Collecting Thoughts on Education Research

• John Vandivier

This article codifies certain thoughts related to my ongoing dissertation work. Section 1 identifies some actionable items. Section 2 notes related articles.

Section I. Short Term Goals

  1. Finalize dissertation topic
    1. I am pursuing a PhD by Publication strategy.
    2. 1+ papers on the economics of alternative credentials. Specifically, I attempt to tie Udacity profile data to employment outcomes.
    3. 1+ papers on an agent based analysis of education. Specifically, I attempt to identify factors of enrollment, factors of completion, and effective treatments.
    4. 1+ paper topic TBD. I also need to identify a third committee member.
      1. One possibly easy study would be to look at attitudes around the subject from employers, employees, prospective college students, and other persons of interest.
  2. Discuss alternative credentials and alternative modes of education
    1. Literature review: Identify key players and papers in the various related fields.Fields include education, economics of education, and psychology.
    2. I should identify data sources and attempt to scrape them and conduct some basic analysis.
    3. Identify the scope of analysis for the modes of education. Define the set to be analyzed and the study design.
  3. Extend agent based analysis
    1. Discuss shortcomings of Charm ABM with Robert Axtell.
    2. Target Charm ABM for scale or process improvements.
    3. Finalize a publishable paper.
  4. Build on Bryan Caplan's The Case Against Education
    1. Whoever I identify as key in my research should be a superset of the key players in this book, eg Hanushek.
    2. He argues that education is privately a good investment for many but socially a bad investment.
    3. I want to argue that traditional education is in fact a bad private investment for many, once opportunity costs are included.
    4. Many of these opportunities involve alternative credentials and alternative modes of education.
Section II. Related Articles
  1. Google search for `site:afterecon.com education`
  2. Page, We Need Education Reform
  3. Defining Self-Directed Learning and Unschooling, Jan 2018
  4. Education ABM Statement of Intent, Oct 2017
  5. 7 Reasons Degreed and Enterprise Need Academic Validation, March 2017
  6. Identifying Key Papers in the Economics of Education, March 2017
  7. Current Research Goals, Feb 2017
  8. Economic Efficiency Found in New Models of Education, May 2013