Do New Technologies Improve Education?

Computers and technology can greatly enhance instruction, and it is important to prepare students for an increasingly technical workforce. Unfortunately, folks in Education tend to oversell the benefits of technology's impact on learning. In the quantitative disciplines, technology expands the types of problems one can cover in class, but it should complement/supplement pen and paper problem solving exercises, and not displace it. A new working paper from the London School of Economics:

Findings: Educational expenditure on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has a positive effect on educational performance. However, its impact differs across disciplines and grade levels, with the strongest effects in primary schools and on English classes. ICT funding has no detectable effect on educational outcomes in secondary schools or on Math instruction. Besides, the effect of ICT appears to grow gradually over time, with greater improvement in test scores two years after the first increase in spending. These results are supported by survey evidence indicating stronger use of ICT in primary schools and in English classes.

Novelty: The paper provides a novel approach to the evaluation of educational spending in ICT. This allows the authors to avoid the major statistical pitfalls that plagued both economics and educational earlier studies. The assessment of the effect of educational ICT expenditure is carried out in a more detailed setting than ever before and provides a broader analysis.