Competency-Based EdD at Fielding Graduate University

Discussion in 'Education, Teaching and related degrees' started by sanantone, Sep 4, 2021.

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  1. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    This is an EdD in Leadership for Change. I didn't dig too deeply into this program. I think the face-to-face requirements can be completed by video. They offer a bunch of unique concentrations. This school kind of has New Age, hippie vibes. Students can choose to work independently or in small groups and online or offline. You also have the option of choosing the types of assignments you want to complete i.e. papers or multimedia presentations. The dissertation can be theoretical or action-oriented. Tuition is a flat rate of $8,870 per term.

    EdD Leadership for Change - Fielding Graduate University

    Program: EdD, with an emphasis in Leadership for Change (with optional concentrations) - Fielding Graduate University - Acalog ACMS™
     
  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    For background, Fielding was one of the first schools offering a short-residency doctorate to become regionally accredited, which they achieved around 1980.

    In graduate education, either the school or the student identifies:
    1. What is to be learned
    2. How it is to be learned
    3. How the learning will be demonstrated
    Traditionally, schools control all three of these. However, in graduate school the student has some say over the last one.

    In person-centered graduate education, the learner has a strong say in two or three of these. At Fielding, the student has a great deal of input into 2 and 3, while the school dictates #1. At Union, when I was a learner there, we dictated (along with our committees and with the approval of the school) all three via our extensive learning agreements.

    Leadership is a burgeoning field of scholarly study, as there is so much more to learn. This is even more so on the praxis side, which appears to be the emphasis of this degree.
     
  3. Gabe F.

    Gabe F. Active Member

    While I'm certainly a fan of competency-based degrees at all levels, this Fielding program is wildly expensive.

    Their website says that there are three terms per year. $8,870 x 3 terms per year is $26,210. You'd be well over $52k in the hole even if you went breakneck speed and completed the degree in two years. At $52k, it would rank as one of the most expensive programs one could do (Vanderbilt and Baylor's mortgage level tuition notwithstanding).

    In short, I don't see what Fielding is offering that would be so special & unique for anyone to pay that much $$$.
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Agreed. I've wondered how Fielding recruits students at their prices since the day I first heard about them. Whoever their admissions people are, I'll bet they could sell snow shovels in Florida.
     
  5. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    According to the site:

    APA Accreditation

    Fielding’s School of Psychology offers the only accredited clinical psychology doctoral program using a distributed delivery model.


    Fielding promotes that the APA doesn't normally accredit programs in the way Fielding delivers them. That's probably true. Is that worth the price though? I'm not so sure.
     
  6. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Funny how so many people with such closer relationships to Fielding have come to such a different conclusion about Fielding. For, you know, almost 50 years now.

    It might help to stop looking at these things transactionally and focused merely on the cost. Don't take my word for it; (tens of?) thousands of Fielding graduates might have a different take.
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Cost isn't the only factor, but it's still a very important one.

    What does Fielding do so well for their students that leaves them with such a positive impression?
     
  8. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Do they have the potential for bias?

    It's true that price is not everything, but it's hard to not at least consider that part since they all keep posting their rates :)
     
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Excellent question. I notice that some schools get utterly trashed online by some of their graduates. Bias doesn't seem to restrain them.
    And I'm not saying it isn't a consideration. But the vast majority of what we see posted here has to do with how much a degree program costs, and very little about what you're actually getting.

    I'm not judging Fielding, other than I had a wonderful impression of them when I considered attending at one time. But they must be doing something right. (Actually, I'm very familiar with what they do right, but what's the point in trying to get that across?)
     
  10. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I've already answered that in this thread.
     

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