Advise, educate and innovate with an online doctor of business administration

The doctoral colloquium is designed to build a community and ensure that learners have the support, motivation, and guidance necessary to succeed in their doctoral programs. This first colloquium also will provide students with an overview of the doctoral program expectations, coursework sequence, doctoral student support services, as well as comprehensive exam and dissertation requirements. The first colloquium is designed to establish a learning community and graduate culture for the doctoral students at Franklin University. The doctoral colloquium will be held at the University's main campus in facilities that provide appropriate online interaction for out-of-state and international students.

In this course, students prepare to be active participants in advanced professional and academic discourse communities by practicing the writing and research strategies associated with their chosen field of study. By calling attention to the conventions of research writing, the course provides students the analytical tools that will help them join ongoing scholarly conversations. Students will analyze and compose a variety of academic writing genres as they develop a literature review over the course of the term. They will also develop their presentation, peer review, proofing, and reflection skills in alignment with the standards of advanced academic study.

Through this course, students will gain an overview of quantitative research designs and methods. The course starts with successful completion of the CITI training - the protection of human research participants, to move on to an introduction of quantitative sampling designs, data collection approaches, experimental versus non-experimental designs, and data analysis. Students will engage in practical hands-on experience with formulating a research question or hypotheses, discussing important ethical issues, designing sampling methods, collecting data, and analyzing data. They will learn how to examine validity and reliability issues and will be introduced to available software for conducting quantitative design. At the end of this course, students will be introduced to the research proposal to get a start on the guidelines required for their dissertation proposal.

Through this course, students will gain an overview of qualitative research designs and methods. The course starts with an introduction to qualitative approaches. Students will become familiar with the narrative approach, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case studies. This course will introduce students to some of the critical works in qualitative research methods and design and give an overview of the historical progression of the field. Students will gain hands-on experience with observations, qualitative data collection, and qualitative sampling design. They will also get some introduction in qualitative data analysis, validity, reliability, and researchers' bias in qualitative work. At the end of this course, students will be introduced to the research proposal to get a start on the guidelines required for their dissertation proposal.

This course will introduce the concepts of descriptive statistics and probability distributions. Topics will include basic statistical terminology, statistical graphs, numerical summaries of data, probability concepts and distributions, and sampling distributions. The course is designed to allow students integrate statistical software of choice with the aforementioned concepts and to provide opportunities to interpret resulting outputs.

Applications of statistical techniques and methods will be explored, including fundamental statistical tests for central values, variances, and categorical variables, as well as regression analysis and the general linear model. The emphasis will be on selecting and applying the appropriate statistical techniques as well as the interpretation and reporting of results with the use of a major statistical software. The course is also designed to provide numerous opportunities to critique statistical techniques commonly used in empirical research articles.

This is an advanced course in statistics that covers analyses used in multivariate statistical techniques. The course is designed to broaden and deepen learners understanding of advanced statistics in multivariate techniques. As such, several multivariate techniques are covered, including their appropriateness to given situations, analysis, and interpretation. The emphasis of the course is on practical application of concepts learnt to given research problems and/or opportunities. The course is developed to balance theory and application and provides numerous opportunities for application to practical problems. Learners also complete a draft research proposal integrating sound research plans and procedures.

The advanced qualitative research course builds on the knowledge and skills students acquire in prior research courses. This course leads students to an in-depth treatment of qualitative research methodology, exploring its theoretical underpinnings and associated methods for design, data collection, interpretation, and reporting of results. Ethics are emphasized for each stage of research. This course will guide students to develop the methodology and data analysis for their dissertation proposal and research.

Through this course, students will familiarize with mixed-methods research and design. They will gain knowledge on the four different types of mixed-methods: triangulation design, embedded design, explanatory design, and exploratory design. Students will learn how to conceptualize their own study in terms of these different design types. They will gain hands-on experience on how to formulate a research question fitted for a mixed-methods design, collect some data, and analyze it. They will discuss and learn about challenges and advantages of mixed-methods designs. At the end of this course students will be able to work on their dissertation proposal.

This is a hands-on course designed to equip students with skills and knowledge necessary to develop new, valid and reliable instruments as well as help improve existing ones. In particular, the course looks at evolution of measurement development and the process involved in developing reliable and valid measurement instruments. The course includes creation of a reliable and valid measurement that can be readily used and applied in the field.

This course is designed to equip students with essential skills in qualitative coding, analysis, interpretation of findings, and writing of the qualitative results. These skills are crucial for the doctoral candidacy journey. The course aims to provide students with hands-on experience in collecting text data from original qualitative research studies, as well as mapping, memoing, coding, analyzing, interpreting, and writing qualitative research. By the end of the course, students will have produced a small meta-synthesis, allowing them to put their newly acquired skills into practice.

In this course, students will be introduced to the main schools of critical and social theory: structuralism, post-structuralism, cultural theory, queer theory, gender theory, critical race theory, disability studies, and post-colonialism among others. Students will analyze foundational theoretical scholarship, examine how critical and social theory has developed over time, and consider the ways in which theory might inform their own research. Throughout the course, students will complete short papers as well as a major writing assignment at the end of the term.

The aim of this course is for you to learn about and be able to apply key research design frameworks in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. In particular, you will learn conditions under which each design and/or approach would be most appropriate and effective. Additionally, you will learn how to formulate research questions, critically evaluate various research designs in order to select a suitable one for a given research problem, develop appropriate data collection and analysis procedures and plans as well as ethical conduct of research studies. During the course, you will learn to craft a research proposal integrating critical components, namely background of study, purpose statement, research question, theoretical framework, significance of the study, critical review and synthesis of key literature underpinning the study, appropriate research design, and data collection and analysis procedures.

This course is an advanced research seminar in the field of organizational culture and behavior. The seminar allows you to begin the process of substantive academic research and formal inquiry into these important theories and the implications of these for managers. The seminar will require the synthesis of critical thinking, analysis, research, writing, and evaluation. Students will develop a key deliverable that involves a research proposal in the fields of organizational culture and behavior and then conduct substantive research into the literature developed by others. The final project in the seminar is the development of a research-ready proposal utilizing, at minimum, one research methodology.

This course addresses historical and current leadership concepts, theories, and constructs. An emphasis will be on the application and assessment of transformational, servant, and authentic leadership theories for use by both leaders and followers in 21st century business and academic settings. The course will challenge you to assess your own leadership strengths and weaknesses and produce an in-depth plan of action to develop and refine leadership competencies. You will conduct substantive scholarly research to address and capture relevant and cutting-edge leadership theoretical work for application in course assignments.

This course focuses on the theory and practice of organizations as open and adaptive systems. Students will address the implications of systems theory for organizational sense-making, learning, innovation and transformation. The complexity of organizations as integrated participants in while systems will be addressed through research and presentations.

This course focuses on research and evaluation of the key theoretical concepts and practices central to the leading of organizational change initiatives. Students will evaluate real-world situations, cases, and scenarios in order to recommend and justify theoretically based change management practices to ensure ongoing organizational acceptance and effectiveness of these programs. Students will conduct scholarly research to explore, evaluate, and interpret state-of-the-art change concepts for viability in today?s organizations. Students will assess the role of change agents as key players in the overall change process.

This course is designed for students to prepare for, take and complete their comprehensive exam. Remedial strategies and actions will also be provided for students who do not successfully pass their comprehensive exam on the first attempt, with the opportunity for a retake during the six weeks of the course if the student chooses to do so. A third attempt on taking the Doctoral Comprehensive Examination will not be automatically provided to doctoral students failing to successfully pass the examination after two attempts. Any third attempt will only be considered upon receiving a written petition by the student requesting a final attempt. The request may or may not be approved based on review by the Dean of Doctoral Studies and the student's doctoral Program Chair. Students who fail the comprehensive examination two times, or fail the examination three times when a third attempt was granted through appeal, are dismissed from doctoral studies at Franklin University.

In consultation with the Dissertation Chair and Committee Members, the doctoral candidate will design and conduct research to complete the aims identified in their research prospectus, proposal and IRB application or as subsequently modified in line with recommendations from the Chair and Committee Members. This course may be repeated as necessary to earn sufficient credit or to finalize the Dissertation to fulfill requirements to earn the doctorate.

Doctoral candidates will finalize all aspects of the Dissertation/Dissertation in Practice and make an oral defense of their design, methods and findings.

The course will study the teaching and learning philosophies, methods, and techniques in higher education. Topics will cover learning theories, instructional design models, instructional strategies, and evaluation of student performance. By the end of this course, students will develop their own teaching philosophy along with an instructional unit demonstrating their mastery of learning theories and instructional design models, selection of proper learning technologies in designing the instruction, and incorporation of appropriate instructional and assessment methods. In addition, students will also explore faculty careers in higher education.

This core course focuses on state-of-the-art leadership skills necessary for the effectiveness of today's leaders and managers. The course concentrates on the specific transformational, servant-leadership, and other leadership competencies and skills necessary for providing sound management of institutional resources, projects, and performance. Students will apply leadership theoretical underpinnings to real-world cases, scenarios and situations that involve effective and ineffective resource and performance management practices. The course concentrates on the application of critical thinking and decision-making in optimal practices for providing highly effective leadership in today's organizations.

This course is key for students who have chosen the PK-12 educational leadership concentration that require a solid understanding of 21st century technological skills as it applies to educational technology (including social media). After establishing a foundation and knowledge base of educational technology, you will learn about the most recent and innovative educational technology that can be utilized effectively for both learning and leading in the PK-12 educational setting. Through the lens of ensuring all students in the PK-12 educational setting are college-, career-, and life-ready, you will analyze and learn how educational technology plays a vital role in this process. In addition, you will analyze and evaluate how to utilize the most recent educational technology tools with effective building and district leadership in the PK-12 educational setting. Finally, you will analyze and evaluate current trends and issues associated with use of educational technology (including social media) within the PK-12 educational setting.

This course is key for students who have chosen the PK-12 Educational Leadership focus and must develop expertise and practice in navigating the unique aspects of building and district leadership in K-12 structures. Concepts of transformational leadership developed through the Leadership Core will be leveraged in the examination of school level and district level issues. Students will be required to define problems within their unique professional situation and apply recognized leadership structures to promote a shared vision, and establish a professional learning community that focuses on the mission of ensuring that all students learn through the development of a culture of collaboration rooted in data-based results.

This course provides an examination of leadership theories and structures in institutions of higher education. Focusing on major theories of leadership of higher education organizations that inform leadership practices, students will develop skills as practitioners in university leadership. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the structure and function of university leadership structures from multiple theoretical perspectives. Students will gain an understanding of the management, leadership, and administrative roles of academic and student affairs offices in colleges and universities including personnel, program definition, research and teaching issues, and other functions of academic and programming oversight. Additional consideration to the roles, responsibilities, and leadership styles required will be examined for different organizational contexts. Through the linking of theory to practice, the class activities will lead students to develop skills as campus leaders and to empower them to make conscious, deliberate decisions, utilizing multiple, and at times divergent, theoretical frames.

The purpose of this course is to explore critical, challenges facing American higher education. The course explores the history of higher education, with an emphasis on the development of higher education in the United States, to present challenges facing institutions. It includes issues of access, accountability, academic freedom, financial aid, state and federal government policy, changing legal structures, teaching and learning in a digital age, student issues, diversity, and the influence of business models and values on institutional strategy and practice. This course also covers different educational systems (community colleges, private colleges, and public colleges) and the critical issues affecting their institutional type. Students will gain an understanding of their responsibilities, critical thinking, and explore current issues that affect managers in institutions of higher education. This course addresses interdisciplinary influences on leadership practice within learning organizations and focuses on recent developments that have broad implications for research and practice in educational leadership.

In this course students will evaluate an organizations current health information governance infra-structure and will make recommendations for improvement that will cover the broad spectrum of strategic issues in healthcare including policies, guidelines, standards, processes and controls required to manage and implement enterprise-level information. Students will research how health data and organizational information systems are utilized as a strategic asset to healthcare organizations, process to manage various risks to the quality of information and ensure its appropriate use.

In this course students will evaluate an organizations existing clinical workflows to include a variety of inpatient, outpatient and emergency healthcare environments. Material in the course covers the documentation, review, mapping and diagramming of clinical workflow information and processes. Students will also assess and make recommendations for improvement of patient care to workflow mapping and change management, as part of evidence based decision making in healthcare.

In this course, students will evaluate an organization’s existing process of retrieving, analyzing and reporting intelligence to make healthcare decisions. Student will assess and make recommendations for improvement on the techniques of extracting, transforming, and loading data from a myriad of operational databases into corporate data warehouses, as well a means to ensure that decision making is based on clean and reliable information. Students will also develop skills for reporting the healthcare intelligence gathered.

This science of epidemiology is essential for projecting the population health needs, and appropriate allocation of public and private resources. This course focuses on the utilization of epidemiologic studies and techniques as a basis for organizational policy and administrative decision-making. Students will examine the connection between organizational leadership and social health. Students will create and recommend organizational strategies that enhance organizational, community, and global health.

This course will explore various aspects of corporate, state and federal policy making. Students will examine the impact of existing health policies on healthcare organizations, providers and patients. Students will develop skills to influence and change existing healthcare policies. Students will also create and propose a new healthcare policy.

This course will examine the importance of resource and financial management in a healthcare organization. Students will determine the financial status of a healthcare organization and create strategic plans to sustain healthcare services. This course will also explore the various concepts driving healthcare economics. This course will also critique the use of organizational supplies, human resources, and technology.

This course will examine various aspects of patient safety, quality improvement and risk management in healthcare. Students will compare and contrast several process improvement models with the goal of improving organizational efficiency, patient safety, and service quality. Students will also research governmental agencies driving quality improvement in healthcare organizations.

Healthcare Leaders, more than ever, are facing challenging opportunities with the changing dynamics of the industry. During this course students will explore how executive-level leaders can manage complex health systems using strategic planning, risk management and innovative business practices.

The science of epidemiology and population health concepts are essential for addressing and projecting the health needs of communities and the allocation of public and private resources. This course focuses on the utilization of epidemiologic findings and population health data to support and aid health care policy development and administrative decision making. Students will be able to apply these concepts to analyze public health and population health data for epidemics, chronic health conditions, or diseases to develop data supported strategies as healthcare administrators.

Organizations across the globe are composed of groups of people working together to achieve goals that include organizational success, employee growth and contribution, and contribution to the larger community. The defining factor that differentiates the most successful companies from those that struggle to survive is the people who make up the employee base. While the Human Resources function has the specific task of planning for and resolving many employee issues and needs, individual managers and employees have direct responsibility and accountably for achieving sustained organizational success. Organizations that invest in their employees and develop workplace environments that encourage full employee engagement are rewarded with a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This course provides students with an opportunity to learn the knowledge and skills needed to enhance the contributions of all employees in support of an organization's purpose. Student's research will analyze trends and issues influencing the development and application of these elements within contemporary organizations. Additionally, students will come to understand the benefits afforded to organizations that create, craft and maintain a rich, empowering culture.

In Strategic Human Resource Management, students will analyze workforce management processes in light of their strategic importance. This will include an examination of the relationships between traditional human resource functions and the various business functions so that efficiency and effectiveness are balanced and optimized. Students will also review these processes and relationships in both the domestic and global environments now and in the future. Further, students conduct research to explore trends within the discipline of Human Resource Management that have a positive impact upon employee engagement as well as the productivity and profitability of an organization.

In this course, students will evaluate the process of change as related to the principles and practices of various types of organizations. Students will conduct research into the area of total rewards to determine what influences are leading many organizations to implement progressive human resource practices. Students will apply this learning to examine change processes and techniques used to facilitate transformational change in order to enhance employee engagement and organizational success. Students will also understand the business case supporting why companies should invest in their employees and internal cultures, regardless of industry affiliation, company size and/or revenue generation and apply this research to examine the processes and techniques for facilitating transformational change.

Financial decisions made at the higher levels of a business organization can have far-reaching effects. Intended to achieve firm operating goals and create shareholder value, they must be made judiciously, with a thorough understanding of all the factors involved. In this course, you will learn to apply the analytical techniques required for developing effective and workable financial solutions at the executive level. You will gain an overall understanding of the workings of the U.S. financial system. In addition, you will study the concepts of financial risk, return, and the valuation of bonds, common and preferred stock, cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure, and the evaluation of investment opportunities.

This course provides students with advanced knowledge of the capital markets, financial institutions, financial products, and analytical tools and skills needed for investments portfolio management. The objective is to provide students with a solid foundation of advanced concepts, tools, and techniques for making informed decisions in the highly dynamic investment environment. Students will utilize computer software, simulations, and internet tools to understand the viewpoint of professional investors more fully. The course will adopt an application-oriented approach so that students will be able to explain their financial decision under conditions of uncertainty. The course will provide students with a framework that will be useful in business settings where such analyses are routinely made.

No longer are only mammoth corporations concerned with the complexities and nuances of multinational financial operations. Today the leaders of companies of even moderate size often must have at least a fundamental knowledge of the global financial environment. In this course, you will be introduced to the workings of international finance as it relates to business operations. You will gain an understanding of such international macroeconomic topics as the balance of payments and models of exchange rate determination, while at the same time focusing on institutional issues such as the choice of exchange rate regime and growth of offshore currency markets. You will examine business and investor decisions involving exchange rate risk management, cross-border investment strategies, and participation in international money and capital markets.

This course focuses on theories and practices for leading cross-sector collaborations to accomplish public policy goals and objectives of mission-driven organizations. Students evaluate different collaborative approaches for delivering government and nonprofit services and assess the risks and benefits of engaging in cross-sector collaborations. Students learn analytical approaches, principled negotiation skills, and best practices for initiating and managing effective cross-sector collaborations.

The course examines the latest technologies that can be used to improve service delivery, engage stakeholders, and solve problems. Students learn the technologies and best practices for using web-based applications, e-commerce solutions, geographic information systems, crowd-sourcing, social media and other e-tools to make government and nonprofit organizations more efficient and effective. Ethical, legal, and implementation, aspects of these approaches are assessed.

This course examines concepts, tools, and techniques for evaluating government policies, philanthropic, and social programs to assess the performance of mission-driven organizations. The course focuses on evaluating different approaches to program evaluation and applying methods for performance evaluation, including needs assessments, logic models, evaluation designs, quantitative and qualitative evaluation techniques, ethics, and reporting.

This is an advanced course in statistics that covers analyses used in multivariate statistical techniques. The course is designed to broaden and deepen learners understanding of advanced statistics in multivariate techniques. As such, several multivariate techniques are covered, including their appropriateness to given situations, analysis, and interpretation. The emphasis of the course is on practical application of concepts learnt to given research problems and/or opportunities. The course is developed to balance theory and application and provides numerous opportunities for application to practical problems. Learners also complete a draft research proposal integrating sound research plans and procedures.

The advanced qualitative research course builds on the knowledge and skills students acquire in prior research courses. This course leads students to an in-depth treatment of qualitative research methodology, exploring its theoretical underpinnings and associated methods for design, data collection, interpretation, and reporting of results. Ethics are emphasized for each stage of research. This course will guide students to develop the methodology and data analysis for their dissertation proposal and research.

Through this course, students will familiarize with mixed-methods research and design. They will gain knowledge on the four different types of mixed-methods: triangulation design, embedded design, explanatory design, and exploratory design. Students will learn how to conceptualize their own study in terms of these different design types. They will gain hands-on experience on how to formulate a research question fitted for a mixed-methods design, collect some data, and analyze it. They will discuss and learn about challenges and advantages of mixed-methods designs. At the end of this course students will be able to work on their dissertation proposal.

This course critically analyzes the current state of IT strategy practices and demonstrates how an IT strategy serves as a strong foundation for competitive IT management. Several tools and methods are synthesized to assess internal and external environments for formulating a strategy, execute a strategy based on environmental factors, and improve a strategy. The course brings the current academic and business literature to the class. It examines emerging IT strategy and management issues such as hyper-automation, AI, cybersecurity mesh, anywhere operations, and the internet of behaviors.

This course aims to improve critical thinking and decision-making skills in the IT policy and governance field. The course brings forth today's complex and cutting-edge computing environment by taking threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber controls into account. This course provokes the questions of how the GRC (Governance, Risk Management, Compliance) practices should be applied in today's complex IT environments to make the most out of the cutting-edge technology and how critical assets should be protected from adversarial actions of advanced persistent threats. The course brings various essential processes and services to the table, including but not limited to supply-chain risks, innovation, and resilience. Research papers and discussion assignments help students obtain pertinent information and improve research and academic writing skills within the field.

Vision is necessary for an organization to adopt, implement, and use information technology effectively. Leadership makes vision work. In this course, students will study, research, and apply leadership concepts, theories, and constructs that have been shown to be successful in information technology organizations. Two broad topics, (1) Vision and leadership in IT, (2) How to choose and benefit from the technology to accomplish the vision, will be delivered in the first four weeks of the course. This course is heavily based on research, presentation, and writing on future trends combined with leading people and IT organizations. In the first four weeks, each student will pick a very recent technology and research and write a paper about it. In the last four weeks, they will present the technologies that they've researched.

This course is an advanced research seminar in contemporary marketing management. The seminar relies on critical inquiry and analysis as the foundation for substantive academic research involving current marketing issues that shape and are shaped by society. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have completed a comprehensive research study proposal.

This course is an advanced seminar in consumer behavior and market-driven applied research. Readings and assignments will synthesize prior knowledge of consumer behavior, research methodologies, methods, and theories with critical analyses of how these are used to inform marketing decision-making. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have developed a plan to conduct and analyze a research study.

This course is an advanced seminar in the use of quantitative and qualitative data in the marketing process. Upon successful completion of this seminar, students will have an understanding of how quantitative and qualitative analyses are used by marketing academicians and practitioners for academic and applied research, assessment, and decision making.

Leaders of instruction and learning must stay abreast of continual changes in trends and technology and leverage them to ensure the competitiveness and health of their organization. However, not all technologies and emerging processes are worth adopting. In this course, students will examine pedagogical trends and emerging technologies. Students will learn how to evaluate theories and incorporate designs, processes, and technologies in strategic and tactical decisions for instruction and learning in the organization.

In this course, students will be exposed to new and innovative approaches for designing effective learning and instruction. This course will equip students with knowledge of applicable frameworks and strategies for implementation at the organizational level. Students will review learning environments such as e-learning, blended and hybrid learning, mobile learning, game-based learning, and informal and social learning, to determine the appropriate learning environment based on the learning and training needs of an organization.

Today's researchers, leaders, and managers in the instructional design field must be able to use data to make decisions, as well as influence others in their organizations. In this course, students will learn how to apply relevant tools, techniques, theories, and principles of strategic assessment and decision-making to address the learning and performance needs for continuous improvement for learning problems or a learning organization.

Learning and knowledge management is crucial to the success of organizations. In this course, students will go beyond the design of learning environments and acquire skills to lead and manage the learning organization at a strategic level. Students will be able to recognize and meet the evolving learning needs of an organization within the framework of the organization's strategic goals. Multicultural awareness and how to lead multi-functional and cross-cultural instructional design teams and projects will also be addressed in this course.

Instructional design leaders often work in a consulting role with both internal and external clients and stakeholders. In this course, students will gain consulting skills in instructional design. Major topics of the course include: applying doctoral-level research strategies to analyze and evaluate learning and performance problems; communicating effectively with stakeholders; applying consulting strategies and skills; and creating a consulting professional development plan.