1.2.1 Improved student performance

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In the medium term, changes to educational curricula spurred by the introduction of online content and research tools have the potential to improve student performance.  Although there is little conclusive research to date quantifying the impact of ICTs in education, efforts are under way to evaluate progress and to guide policymakers going forward.

A May 2009 review carried out for the United States Department of Education1 examined available studies of ICT-enabled instruction in order to explore the effectiveness of such methods in the United States.  The review found a statistically significant increase in performance among students who took all or part of a course online, rather than with traditional classroom instruction.  But the review also noted:

1. The relatively small number of controlled studies on the subject,

2. The fact that most studies were based upon university and graduate students, and

3. That the introduction of online media alone had less of an impact than a deeper reorganization of the way instruction was presented or oriented. 

As additional work is carried out on monitoring and evaluation of ICTs'  effectiveness in education, policymakers and educators will have additional data to use in designing curricula and initiatives to maximize the benefits of ICTs in the classroom.2

1 U.S. Department of Education, "Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, "May 2009, http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf.

2 For example, the World Bank’s infoDev unit, in partnership with a range of organizations, is conducting studies and identifying best practices and lessons learned in the use of ICTs for education.

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