The problem of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) doctoral student attrition has led institutions to explore solutions to support doctoral students' program completion. According to Tinto's model of institutional departure, students' social and academic integration must be addressed to increase retention. Additionally, Astin's student involvement…

Doctor of Education (EdD) programs have experienced much development and attention in the last two decades. Simultaneously, the steady growth of online education has resulted in several universities offering online EdD programs, including in Educational Technology and related fields. This article provides an overview of the structure and goals of…

Doctoral programs in music education typically require a multiyear residency with an expected career trajectory leading to higher education. However, with low-residency online programs (LROPs) increasingly available, graduates may choose to remain in P-12 education. In this collaborative autoethnography, we examined our stories as four P-12…

Background: Enrollment in online degree programs has grown rapidly in U.S. higher education institutions, but much of the research on online learning draws from student experiences in a singular online course. Student experiences in fully online programs likely differ from the experience of taking a one-off online class, especially as students…

As more students elect to complete their doctoral studies online, faculty need to identify and implement mentorship approaches that are conducive to student understanding of the dissertation process. Faculty to mentee relationships are a prominent aspect of student retention and success in doctoral programs. Due to advances in technology,…

The purpose of this paper is to present the design and techniques used by the Educational Technology program at the University of South Carolina to prepare scholarly practitioners with action research methods in an online doctoral program. With an emphasis on students' local contexts, we will describe the design of experiences and our lessons…

In an educational context that includes an overarching neoliberal agenda and rapidly expanding inequalities that cross social, racial, class, linguistic, and gender lines, preparing educational leaders to promote social justice in educational systems is more urgent than ever. Framed by critical posthumanism, this self-study inquiry investigates…

Based on a synthesis of persistence theory and the empirical literature, an online doctoral program integration model was developed using data from 232 online EdD students. A predictive, correlation design and regression analysis were used to examine if personal factors (gender, race, age, marital status, and presence of children in the home) and…

The purpose of this article is to illustrate an innovative online doctoral course on the pre-service exploration of the superintendency in order to advocate for effective teaching practices in response to calls from the field. To this end, a review of literature was utilized in order to frame and illustrate the course, bringing forth key concepts,…

This article discusses a systemic change that expanded the doctorate in Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas to include a distributed option, delivered primarily online. It provides an overview of the development process from concept to initial implementation. The article examines the specific differences that make the online…

This study investigated the online higher education learning space of a doctoral program offered at a distance. It explored the learning space, the stakeholders, utilization, and creators of the space. Developing a successful online classroom experience that incorporates an engaging environment and dynamic community setting conducive to learning…

Twenty-first century learners in post-secondary educational environments find themselves involved in online learning. Acquiring graduate degrees, especially for working professionals, has precipitated the need for effective, rigorous, relevant, and timely coursework online. Utilizing the qualitative research method of auto-ethnographic reporting,…

Online environments are transforming learning, including doctoral education. Yet the ways in which the PhD experience is shaped and transformed through these digital modes of engagement is seldom addressed, and not systematically understood. In this article, we explore PhD students' perceptions and use of digital tools. Drawing on the results of…

The University of Florida offers an online professional practice Ed.D. focused on Educational Technology. Twenty-three students have completed professional practice dissertations and graduated since the program's inception in 2008. The purpose of this article is to share what these dissertations have looked like and to begin a dialogue about…

A sense of belonging to a learning community has been identified as one of the factors contributing to greater student satisfaction and persistence in online education programs. Using the community of inquiry framework as a theoretical guide, the purpose of this study was to explore the role of VoiceThread, a web-based platform that facilitates…