Asking What If?

The long-standing traditions of the dissertation are long overdue for a challenge. Creative and disruptive thinkers operate with a default what if? mindset that helps them challenge the status quo (Carter & Krahenbuhl, 2022). It is time for creative minds in higher education to kick-start how and why they see new opportunities beyond the traditional dissertation. What if the five-chapter format could be broken and replaced with a physical or digital portfolio that showcases students’ evolution as scholar-practitioners? What if EdD students could create a docu-dissertation film, one that allows students to uncover and highlight powerful stories? These what-ifs still retain the core competencies of a traditional dissertation: a relevant, timely research question, literature review, taking action in the field, gathering results, and drawing conclusions. We offer reasons for change and what the future of the EdD could be if we take what Beghetto (2018) calls beautiful risks.