Guide to measuring information and ... - unesdoc - Unesco

3. Review of literature on ICT in education
Since the introduction of ICT in education, one of the most discussed policy questions has been
its impact on educational outcomes. This explains why almost all existing data on ICT use in
education are derived from sample-based international comparative assessments that rely on
students, teachers and schools for descriptions and analysis of educational inputs, processes
and outcomes.
These types of assessments began in the 1960s and have been focused mainly on core
subjects, such as mathematics, science and reading. Over time, assessments began to include
the use of ICT in education, such as the "Computers in Education" study conducted in the late
1980s and early 1990s, under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement (IEA) (Pelgrum and Plomp, 1993).
The types of international comparative assessments which exist currently include:
i) Projects by international organizations, i.e. projects funded by the European Commission
(Eurydice, 2004) and the World Bank (Hepp et al, 2004) and secondary analyses of
assessments conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD, 2006);
ii) Case studies of selected schools in a number of different countries, e.g. SITES-Module 2,
a study looking at innovative pedagogical practices using ICT (Kozma, 2003);
iii) International assessments (e.g. PISA, IEA-TIMSS and IEA-PIRLS using national
representative samples of schools, teachers and/or learners, and focusing on collecting
and producing comparative indicators on educational processes and outcomes; and
iv) Regional assessments such as the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring
Educational Quality (SACMEQ, n.d.) and the Assessment of Pupils' Skills in English in
Eight European Countries (Bonnet, 2004).
With the use of computers in education, ICT was expected to lead to more productive learning.
Yet, early studies on the impact of ICT on educational outcomes did not produce very consistent
results. Recent meta-analyses (Kulik, 2003; Cox and Abbot, 2004) point to a more positive
picture. The overall conclusion of the authors is that research has identified positive effects of
specific ICT uses on pupil’s educational attainment. The most substantial effects were observed
when ICT was used in mathematics, science and English. This does not mean that the evidence
for other subjects is negative; it is only an indication that not enough studies exist for other
areas. The authors emphasize the notion of specific ICT uses and point out that the types of
uses should match the pedagogical approach (paradigm) of teachers and that the largest effects
were observed for teachers who had embedded particular ICT uses in their courses for an
extended period of time.
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