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Classes Start: October 22, 2021 
Doctorate in Transformational Leadership and Coaching
Coursework
Introduction to the Six Core Disciplines of Wright Integrative Learning in Transformational Coaching & Leadership (AC01, 1 credit)
Foundations of Human Development & Emotional Intelligence for Coaching & Leadership (AC12, 6 credits)
Foundations of Human Relationships for Coaching & Leadership (AC22, 6 credits)
Coaching & Leadership Approaches to Developing Personal Power (AC32, 6 credits)
Purposeful Living in Coaching & Leadership (AC42, 6 credits)
Scholarly Inquiry & Critical Thinking (AC62, 6 credits)
Transformational Leadership & Group Dynamics (AC72, 6 credits)
Professional & Leadership Coaching (AC82, 6 credits)
Processes of Transformation in Coaching & Leadership (AC92, 6 credits)
Master’s Capstone Project (AC95, 8 credits)
(Since the master of arts in transformational leadership and coaching is part of the doctoral program, WGU students first complete the master's degree, including writing a thesis, and then complete doctoral coursework and dissertation.)
Advanced Developmental Approaches to Facilitating Human Emergence & Performance in Leadership & Coaching (AC311, 6 credits)
In this course, you deepen your understanding of human development as it relates to coaching and leadership. This increased depth allows you to intervene more effectively with intent to facilitate the development of individuals and groups. You strengthen your grasp of how patterns for individual accomplishment are set in early childhood. Identifying and understanding such patterns is foundational to strengthening individual capacity to develop and even transform in every aspect of life, including career, interpersonal relationships, and health.
In this course, you examine the principles of developmental psychology and the Wright Developmental Model and their implications for adult performance, and apply developmental approaches to your particular areas of academic and professional pursuit and interest.
Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Advanced Adlerian Approaches to Leadership & Coaching in Human Emergence & Performance (AC321, 6 credits)
Adlerian psychology provides a historically important framework for understanding the processes of lifelong learning, mastery of fundamental life tasks, and the fulfillment of human potential at the individual, group, and societal levels.
In this course, you expand and deepen your understanding of the Adlerian framework for facilitating individual development through coaching and leadership. You explore enhanced coaching, leadership, and training by further integrating Adlerian principles and concepts within the Wright Integrative approach to personal transformation.
The course further develops intervention and strategy skills as you apply to your work environment, be it corporate or individual coaching. Advanced visioning and goal achievement approaches will be explored as you add to your mastery of life tasks and enhanced personal and social effectiveness.
No prerequisite beyond WGU Master of Arts. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Existential & Humanistic Approaches Applied to Coaching & Leadership (AC331, 6 credits)
In this course you advance your knowledge of existential and human potential approaches and synthesize them into your integrative framework as it is applied to the areas of your focus for your leadership and coaching. For past students, these have ranged from education to lifestyle enhancement, parenting, and to psychotherapy.
Existential principles and human potential approaches are viewed from the perspective of emerging neuroscience and cognitive science to maximize the empowerment by coaches and leaders. Human potential approaches will be used to facilitate group interaction as well as to cultivate individual potential while existential philosophy will be applied to individual and group empowerment.
The core tenets of existential philosophy—truth, choice, engagement, and personal responsibility, among others—are grounded in daily work experience as well as in individuals’ missions, corporate missions, and operating agreements.
No prerequisite beyond WGU Master of Arts. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Systems Assessment, Intervention, & Design (AC351, 6 credits)
By analyzing systems thinking—what it is, how it evolved, and how it is currently practiced––you will understand and use systems theory to make transformational interventions with individuals, families, groups, and organizations. You will also train others in systems analysis and intervention.
In this course, you explore the relationship between culture and systems; discover ways systems relate to each other; and recognize how information flows within a system. You deepen your understanding of systems and increasingly recognize the interconnectedness of actions, organizations, and social systems.
You also apply systems thinking to laboratory groups and actual work, family, and community scenarios as you use principles, operating agreements, and truth-telling in naming belief systems, verbalizing power and control, and other interventions to effect systemic change.
No prerequisite beyond WGU Master of Arts. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Training Development, Analysis, and Delivery Lab (AC365, 6 credits)
This course is an exciting opportunity to bring together your study of Wright performative learning and other educational theory and methodology as you analyze and adapt a seminar or training to a business, group, or general public audience. This is a time when you begin functioning as a doctoral level educator. You will be expected to deliver a training program of 6 to 8 hours in which you can explain the theoretical foundation and educational approach you are taking.
You will review and evaluate a number of educational and training methodologies for inclusion in your seminar and be able to explain the theoretical foundations of the methods you use. You will also produce a glossary of the concepts you intend to teach in order to demonstrate synthesis of diverse perspectives from the six core disciplines of Wright Integrative Methodology. You will report in weekly discussion posts on the progress you are making as a curriculum developer, an educator, and as a theoretical thought leader.
Prerequisite: AC311, AC321, AC331, and AC351 or permission of instructor. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Advanced Training Development, Design, and Delivery Lab (AC367, 6 credits)
In this course you take the work that you did in AC365 and more deeply develop your capacity both as a curriculum developer and as a teacher of theory, methodology, and personal development. In this program, you will be bringing together at least three of the theoretical core disciplines, choosing from Adlerian, developmental, systems, and existential approaches. As you did in AC365, you will have two primary written sections in your final report, one being the theoretical integrative discussion of what you have worked into your training and education modules, and the second discussing the methodology.
You will also be expected to discuss how you have developed between AC365 and AC367 and identify how you see yourself developing as an educator and scholar practitioner the remainder of your career. You will be working closely with your faculty member to ensure that you are on track with this project. This is a project in which there are not specific deadlines every week for your reading and discussion. Rather, you will be reporting weekly on the progress you are making, and you will be identifying whether you are making satisfactory, marginal, or unsatisfactory progress. You will describe that progress as a curriculum developer, an educator, and as a theoretical thought leader.
Prerequisite: AC365. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Advanced Transformational Coaching (AC411, 6 credits)
In this course you develop and enhance your skills in advanced emergence coaching, building on the foundation developed at the master’s level. You learn to apply the principles and practices of emergence coaching and leadership in a variety of organizational and life contexts, facilitating your own and others’ transformative learning and increased effectiveness. You also learn coaching approaches from the core disciplines of the Wright educational curriculum as they are integrated into the advanced emergence coaching framework. You participate in mentoring and supervision sessions throughout the quarter, focusing on your learning and application in your life and in your coaching and leadership work.
You also participate in a social-emotional intelligence lab (SEI-Lab) where you will develop competencies as an engaged team member and influencer. You learn to identify and track a wide range of individual dynamics, assess and facilitate depth of emotional expression, and lead to enhanced emergence of positive potential. You will also complete an applied project where you conduct a brief seminar/training for an appropriate audience on the principles of emergence coaching.
Prerequisites: AC311, AC321, AC331, and AC351; or permission of instructor. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Advanced Transformational Group Leadership (AC412, 6 credits)
In this course you develop or enhance your skills in complex group leadership by co-leading or assisting a group appropriate to your experience level as determined by faculty. If faculty determines that your experience warrants it, you may assist or co-lead a transformations laboratory. You participate in group supervision every other week as well. You learn to identify and track a wide range of dynamics in groups, assess and facilitate depth of emotional expression, lead to enhance group cohesion, and empower individuals in the group.
You identify key leadership issues and challenges and assess your and your fellow leaders’ levels of operating on the TIME transformational leadership continuum. You write an online project chronicling your learning, leadership, and outcomes. You will also complete an applied project where you conduct a brief seminar/training for an appropriate audience on the principles of transformational leadership.
Prerequisites: AC411. Co-Requisite: Social-Emotional Intelligence Lab (SEI Lab) I or II (PL09 or PL10).
Research Methodologies & Design I (AC431, 6 credits)
The Research Methodologies and Design quarters are designed to help you build skill in scholarly inquiry. In these courses, you survey a range of research practices, then focus on a selected practice for further study. Working with a faculty member, you design a program that explores this research practice in depth and applies it to an area of study you choose.
You learn the elements of research design as well as how to design epistemologically sound research. You demonstrate understanding of the architecture of research design and how to match research tools with research objectives; the elements of good research design; how to develop, design, and write up a research plan; and how to critique research studies and reports and be a skilled consumer of research.
Prerequisites: AC412.
Research Methodologies & Design II (AC437, 6 credits)
The Research Methodologies and Design quarters are designed to help you build skill in scholarly inquiry. In AC431, you surveyed a range of research practices. Now you will focus on a selected methodology and subject for further study. You may consider this course to be preparation for your doctoral research. Your work products can become the methodology and design sections of your dissertation. You may also find that you are beginning your literature review chapter.
You will be working closely with a faculty member whom you may choose to be head of your dissertation committee. With faculty guidance, you will design the project to explore the area of research that you choose to approach in depth. You will learn the elements of this particular research methodology as you learn to design epistemologically sound research. You will demonstrate understanding of the architecture of research design, how to match this research tool with your research objectives, and how to design a specific research project or research plan. Your work product will be of the quality expected of doctoral dissertation methodology and design chapters.
Prerequisite: AC431.
Comprehensive Qualifying Exams (AC511, 8 credits)
In this course learners complete their comprehensive qualifying exams. This course is designed to be completed in 1-2 quarters. Upon successfully passing these exams, students will become Doctoral Candidates.
Prerequisite: All first- and second-year Ed.D. coursework (AC311 through AC437)
Dissertation
Dissertation (AC600, 22 credits)
This course includes completing your dissertation. It includes creating and obtaining approval of the dissertation proposal; writing and obtaining approval of the IRB application; data collection and analysis, dissertation writing including literature review, final oral review, revisions, and final approval. This course is designed to be completed in two to six quarters, depending on the research method selected by the student and other factors to be incorporated in the student’s planning with his or her dissertation advisor and committee.
Prerequisite: All other doctoral courses and achievement of doctoral candidacy. (Note: While acceptance of the final dissertation draft by the faculty dissertation committee is the final requirement for graduation, the degree will not be conferred nor diploma/transcripts released until three bound copies of the dissertation have been received by the registrar.)
Doctoral students enter the dissertation phase once they have achieved doctoral candidacy. Doctoral candidacy is achieved upon successful of all doctoral coursework (AC311 to AC437) and the Comprehensive Qualifying Examinations (AC511). An overview of the dissertation milestones is below. All milestones must successfully be completed before the Doctor of Education degree will be conferred upon the candidate by the University.
1. Select a topic.
2. Identify a faculty chair.
3. Form the dissertation committee.
4. Draft the dissertation proposal.
5. Revise and receive approval on the dissertation proposal.
6. Submit application for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.
7. Research and write the dissertation.
8. Complete the final oral review.
9. Obtain the final dissertation approval.
10. Proofreading and binding.
Participation in three monthly weekend residential learning sessions is required for each quarter in which a student is enrolled in the dissertation (AC600) course. All monthly weekend residential learning sessions are conducted at the Elkhorn, Wisconsin campus and made available for distance participation via webcast or remote teleconference. In person attendance is required for at least one of the three weekend sessions. If a student is unavailable to participate live, their participation includes conducting an in-depth review of recorded material and submitting time-stamped notes. Please refer to the “Dissertation Manual” for full details of the requirements of the doctoral dissertation.
Performative Learning (PL) Trainings
All Performative Learning Trainings are non-credit bearing.
- A weekend training at the beginning of the quarter.
- A weekly evening 1.5-hour class for 13 weeks.
- A 45-minute coaching session biweekly.
- Weekly online written check-ins demonstrating what you learned and how you grew.
Year of More: Nourishment & Self Care Quarter (PL01, 0 credits)
In this PL you learn and undertake weekly assignments to further develop your emotional intelligence–– identifying your emotions, understanding their role in effective functioning and personal and professional satisfaction and success, experimenting with emotional expression, being in the moment, and developing skills of emotional regulation and facility.
No prerequisite.
Year of More: Robust Relationships Quarter (PL02, 0 credits)
In this PL you explore the impact of your family relationships on your relationships in the rest of your life, your work, and with those you coach and lead. You diagram your family tree and identify your family limiting beliefs and family member roles and special circumstances in order to identify behavioral patterns as they were laid down neurologically in your earliest years.
You learn the neuroscience related to your early experiences in your family system, identify the impact of these early experiences in your life today, and develop a future vision for your relationships. You identify skills for more genuine relationships; understand how early family beliefs, norms, and patterns developed and influence current relationships; identify unconscious beliefs that drive daily actions; gain greater choice to live your own values; and be more responsible in communication.
No prerequisite.
Year of More: Personal Power Quarter (PL03, 0 credits)
In this PL you study forms of personal power and develop strategies to enhance your use of your personal power. You use your enhanced skills to overcome barriers, take more risks, and develop new ways to understand and apply the principle of intention. You understand and apply the law of requisite variety, develop more connected relationships, and take greater personal responsibility in work and other areas.
You learn, practice, and apply different skills of personal power each week in your personal and professional life and in your coaching and leadership.
No prerequisite.
Year of More: Purposeful Living & Leadership Quarter (PL04, 0 credits)
In this PL you practice living with the principles of purpose, learn about the qualities of purposeful living, and begin to identify your own life purpose. You further challenge disempowering and limiting childhood beliefs, choose empowering beliefs and principles to live by, and find ways to experience every interaction as growthful.
You learn about developmental models of personal development and apply these as a map to guide your spiritual development in ways that can apply to believers of all faiths. You learn and practice the skills of principle based leadership and coaching.
No prerequisite.
Group Process Training (PL05, 0 credits)
This PL introduces you to group process in a group experience. You analyze the experience, get feedback, and apply academic and theoretical perspectives to your experience. You apply the analytic and intervention skills you learn to groups you attend, wherever you are. You develop a foundation to continue to become increasingly aware of group dynamics and how to intervene in groups to better achieve your and your groups’ objectives.
You learn to identify formal and informal group decision processes and identify who makes decisions, who influences those decisions, and how they do it. You develop foundations for insight into who aligns with whom to control how groups interact, how groups break down, and how conflict is managed. You learn foundational skills to enhance group functioning, facilitate enhanced participation, and empower participants in groups you lead or belong to.
Prerequisites: PL01, PL02, PL03, PL04, or Instructor Permission.
Personal Emergence Process (PL07, 0 credits)
In this PL you learn powerful communication and facilitation skills including contextual listening, intentional speaking, and the power of presence to facilitate expression and problem solving in others. You discover the power of flow, aliveness, and truth in individuals naturally and easily solving their own problems with no advice.
This PL provides a powerful foundation for your coaching and leadership, underlining the wisdom of individuals and groups to solve their own problems. You will discover the power of emotions and expressing them responsibly and how that impacts interactions with others. In learning how to have greater range of expression of emotions during these trainings, you develop a greater self-awareness and sense of self. You experience greater responsibility for the ways you communicate which increases satisfaction in life.
As a coach and leader, you learn co-voyaging, a personal responsibility skill that helps you take responsibility for your own experience in ways that increase your insight and effectiveness.
No prerequisite.
Coaching Lab (PL08, 0 credits)
In this PL, you engage in a coaching experience where you recruit coaching clients, coach them, learn and practice coaching skills, share your coaching experiences with other coaching students, and receive feedback and coaching to increase your effectiveness. You will gain skill and experience in the ICF coaching competencies as you increase your coaching proficiency.
Prerequisites: PL01, PL02, PL03, and PL04, or instructor permission.
Transformation Labs
Please note that transformation labs include:
- A weekly 2½ hour evening meeting.
- Three weekend trainings per year.
- A 45-minute coaching session biweekly.
- Participation in a team project once per year.
- Weekly online written check-ins demonstrating what you learned and how you grew.
Social and Emotional Intelligence Transformation Lab I (PL09, 0 credits)
In this PL you participate in a social and emotional intelligence transformation lab for a two-year period. You learn to identify, name, and responsibly and fully express emotions. You develop skills of social and emotional intelligence and to up- and down-regulate emotional expression.
You practice effective self-care, learn to engage in conflict productively, and to be clear about desires and intentions. You identify unmet developmental needs and develop the skills to address them. You enhance your personal power and influence as you learn to orient to vision; to even more deeply tell the truth; to become aware of and effectively express judgments; to engage in conflict productively; to be clear about desires and intentions and to fulfill these, especially in coaching and leadership.
Prerequisites: PL01, PL02, PL03, and PL04.
Social and Emotional Intelligence Transformation Lab II (PL10, 0 credits)
This optional course is available for students seeking to continue the lab experience beyond PL09. In this PL you participate in a social and emotional intelligence transformation lab for a two-year period. You learn to identify, name, and responsibly and fully express emotions. You develop skills of social and emotional intelligence and to up- and down-regulate emotional expression.
You practice effective self-care, learn to engage in conflict productively, and to be clear about desires and intentions. You identify unmet developmental needs and develop the skills to address them. You enhance your personal power and influence as you learn to orient to vision; to even more deeply tell the truth; to become aware of and effectively express judgments; to engage in conflict productively; to be clear about desires and intentions and to fulfill these, especially in coaching and leadership.
Prerequisites: PL01, PL02, PL03, and PL04, and PL09.
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