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Bhavi Mandalia, Pledge Times writes, While technology has great potential to transform education and reduce inequality, it is important to take a step back and ask what technological tools can really improve student learning.
This is the
opinion of Anna Schrimpf, executive director for Europe of the Abdul
Latif Jameel Action Against Poverty Laboratory (J-PAL), whose
co-founders Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo were awarded the Nobel
Prize in economics last year.
The simple experiment that can reduce the digital divide in classrooms
The laboratory, made up of economists from MIT, promotes the use of scientific methods to evaluate projects in areas such as education, health and markets. Various field experiments, in developing countries and also in Europe and the United States, offer recipes for reducing inequalities in education. And they do not necessarily involve large outlays of money. It is rather a matter of analysis. “We have learned from the evidence of more than 120 studies that the software designed to help students develop their particular skills from their own educational level, improves academic performance, particularly in mathematics, ”explains Schrimpf...
In the most recent context of the pandemic, research has also shown the potential of simple technologies, such as video conferencing applications, when it is necessary to give instructions or personalized help to students. The first results of an evaluation conducted by Eliana La Ferrara and Michela Carlana in Italy, affiliated with J-PAL, showed that a three-hour weekly tutoring program for high school students in disadvantaged settings improved performance, educational aspirations, well-being and the psychosocial skills of the students.
Source: Pledge Times
