PennState's Online Doctor of Education

Pennsylvania State University offers an online Doctor of Education that requires only 36 credits. Instead of a dissertation, student completes 6 credits capstone. I thought EdD is more into an academic degree instead of professional.
URL: https://www.psu.edu/news/world-campus/story/doctor-education-program-now-available-online/

 

Interesting find. A capstone option seems common with an EdD or in this case a D.Ed, it’s interesting they point that out. The core courses are research heavy. Total cost is a bit much at $1,017 per credit hour. A 5 day in person Summer Summit is also required. Electives seem to be very flexible. Curious if they accept transfer credits for any of the electives.

 

It appears transfer is by department. But the general limit requires they not be from a previous awarded degree.

 

It happens. Sometimes the EdD is really a PhD in disguise.

I understand the EdD came about because Harvard didn't want to award a PhD that wasn't in the arts and sciences. If true, that would have made it a scholarly degree with an alternative title.

While it's important to know and acknowledge that there are real distinctions between professional and scholarly doctorates, and that these differences usually drive degree titles, not always. The lines get a bit blurred. For example, my DSoSci seems like a professional doctorate, but it isn't. It's a scholarly degree the university (and the British system) considers equal (not equivalent) to the PhD. But the degree title can fool you.

(I tried to make an argument with Leicester that the DSoSci was a professional degree and my thesis should reflect that. They emphatically rejected that idea. This meant that, although my subject was rooted on the professional side, I had to take a scholarly approach to it. (I did, creating theory.)

 

Very interesting program I wonder what the course work looks like for each course

 

Ooh! Earth science. I wonder what other science or math specializations are possible. Really, any core liberal arts subject. One could knock out 12 of the 18 credits.