Is it the Way They Use it? Teachers, ICT and Student Achievement
University of Milan Bicocca Department of Economics, Management and Statistics Working Paper No. 341
39 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2016
Date Written: June 13, 2016
Abstract
We provide evidence on whether ICT-related teaching practices affect student achievement. We use a unique student-teacher dataset containing variables on very specific uses of computer and ICT by teachers matched with data on national standardized tests for 10th grade students. Our identification strategy relies on a within-student between-subject estimator and on a rich set of teacher’s controls. We find that computer-based teaching methods increase student performance if they help the teacher to obtain material to prepare lectures, if they channel the transmission of teaching material, if they increase students’ awareness in ICT use and if they enhance communication. Instead, we find a negative impact of practices requiring an active role of the students in classes using ICT. Our findings suggest that the effectiveness of ICT at school depends on the actual practice that teachers make of it and on their ability to integrate ICT into the teaching process.
Keywords: Teaching practices, Student performance, ICT, Between-subject variation
JEL Classification: I21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation