A meta-analysis on the effect of technology on the achievement of less advantaged students

This paper presents a meta-analysis that investigates the impact that the educational use of digital technologies has on less advantaged students’ achievement. We use a comprehensive definition for this group of students that includes all students in less developed countries as well as more disadvan...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Di Pietro, Giorgio, Castaño Muñoz, Jonatan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Repositorio:Brújula
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uloyola.es:20.500.12412/6909
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12412/6909
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Less advantaged students
Student achievement
Educational technology
Meta-analysis
Descripción
Sumario:This paper presents a meta-analysis that investigates the impact that the educational use of digital technologies has on less advantaged students’ achievement. We use a comprehensive definition for this group of students that includes all students in less developed countries as well as more disadvantaged students in more developed countries. 740 estimates from 72 studies employing experimental and quasi-experimental research designs are collected. Overall, educational technology initiatives are found to have a small, positive, statistically significant effect that remains even after correcting for publication bias. Additionally, our results indicate that computer-assisted learning and behavioural interventions are more effective in raising the achievement of less advantaged students than simple access to technology. Interestingly, the effect of these two interventions appears to be of a similar magnitude. Finally, the use of digital technologies is associated with slightly greater achievements in math and science than humanities.