Most people assume that computers enhance learning. Therefore, the hypothesis is often assumed that if students from lower socio-economic regions could receive computers, learning should improve. That hypothesis is incorrect.
University of Chicago Study Shows Learning Does Not Improve with Computers
Professors Ofer Malamud and Cristian Pop-Eleches, assistant professors at the University of Chicago and Columbia University are co-authors of a study based in Romania in 2009. Families applied for vouchers valued at $300 for a home computer. The families were selected by family income. The economists tracked a group of students that received the computers and another group that wanted the computers with the same passion but did not qualify to receive the vouchers.
The results were unexpected. Not only were there little or no educational improvements, in many cases, test scores often declined after the computers arrived. This did not seem to be the case in families with more income. The low-income students that received the computers seemed to use them extensively to play games instead of a learning tool. Malamud stated, "We found a negative effect on academic achievement. I was surprised, but as we presented our findings at various seminars, people in the audience said they weren’t surprised, given their own experiences with their school-age children." [1]
The article will be published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics early in 2011 and will state that there is "strong evidence that children in households who won a voucher received significantly lower school grades in math, English and Romanian. The principle positive effect on the students was improved computer skills." [1]
Duke University Study Shows Math Scores Go Down With Broadband Service
Another study had a similar outcome. Jacob L. Vigdor and Helen F. Ladd, professors at Duke University in the United States looked at the effect of broadband service in North Carolina on students. The two professors of public policy studied the effect of Internet service between the years of 2000 and 2005. After the first broadband provider provided service, math scores were lowered significantly. After the fourth broadband provider provided services, reading scores declined significantly.
Vigdor and Ladd published their report, Scaling the Digital Divide, in June of 2010 in the National Bureau of Economic Research. As more studies show declining academic scores when Internet services enter a neighborhood, educators are delving into the reasons why.
Scores do not decline for all students. The expansion of broadband service resulted in the decline of scores in black students in both reading and math. Other students did not have the same results. The researchers declined to state reasons why computers had this effect. Others hypothesize that students in lower socio-economic neighborhoods are less likely to have steady parental supervision, use the computers for entertainment and computer time decreases actual study time.
Texas Experiment Shows Little Value in Middle School Laptops
The state of Texas spent $20 million in federal money over four years to distribute laptops to 21 middle schools. The students were given permission to take the computers home. A control group of students did not receive the grant and did not receive computers. While the results were mixed, writing scores did decline in the group that had received the technology.
The schools did their best to limit computer usage for educational purposes. Access to
- chat rooms
- games
- non-education websites
Key-word blocks were effective in English but not in Spanish. "Kids were adept at getting around the blocks," said Catherine Maloney, director of the Texas Center for Educational Research. Unfortunately, the study could not link computers to closing the educational gap in education other than improved skills in operating computers.
Apparently, merely placing computers physically into low-income homes and schools is not effective as a tool to improve learning. There must be supervision, instruction and a rich environment for learning. Technology alone is not enough.
[1] Stross, Randall. "Computers at Home: Educational Hope vs. Teenage Reality," July 9, 2010. Randall Stross is a professor of business at San Jose State University.
Barbara Pytel - Email me Experience Although I was never particularly fond of going to school as an ELL student, I ironically became a teacher, ...
