admission Requirements

The department considers the following six factors in determining the admission of an applicant to the program:

• Demonstration of interest noted by current professional involvements and through the written statement of goals. Evidence of potential to contribute to advancement of the field through professional leadership and scholarship (for doctoral students) to the field of practice as noted in the resume and references.
• Minimum undergraduate Grade Point Average of 3.0 in major.
• Minimum graduate Grade Point Average of 3.0 minimum.
• Standardized proficiency examination:
• Graduate Record Examination (GRE) to include the Verbal, the Quantitative and the Analytical writing (a scores at or above the 50th percentile is generally accepted.)
• Sample of professional and or academic writing.

Please refer to admissions for complete information on requirements and the application period..

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.)

1. 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)

2. Specialization (12 hours)

Courses will be identified and selected with your advisor.

3. 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)

4. 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.]

5. 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.

Contact

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

 

DEPARTMENTAL ADDRESS &
CONTACT INFO

Dept. of Adult & Higher Ed

Poe 300, Box 7801

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, N.C. 27695-7801

919.515.6241