Educational and Professional Practice, Social and Emotional Learning, Ed.D.

EdD in Educational and Professional Practice: Social and Emotional Learning
Location: AU Distance and Extended Education
Credits for Degree: 60 semester credits
Standard Mode of Instruction: Low-residency
Standard time to completion: 36 months

Program Overview

The Ed.D. program is designed to prepare change-oriented professionals who use educational practice in the service of more just and inclusive schools, organizations, and communities. Through a transdisciplinary curriculum that includes shared seminars in a diverse learning community, and individualized work within the chosen specialization, students will enhance their ability to address issues of equity, ethics, and social justice.

Students specialize in one of the following transdisciplinary areas of inquiry: Critical Pedagogy; Environmental and Sustainability Education; Humane Education; Multicultural and Anti-Racist Education; Social Justice Leadership; Waldorf Education; or Self-Designed.

The specialization may be composed of seminars and individualized study. Students may also choose to take courses in other Antioch programs and to transfer in credits from previous graduate work, pursuant to program requirements. Each student’s dissertation topic will fall within the chosen specialization.

The program’s culminating project will be a Practice-Based Dissertation that establishes students’ standing among scholar-practitioners who seek workable solutions to complex issues in schools, communities, and national and global settings.

 

Social and Emotional Learning Specialization

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which young people and adults develop a set of skills for becoming emotionally literate, are able to combine thinking and feeling to make optimal decisions, deepen and maintain healthy relationships, solve problems, and reach personal and collective goals. SEL also comprises the strategies and processes for promoting and infusing SEL into the fabric of an educational community. 

Educators who practice and promote these SEL competencies enable students to learn, grow, and thrive, with more positive social behaviors, increased academic performance, and greater engagement with peers and adults. Longitudinal studies affirm that SEL programs promote positive youth development, with student outcomes reflecting school, career, and life success, along with commitment to community. 

The field of social emotional learning has blossomed over the past several decades and is increasingly recognized as an essential component of education in K-12, higher education, and community settings.  This SEL specialization will lay the groundwork for educators in school and community based organizations and independent SEL consultants to advocate for, develop, implement, and assess social emotional learning instruction, curriculum, policies, and procedures. Acknowledging that the scope of SEL is broad, the SEL specialization allows for much flexibility in focus while maintaining consistency and rigor with a deep inquiry into the broad range of SEL scholarship and practice.  All students in the SEL specialization will develop scholar/practitioner and leadership, assessment, and intervention skills, applicable in all educational settings. Benchmarks for SEL implementation include all students and adults developing SEL skills, SEL integrated into classrooms to enhance academic learning, and the whole school using SEL to build a thriving learning community. Students in this specialization will also explore the intersectionality of SEL with equity, cultural competence, and social justice. 

Throughout the program, students will continue to develop and deepen their own SEL skills for greater self-awareness, intentionality, and purpose, essentially “walking the talk.” Through assessments, self-reflection, and cohort discussion, students will develop their own SEL competencies, allowing for more meaningful relationships with their own students and colleagues, reducing stress and burn-out, and modeling SEL behaviors and attitudes for students and the community. 

Program Delivery

The Ed.D. program is a 60-semester credit program operated on a trimester schedule. A new cohort enters the program each Summer and Spring term and students who proceed full-time may complete the program in a minimum of three years. The program is low-residency, with one in-person, four-day residency held each July at one of Antioch University’s campuses. Additionally, students attend virtual, synchronous sessions the first Saturday of each term and additional, virtual synchronous sessions and workshops throughout the program.

Program Strands

Five pedagogical strands are woven throughout the program. These five strands are core principles of the program with which each student must deeply engage. They link the Ed.D. program to the Antioch mission and legacy of socially engaged citizens who will have the expertise to use education as a means for social change in communities, organizations and schools.

The strands are embedded throughout each of the classes, as well as in the learning experiences that fall outside of official coursework. They are integral to the way the program is structured and the way participants are positioned as learners, scholars, and leaders in their fields. For that reason, rather than house each strand in specific courses or assignments, they are threaded across the program.

Practical Application

A foundation of the Ed.D. in Educational and Professional Practice is its emphasis on the integration of theory and practice. Students will achieve strong theoretical and scholarly foundations and will consistently be expected to apply those foundations to their professional settings and their fields of study. Throughout the program, students will develop the ability to connect literature, theory, and scholarship to the realities of their contexts.

Communities of Practice

Professionals learn best when learning from peers, making meaning of practice and new information together. Educators, like other professionals, are increasingly expected to work in teams in the service of a common goal. Throughout the program, students will be expected to develop communities of practice with their cohort peers.

Social Justice and Ethics

Justice, equity, and ethics undergird all areas of the Ed.D. As leaders in their fields, students will be asked to critically examine issues of educational equity and justice and will be pushed to unearth relations of power, privilege, and oppression that are present in their professional settings. Throughout the program, they will increase their awareness of these tensions and deepen their ability to analyze them, while also developing the knowledge and confidence to combat injustice and become agents of change.

Reflective Practice

Over the course of the Ed.D. program, students will engage in cycles of inquiry and reflection in order to gain insight into their practice and make meaning of their professional contexts. Across their courses and learning experiences, students will investigate current practices and structures in a deep, systematic way in order to better understand those phenomena and to suggest ways in which they might be altered. Students will employ reflective practice to inform action and create meaningful change in their own communities.

Communication and Advocacy

Over the course of the Ed.D. Program, students will become adept at cross-disciplinary communication. They will gain valuable practice articulating their own positions and describing the needs and intricacies of their particular contexts with a variety of constituencies both within and beyond the field of education. Students will have a number of opportunities to take complex issues and communicate them in a concise, clear way through verbal, visual, and technological means. Specifically, they will learn to use these communicative modalities for the purpose of advocacy on behalf of various stakeholders, including their students, their communities, and their organizations.

Admission Requirements

Antioch’s student population is richly diverse, which creates a learning climate unique to the degree. To be successful in this program, you must have a minimum of five years’ professional experience, either before or after your Master’s work. Regardless of your formal position, you must be able to envision yourself as an education change agent in whatever setting you work.

Although you must hold a Master’s degree, your degree does not need to be in Education. You should have an interest in using your Ed.D. to advance study about educational practice in your field and should be able to identify a specialty focus for your doctoral work. You may be able to transfer in up to 12 credits of prior Master’s or post-Master’s graduate study in that specialization, either from Antioch or another accredited university, if earned in excess of 30 credits applied toward a master’s degree and if approved by the program chair.

How to Apply

1. Complete the online admissions Portfolio, which is comprised of the following elements:
   1. Online Application
   2. Official transcripts
   3. Three letters of reference
   4. Resumé/CV
   5. Personal statement
   6. Work sample
2. Submit a non-refundable $50 application fee.
3. If selected, interview with an Ed.D. faculty member or director via phone or Skype.

The Ed.D. does not require the GRE or any other standardized test for admissions.

Technology Requirements

Students in this program participate in online learning activities organized within small- and large-group learning communities. The Antioch University Ed.D. is a 100% online learning environment, and therefore, in addition to having the traditional learning skills, students are expected to have basic technological skills, compatible computer hardware, operating system, and internet connectivity upon entrance into the program.

Current Tuition and Fees

University Tuition and Fees