More technology at schools doesn’t lead to better education, data finds

Post date: Oct 6, 2015 8:40:45 PM

More technology at schools doesn’t lead to better education, data finds

By Ami Albernaz GLOBE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 05, 2015

Laptops, tablets, and similar devices are ever more prevalent in today’s classrooms. Yet greater availability and use of technology at school doesn’t necessarily lead to better educational outcomes, a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows.

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The report, which included data on nearly 60 countries, examined students’ computer use at home and in school as well as their performance on written and digital tests. It found that while students who use computers moderately at school have somewhat better outcomes than those who don’t use them at all, those who use them very frequently tend to do significantly worse, even after accounting for students’ and schools’ socioeconomic status.

The findings come at a time when adoption of technology in classrooms is steadily growing. In 2014, shipments of desktops, laptops, and tablets to schools and higher education institutions in the US totaled 13.2 million, 33 percent more than the previous year, according to market research firm IDC. Among the 34 OECD countries, 72 percent of 15-year-olds said they used a desktop, laptop, or tablet in school in 2012 (the year the report data was collected).

“There is clearly a gap between the expectations that justified these [technology] investments, and the impact that they had on students’ learning,” report author Francesco Avvisati, an analyst at the OECD, said in an e-mail. “The link between more computers and better learning is not a direct one. . . We need to get this right, urgently.”