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Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID)

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100% Online Doctorate

Complete your studies on your own time.

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New start date every Monday

Start your first course when it’s convenient for you.

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35 Months to your Doctorate

Finish your EdD-ID degree in just 18 courses.

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Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID)

Combine the science of learning with the art of design with the 100% online Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID) degree program at National University. You’ll gain a deep understanding of how people learn and how best to communicate knowledge to a broad audience. This degree allows instructional designers like you to improve education, training, and development across all industries, for all learners.

Influence and Inspire Powerful Learning Experiences

Created by experienced professionals, NU’s EdD-ID program gives you in-depth courses that will teach you to apply knowledge to solve real-world problems. You’ll have hands-on practice working with experts and learning how to use tools to create powerful learning experiences. NU’s EdD-ID covers a range of advanced topics, including leadership, research, contemporary instructional design, and the design and development of simulations and gaming solutions. 

Results-driven instructional design education

The EdD-ID program outcomes are aligned to the advanced and managerial ID competencies established by the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI), the Association for Talent Development (ATD), and the standards of the Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT). These competencies and standards include planning, analyses, universal design, development, rapid prototyping, implementation, evaluation, and project management of instructional and training interventions.

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Course Details

  • Credit Hours: 54
  • Courses: 18
  • Estimated Time to Complete: 35 months

The Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID) program can be completed in 54 credits. Each foundational course runs 8 weeks, and dissertation courses run 12 weeks. 

This foundational course will introduce you to the concepts and practices of advanced graduate study. You will examine concepts and expectations of advanced graduate study and academic integrity as well as investigate best practices of scholarship and research. You will explore university resources and supports associated with student success, including technologies for learning and research. You will also evaluate the program process and requirements for success. Finally, you will advocate for self-care and reflection during your studies.

Academic writing is at the heart of scholarly writing. How you explore and navigate your topic of interest is both a personal and professional matter. In this course, you will integrate effective research and writing skills, and evaluate standards of academic writing, honesty, and integrity. Literature and writing are closely related, so this course also offers you a first chance to examine the elements of conceptual and theoretical frameworks and critique the role of supporting literature and inquiry with conceptual and theoretical frameworks. Finally, you will synthesize the frameworks commonly used in educational research.

This course builds on your foundational knowledge of instructional design with advanced practice. You will recommend instructional and training solutions based on existing assessment and evaluation data, formulate procedures for collaborative design projects with diverse stakeholders, and categorize legal, ethical, and political influences on the design of contemporary instructional and training solutions. You will develop instructional materials, including multimedia learning assets that comply with professional practice of instructional design and development.

Theories are foundational to scholarly inquiry, and many theories impact the design and development of instructional and training solutions. In this course, you will dig deeper into relevant theories and hone your ability to both recognize the theoretical influences of existing solutions as well as select the appropriate theoretical foundation for new solutions. You will practice defending your design recommendations with consideration for the ethical, legal, and political factors that might influence the application of theory within the design and development of instructional and training solutions.

In this course, you will demonstrate advanced expertise in leading and managing complex design projects with diverse stakeholders. Toward this goal, you will determine needed resources, create timelines, overhaul procedures based on feedback, consider strategies to address legal, ethical, and political factors, and evaluate technologies that support leading and managing complex design and development projects.

This course offers foundational knowledge to become a critical consumer of statistical- based research literature as well as develop the necessary skillset for non-inferential quantitative analyses. The emphasis will be on understanding multivariate data, non-inferential and inferential statistical concepts, the conventions of quantitative data analysis, interpretation and critical inferences from statistical results. Statistical computations will be completed using statistical software applications for quantitative data analysis. The course culminates in a synthesis project to demonstrate statistical skills and aligned with APA guidelines for presentation of statistical results.

There are many ways to develop instructional and training solutions as well as to evaluate those designs and products. In this course, you will examine multiple models for developing products based on designs, so the focus of this course is more about development and evaluation than design itself. By the end of the course, you will be able to validate design effectiveness through multiple methods, formulate strategies to address resistance to iterative design and evaluation, maximize effectiveness of complex design processes and products among diverse stakeholders, select technologies for prototype iteration for instructional and training solutions, and produce research-based recommendations for evaluation of instructional and training solutions.

In this course, you will explore the design and development of simulations, games, and mobile learning. You will critique game theory and its relevance to the design of instructional and training solutions. You will also evaluate platforms for the design and delivery of gaming solutions as well as simulations and mobile learning. Based on this work, you will measure the effectiveness of such designs for various learning contexts and audiences. Finally, you will develop learning assets based on games, simulations, and mobile learning and share those assets in your portfolio.

In this introductory research course, you will explore the underpinnings of the research process, examine research paradigms, and investigate theoretical and practical foundations of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies used within educational research. You will identify criteria for the development of a quality research study that is ethical, accurate, comprehensive, cohesive, and aligned. Specific course topics will involve the ethics of conducting research; data collection and analysis techniques; and issues of feasibility, trustworthiness, validity, reliability, generalizability or transferability, and rigor. This course is intended to familiarize you with concepts and skills associated with conducting theoretical and applied research.

This course offers foundational knowledge to become a critical consumer of statistical- based research literature as well as develop the necessary skillset for non-inferential quantitative analyses. The emphasis will be on understanding multivariate data, non-inferential and inferential statistical concepts, the conventions of quantitative data analysis, interpretation and critical inferences from statistical results. Statistical computations will be completed using statistical software applications for quantitative data analysis. The course culminates in a synthesis project to demonstrate statistical skills and aligned with APA guidelines for presentation of statistical results.

This course supports your exploration of special considerations faced by leaders of complex instructional design and development projects. These considerations will include the ethical, legal, and political factors on which you have reflected throughout your program. These considerations will also include leadership theories and practices for emerging models, theories, and technologies used in the projects and organizations in which you lead.

This course focuses on qualitative research methodology and designs and the methods used to collect and analyze data in educational research. You will examine the principles of qualitative research and explore commonly used designs (also referred to as qualitative traditions or genres) with a focus on application and feasibility. Qualitative data collection and analysis methods will be examined for their suitability with regard to the research design selected. Alignment between qualitative designs and research methods, issues of trustworthiness pertaining to qualitative research, and the role and responsibilities of the qualitative researcher will also be explored.

This course explores the quantitative research methodology and associated designs and methods. You will examine paradigmatic perspectives along with the tenets and conventions of quantitative research. This examination of designs and methods will include topics such as feasibility, validity, reliability, variable operationalization, inferential designs, and analytic software applications used within the quantitative research paradigm. You will also explore the components of aligned and coherent quantitative research designs that support meaningful research within the field of education.

This course builds on a foundational understanding of qualitative designs and measurements to focus on analyses of the data. The course takes you deeper into the skills and techniques necessary to ensure the appropriate analyses of qualitative data, including integrating relevant frameworks, verifying trustworthiness of the findings, and selecting suitable methods to present the analyses and findings.

You will learn advanced statistical principles and how to apply them to quantitative research. You will be provided an overview of advanced statistical concepts used in empirical research, including inferential analyses. Advanced computations will be performed using SPSS. The focus involves helping you build independent scholarly skills with an emphasis on understanding multivariate data; the use, comprehension, and evaluation of sophisticated statistical concepts; and presentation of statistical results.

The doctoral comprehensive assessment is your opportunity to demonstrate your preparation for entering the dissertation phase as a doctoral candidate. You will synthesize discipline-specific content with research designs and methods as you create a prospectus for a problem of applied practice within an educational context. This prospectus will likely become the foundation of your dissertation. Note that you will take this course only after all foundation, specialization, and research courses have been completed.

In this 12-week course, you will complete all relevant subsections of Section 1: Foundation. You will use your school-specific template and guidance from your chair to determine which subsections apply to your individual work. Section 1 must be completed and approved by your committee in order to pass the course and move forward. If you do not receive committee approval of Section 1, you will be able to take up to three supplemental 8-week courses to finalize and gain approval of Section 1.

In this 12-week course, you will compose all relevant subsections of Section 2: Methodology and Design and complete your proposal. Both of these components must be approved by your committee in order to pass the course and move forward. You will use your school-specific template and guidance from your chair to determine which subsections apply to your individual work. If you do not receive approval of Section 2 and the complete proposal, you will be able to take up to three 8-week supplementary courses to finalize and gain approval of Section 2 and your completed proposal.

In this course, you will prepare, submit, and obtain a determination from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) application before collecting data and, if applicable, executing your project modeling. You will also submit documentation that you have closed data collection. If you are still collecting data or modeling your project at the end of this 12-week course, you will be able to take up to three supplemental 8-week courses to complete the required components.

In this 12-week course, you will complete all relevant subsections of Section 3: Findings, Implications, and Recommendations, finalize your manuscript, and disseminate your findings. You will use your school-specific template and guidance from your chair to determine which subsections apply to your individual work. The final manuscript, which includes Section 3 and the dissemination of findings, must be approved by your committee in order to pass the course and be eligible to graduate. If you do not receive committee approval of all components, you will be able to take up to three supplemental 8-week courses to finalize these requirements and be eligible to graduate.

Degree Requirements

The Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID) requires 54 credit hours for degree completion. Coursework includes foundations, educational leadership, research methods, the pre-candidacy prospectus, and the dissertation. Additional credit hours may be allowed as needed to complete dissertation research in alignment with the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and Academic Maximum Time Frame policies. Students who do not complete their program within these requirements may be dismissed.

The EdD-ID degree program has the following graduation requirements:

  • A minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate instruction must be completed through NU
  • Successful completion of all courses with a “B” or better
  • Official transcripts on file for all transfer credits accepted by the University

Note: Students who complete NU’s EdS program may be eligible to apply up to 30 credits from the EdS program to the School of Education’s Doctoral programs. School Dean (or their designee) approval is required to determine number of applicable credit hours from EdS to the selected doctoral program.

Career Potential*

  • Instructional Coordinators
  • Instructional Designers and Technologists
  • Training and Development Managers
  • Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School
  • Education Administrators, Postsecondary
  • Education Administrators, All Other
  • Distance Learning Coordinators
  • Training and Development Specialists
  • Education Teachers, Postsecondary
  • Postsecondary Teachers, All Other

*Positions may require additional experience, training, and other factors beyond successfully completing this degree program. Depending on where you reside, many positions may also require state licensure, and it is the responsibility of the student to ensure that all licensure requirements are met. We encourage you to also review program specific requirements with an NU advisor. Any data provided on this page is for informational purposes only and does not guarantee that completion of any degree program will achieve the underlying occupation or commensurate salary.

DISSERTATION PROCESS

Faculty assists each NU Doctoral student to reach this high goal through a systematic process leading to a high-quality completed dissertation. This process requires care in choosing a topic, documenting its importance, planning the methodology, and conducting the research. These activities lead smoothly into the writing and oral presentation of the dissertation.

A doctoral candidate must be continuously enrolled throughout the series of dissertation courses. Dissertation courses are automatically scheduled and accepted without a break in scheduling to ensure that students remain in continuous enrollment throughout the dissertation course sequence. If additional time is required to complete any of the dissertation courses, students must re-enroll and pay the tuition for that course. Continuous enrollment will only be permitted when students demonstrate progress toward completing dissertation requirements. The Dissertation Committee determines progress.

Learning Outcomes

As a graduate of National University’s Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID) program, you’ll be able to:

  • Manage complex design processes and products collaboratively with diverse stakeholders
  • Interpret leadership theories for their relevance in solving instructional and training problems
  • Evaluate technologies used in instructional and training solutions
  • Synthesize different principles, theories, and analyses for design projects
  • Construct strategies to address ethical, legal, and political factors influencing instructional and training solutions
  • Improve professional practice of instructional design

Admissions

National University’s dedicated admissions team is here to help you throughout the admissions process. We accept and review applications year-round and, once you’re admitted, you can begin your studies as soon as the next week.
To apply to the Doctor of Education in Instructional Design (EdD-ID), you must have a conferred baccalaureate master’s degree and/or doctoral degree from a regionally or nationally accredited academic institution or a qualifying international institution.

Questions? Call our admissions team at 866.776.0331 or request information and an advisor will be in touch soon. Ready to apply? Start your NU application today.

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Program Disclosure

Successful completion and attainment of National University degrees do not lead to automatic or immediate licensure, employment, or certification in any state/country. The University cannot guarantee that any professional organization or business will accept a graduate’s application to sit for any certification, licensure, or related exam for the purpose of professional certification.

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