James Gregory Hodges, Ph.D. in Educational Leadership
Video Transcription
The more I researched the institution, the more I liked it. So, I hooked up with Trident, and it has just been absolutely fantastic for me. Just what I needed as a working adult. As someone who’s already a dean at a community collage, it provided the educational pathway for me to achieve the academic goals that I was looking for.
The accreditation was critical. The course work had to be accredited, but the degree had to be accredited in order for my institution to recognize it. But more importantly, I wanted to make sure that the support was there from the faculty. Each individual faculty member providing me as a adult the support that I need and understanding the flexibility of scheduling was critical for me.
Realizing that as a working adult my needs for my own students that I was teaching were paramount to me, so just that synergy between the faculty member, the support system from Trident, the financial aid support system. Everything happens there was just honed in to make sure that I as the student was successful.
My dissertation the topic was the impact of cooperative learning on critical thinking test Of course and what we looked at, was the pedagogy of cooperative learning and how it positively impacted students pre and post test scores and the difference it made in critical thinking.
That work is actually being looked at by the State of Virginia now to see if that pedagogy of cooperative learning can be infused throughout the State of Virginia. The president of my community college was one of the members of my committee. She wants to get some publications out of it, as do I, so we’re looking together at how we can expand that and make it even more impactful for the students of Virginia.
I’m extremely excited about the future. A Ph.D in the community college world is a golden ticket. It allows you to go in many different avenues, many different directions. I have already, to be honest with you, had phone calls from institutions looking to see if I was interested in becoming vice president and moving up the career pathway.
I’m interested in whatever doors are open, but that door that was closed without the doctorate degree has been flung wide but whether it’s at the institution where I currently work, or another institution, it just is giving me the skill set to not only advance, a promotion, but to do good sound research where I’m currently being employed.
I never thought that I would get to the point where I could say I have a doctorates degree. With being a pastor, a husband, a father, a college dean I just didn’t think it would be possible. So what’s going through my mind right now is how fortunate I was that a colleague of mine told me about Trident University because Trident allowed me to stay where I was get an accredited doctorate degree, and have the world open up to me in terms of the educational opportunities.
Video Transcript Disclaimer
Please be advised that this transcription was made from a video recording. The content of the transcription reflects the words spoken on the video, without grammatical modifications. Unfortunately, Trident can not guarantee the quality of the transcript, as a number of factors can impact the final accuracy of the content. The provided text is to the best of our skill and ability, and the tools we have available.
About Trident University
Founded in 1998, Trident University International (Trident) is a leading online post-secondary university serving adult learners. Trident developed the Trident Learning Model, which employs case-based learning in an online setting to teach real-world relevant critical thinking skills to enhance student’s lives and careers. Trident offers high-quality bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs, led by a qualified faculty team, over 80% of whom have doctoral degrees. Visit www.trident.edu, Trident’s Facebook page, or call at to learn more about Trident’s wide range of program offerings.
