Old Dominion University Online Doctor of Applied Science in Kinesiology (DAS)

Old Dominion's online Doctor of Applied Science in Kinesiology is for people who already hold a kinesiology-related master's or a clinical doctorate and want to teach or lead. Only four of its 11 courses carry a KIN code. The rest cover teaching, communication, leadership and evaluation, and it ends in a capstone, not a dissertation. Budget $25,332 to $25,692 with fees. The next cohort starts August 23, 2027.

Old Dominion University is a public university in Norfolk, Virginia. This doctorate is delivered through ODUGlobal, the online arm, and housed in the Ellmer College of Health Sciences, where the School of Exercise Science also sits. Its inaugural cohort was slated for fall 2025.

The program director is DeAnne Davis Brooks, EdD, a Fellow of the American Kinesiology Association. ODU describes the degree as cohort-based, fully online and built for working professionals, with a new cohort each fall. The catalog lists it as a doctorate of applied science whose focus is teaching, communication and organizational leadership.

Courses are primarily asynchronous and accelerated. You take two courses per 16-week semester, one at a time, in 8-week blocks. There's no scheduled meeting time, though an instructor may set assignment deadlines or exam times. You move through the program with a cohort.

Courses are scheduled in fall and spring. The capstone can be taken the summer before your last two courses, which shortens the program to 2.5 years. Otherwise, count on three years. Applications for fall are reviewed in the spring, beginning January 15, and the catalog lists no residency requirement.

Who It Fits

• You hold a master's in exercise science, kinesiology, athletic training, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology or physician assistant studies, or a clinical doctorate like the DPT, and you're looking toward faculty or program-director work.
• You want to explain evidence to clients, students or administrators. Courses on strategic communication, organizational change and program evaluation are what this degree is made of.
• You need a schedule with no meeting times. Courses are primarily asynchronous, and you take one at a time in 8-week blocks.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if you want more exercise physiology, testing or training content. The KIN courses are seminar, research methods and the capstone, and the remaining courses come from health professions education and health sciences.
• Skip it if you want a research doctorate. There's no dissertation here, and ODU's Ph.D. in this field is offered on campus.
• Skip it if you don't have a master's or clinical doctorate yet, or if you need to start within the year. The next cohort begins August 23, 2027.

You take six semesters of 6 credits each, for 36 credits and 11 courses. The first five semesters hold two courses apiece, and the capstone fills the last. Year one: KIN 810 Seminar in Applied Science in Kinesiology, DHSC 812 Strategic Communication, KIN 820 Applied Quantitative Research Methods, and DHSC 813 Management of Organizational Change.

Year two: KIN 825 Mixed and Multi Methods, MHPE 808 Contexts of Teaching and Learning, MHPE 809 Designing Educational Experiences, and DHSC 832 Leadership and Professionalism. Year three: MHPE 720 Exploring Paradigms in Higher Education, MHPE 702 Program Evaluation, and KIN 890 Kinesiology Capstone.

The capstone has you review literature, design an evidence-based project, complete it and present results in writing and aloud, working with the director and faculty.

Courses the School Names

• KIN 810 Seminar in Applied Science in Kinesiology
• KIN 820 Applied Quantitative Research Methods in Kinesiology
• KIN 825 Mixed & Multi Methods in Kinesiology Research
• DHSC 812 Strategic Communication
• DHSC 813 Management of Organizational Change
• MHPE 808 Contexts of Teaching and Learning
• MHPE 809 Designing Educational Experiences
• DHSC 832 Leadership and Professionalism
• MHPE 702 Program Evaluation
• KIN 890 Kinesiology Capstone

Standout Features

• Cohort-based; new cohort each fall; next start August 23, 2027
• Curriculum focuses on strategic communication, pedagogy and organizational change to prepare graduates to teach at all degree levels
• Program director DeAnne Davis Brooks, EdD, Fellow of the American Kinesiology Association

ODU posts $672 per credit for Virginia residents and $662 for everyone else, effective fall 2026. The lower out-of-state number is deliberate. The Virginia rate includes a $162 auxiliary tuition that the ODUGlobal rate skips.

Fees add up. Every online graduate student pays a $30 course technology fee and an $8 innovation fee per credit, plus $9 general services and $2 for an ID card per 8-week term. All in, that's $700 per credit outside Virginia or $710 inside. Thirty-six credits with term fees comes to $25,332 or $25,692.

After acceptance you'll pay a $300 non-refundable matriculation fee, which ODU credits toward your first semester's tuition.

36 credits at $662 a credit comes to $23,832 in tuition, before fees. At the in-state rate of $672, the same 36 credits come to $24,192.

ODU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which covers doctoral degrees. The doctorate has no programmatic accreditation and leads to no license or certification.

ODU says the degree may qualify you for jobs that require a doctoral degree, including teaching at all degree levels. That's a possibility, not a guarantee, so ask the employers you'd target.

The ACSM (starting August 15, 2027) and NSCA (starting January 1, 2030) accreditation rules apply to the bachelor's or master's that gets you to an exam, not to this doctorate.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

• It's not an exercise science curriculum. Seven of the 11 courses carry health sciences or health professions education codes, and the degree teaches you to teach, lead and evaluate programs.
• It's new, and there's a wait. The first cohort was slated for fall 2025, so graduates are few, and each cohort starts once a year.
• The pages disagree about experience. The program page calls three years of professional experience preferred but not required, while the catalog says applicants must have full-time experience in a kinesiology-related field.
• A D.A.S. is not a Ph.D. The capstone replaces the dissertation, and hiring committees decide what that's worth.
• Fees change the bottom line. Tuition alone is $23,832 or $24,192, but per-credit and term fees lift the total to $25,332 or $25,692.

• Is full-time experience in a kinesiology-related field required or only preferred, since the catalog and program page differ?
• Where have graduates of a Doctor of Applied Science taught, and do those employers treat it like a research doctorate?
• Does my master's count as kinesiology-related if it's in physical therapy, occupational therapy or physician assistant studies?
• How does the capstone get scoped and approved, and how many students does each faculty member advise?
• Do fees change if I take the capstone in summer, and would that summer term add tuition?
• Are there any weekly live sessions or exam windows I'd need to plan around, and how are cohort deadlines handled for someone working shifts?

Old Dominion University is a public university in Norfolk, Virginia, with a School of Exercise Science in the Ellmer College of Health Sciences and an online arm, ODUGlobal. Its online exercise-related degree is a new Doctor of Applied Science in Kinesiology.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 7 of 12, doctorate
• Best Online Doctoral Programs Rank 7 of 12, doctorate
• Best Online Kinesiology Degrees Rank 3 of 3, doctorate
• Cheapest Online Programs Rank 4 of 12, doctorate
• Accelerated Online Programs Rank 1 of 2, doctorate
• Best for Working Adults Rank 4 of 6, doctorate
• Best for Parents Rank 3 of 3, doctorate
• Best for Healthcare Workers Rank 6 of 9, doctorate
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 5 of 10, doctorate
• Best Online Programs in Virginia Rank 2 of 2, doctorate

• Temple University

  Athletic Training, Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT)

  Pennsylvania $1,225 per credit Score 46.6

• Concordia University-Saint Paul

  Doctor of Education in Kinesiology (emphases: Exercise Science, Exercise Physiology, Exercise and Sport Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning)

  Minnesota $690 per credit Score 44.5

• Concordia University-Saint Paul

  Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (emphases: Exercise Science, Exercise Physiology, Exercise and Sport Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning)

  Minnesota $690 per credit Score 44.5

• A T Still University of Health Sciences

  Doctor of Athletic Training (post-professional)

  Missouri $690 per credit Score 47.3