Northeastern University’s EdD program helps students put their ideas into practice
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As Dr. Patrick Plunkett, Senior Associate Dean for International Engagement and Executive Director of Northeastern University states, “Northeastern University is a global university committed to diversity, creating relationships, building networks, and delivering education to local communities. The school has established a strong presence in Hong Kong as a major international education hub, where the East meets the West.”
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As Dr. Patrick Plunkett, Senior Associate Dean for International Engagement and Executive Director of Northeastern University states, “Northeastern University is a global university committed to diversity, creating relationships, building networks, and delivering education to local communities. The school has established a strong presence in Hong Kong as a major international education hub, where the East meets the West.”
Now available in Hong Kong thanks to the assistance of Kaplan Higher Education, Northeastern’s doctor of education (EdD) program combines a first-rate syllabus with the advantages of distance learning. The program can be completed in three years and offers a hybrid learning experience with online classwork, plus face-to-face learning experiences. Designed for professionals who want to advance their careers, the program aims to foster the leadership skills and knowledge base needed for participants to effect meaningful change. It also enables students to remain committed to their communities while studying.
Using the latest online learning technologies, the program gives students the flexibility to study their own interests for their doctoral research. In doing so, it’s helping to transform the overall educational landscape. “The aim is to facilitate critical engagement with theory, practice and research,” says Dr Mya M. Mangawang, Northeastern’s director of graduate programs in education. “By connecting qualified, innovative, and passionate individuals with others from around the world, we are making it possible for our students to become true agents of change.” Northeastern University is based in Boston, US.
The EdD is recognised by the National Science Foundation in the US as equivalent to a PhD, but it serves a different purpose. A PhD leans towards original or theoretical work geared to the production of new knowledge, but an EdD focuses on educational research with direct practical implications. The objective is to bring about more immediate improvements, innovation, and changes which will have an impact “on the ground”, or in the classroom.
To this end, students complete a doctoral thesis which is expected to take the form of a scholarly investigation into a problem of educational practice. “Students undertake an intense, focused process of inquiry and reflection,” Mangawang says. “This covers the origins, significance and nature of the problem.” Students then design an original research project to investigate the issue, and use their findings to develop alternative approaches, and devise solutions which will work in practice.
“The program assumes that educational innovation and transformation is a dynamic, iterative process,” Mangawang says. “Each advance leads to further questions, beginning anew the cycle of identifying, investigating, and implementing improvements.”
Northeastern’s approach supports the concept of the scholar-practitioner. Students are expected to apply theories and specific research to their work, and to develop critical, strategic, and creative skills that will enable them to formulate new ideas.
“Our online curriculum empowers students all over the world to pursue the issues they are passionate about. It allows them to bring meaningful change to their communities without having to leave them,” Mangawang says. “Although most classes take place online, the personal connections students make with faculty and their peers evolve into a network of professional resources that lasts far beyond graduation.”
The university provides access to a support network which includes an EdD program manager and faculty liaison, a writing resource centre, and a dedicated librarian. Applicants come from a range of disciplines and professions, and are looking for more than a qualification. They want a practical education which can be applied to their everyday work environment. In general, candidates should have the ability to think critically, be open to possibility and change, and have no “fear of failure”, says Mangawang.
“We seek students who will lead schools and other organisations with curiosity and creativity,” Mangawang says. “They should be aware of the larger educational context, while being intensely invested in their own particular place.”
Dr. Kelly Conn, assistant teaching professor at Northeastern’s Graduate School of Education, is impressed by the commitment of Hong Kong-based EdD students. She also notes their willingness to interact with their peers. Such qualities make it easier to translate research interests into scholarly studies which will have a direct bearing on students’ professional endeavours, Conn says.
“I continue to be impressed by the breadth of personal and professional experience each student brings to our Hong Kong cohort,” says Conn, who leads courses on the development of doctoral research skills. “
Conn finds that “creating community” is one of the most important things about teaching a hybrid distance learning program.
“During our face-to-face class time, there are small group and whole group learning activities,” Conn says. “I also encourage students to engage with each other outside the formal learning environment through social media platforms and periodic social events, and I help them form connections with our larger global network of Northeastern University EdD students.”
Dr Daya Datwani, a graduate of the program, is quick to emphasise the benefits of the course. The two years of coursework, followed by an independent research period for the doctoral thesis, provided a deeper understanding of micro and macro issues, Datwani says.
“I had the opportunity to present my work to colleagues, and at overseas conferences, during my research year,” says Datwani, who is now a lecturer at the Centre for Applied English Studies at the University of Hong Kong. “The online format allowed flexibility and interaction, and some group projects included students in the US and Canada. You have to be committed and stay focused. For me, that meant a couple of hours to study every day, and never being afraid to ask for faculty support in times of difficulty.”
About Kaplan Higher Education
Kaplan is a global provider of management education and quality lifelong learning programmes and services. It is a proud member of Kaplan, Inc. – a global leader specialising in lifelong education, with 1,000,000 students around the globe in more than 500 locations worldwide.
Established in Hong Kong in 1991, Kaplan Higher Education (KHE) is one of the largest providers of tertiary education programmes and services in Hong Kong. KHE’s renowned university partners from across the globe represent a portfolio of programmes from diploma and bachelors to postgraduate and research-based doctoral level. KHE helps develop results-oriented managers and professionals with executive leadership qualities to meet the needs of the rapidly changing knowledge-based economy in Hong Kong and beyond.
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