ELP 7605 - Preparing for Your Ed.D. Capstone in Higher Education

This course is designed to provide guidance to students as they identify a problem of practice in higher education that will launch their Ed.D. Capstone process. It is designed as the final course in the curriculum before students enroll in ELP 7989 – Ed.D. Capstone Project. It will draw upon program curriculum, scholarly literature, and lived experiences of the student as key components for identifying the issue, opportunity, or challenge that centers the Capstone Project. The class setting offers space for understanding, discussion, and exploration as a design collaborative. Course topics include: understanding the problem of practice as a scholar-practitioner; capstone proposal development and presentations; collaboration, communication, and conflict with committee and key partners; identifying significant literature for the problem and developing the literature review; developing strategies that address solutions to the problem; moving from reading, synthesis, and analysis to writing; communicating your solutions; deliverables and defending the capstone; reflecting on the process; and general topics that impact progress in completing the Capstone. Through these topics, students will offer a deeper understanding of the Capstone process.