The LTEC doctoral program is cohort-based and has been designed to encourage intellectual excellence and participation in a scholarly community. Students begin with a mandatory New Student Orientation, then complete core courses in the fall, spring, and summer of the first two years. This requires one or two courses per semester, and these core courses may not be waived or substituted.
Course Load: Full-time students typically carry three courses per semester (9 credits), allowing for one elective in each of the first two semesters. It is recommended that in the first year students with full-time employment not take electives limiting enrollment to required cohort courses in fall and spring. International and scholarship students must have a minimum of eight credits for full-time status; graduate assistants require six credits.
Typical Course Sequence: The required courses for the first and second year ensure that the inquiry, seminar, and design areas are fulfilled. All courses are three credits each. A typical two-year program might look like this:
| Semester | Campus Time* | Design Core | Seminar Core | Inquiry Core | Electives |
| Fall 1 | 2 days (weekend) | Initial Seminar: LTEC 750C | Research Design begins: LTEC 665 | Optional | |
| Spring 1 | 0 days | Continuation LTEC 665 &
Qualitative Research (LTEC 667) |
Optional | ||
| Summer 1 | 3 days TBD | Advanced Design: LTEC 701 | Optional | ||
| Fall 2 | 0 days | Quantitative Research: LTEC 668 | |||
| Spring 2 | 0 days | Second Seminar: LTEC 750E | Optional | ||
| Summer 2 | 0 days | Advanced Research | Optional |
| Fall 3 | 2 days (weekend) | Advanced Seminar: LTEC 760 | Optional |
* In addition to Monday/Wednesday evenings online. All core courses with the exception of LTEC 760 tend to be onWednesday evenings from 5-&:30 PM HST. LTEC 760 is typically on Monday evenings at that time.
After completing the core courses, students enroll in the Advanced Seminar (LTEC 760) to work on the comprehensive exam and proposal requirements.
Class Schedule: Some LTEC core courses (inquiry, design, and seminars) are presented in a hybrid manner. Students take these with the other members of their cohort. Please make sure you are able to commit to the schedule when you begin the program.
The schedule for fall/and summer week on campus days are distributed to current students and those who have applied for admission no later than spring of the year before. The hybrid cohorts also meet online Mondays and Wednesdays during the semester but not every week; schedules will be distributed at the start of each semester. Core courses are typically on Wednesday evenings during the first two years. LTEC 760 is held on Monday evenings.
Plan to be present for the first course of the Fall semester as well as the mandatory campus weekend/week dates. By university and department policy, you may be dropped from a course if you miss the first session or campus scheduled dates.