The Use and Misuse of Computers in Education : Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia

This paper presents the evaluation of the program Computers for Education. The program aims to integrate computers, donated by the private sector, into the teaching of language in public schools. The authors conduct a two-year randomized evaluation of the program using a sample of 97 schools and 5,201 children. Overall, the program seems to have had little effect on students' test scores and other outcomes. These results are consistent across grade levels, subjects, and gender. The main reason for these results seems to be the failure to incorporate the computers into the educational process. Although the program increased the number of computers in the treatment schools and provided training to the teachers on how to use the computers in their classrooms, surveys of both teachers and students suggest that teachers did not incorporate the computers into their curriculum.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Barrera-Osorio, Felipe, Linden, Leigh L.
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	2009-02-01
Subjects:	ACADEMIC OUTCOMES, ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS, ARITHMETIC, AVERAGE SCORE, AVERAGE TREATMENT EFFECT, BASIC EDUCATION, CLASS ACTIVITIES, CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT, CLASSROOM TEACHER, CLASSROOM TEACHING, CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES, CLASSROOMS, COGNITIVE SKILLS, COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES, COMPETENCIES, COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, COMPUTER SCIENCE, COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION, COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS, CURRICULUM, DIGITAL DIVIDE, EARLY GRADES, ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION, EDUCATION PROGRAMS, EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATORS, ELEMENTS, EMPLOYMENT, ETS, EXAM, EXAMS, FEMALE STUDENTS, FIELD TEST, GIRLS, GRADE LEVELS, HIGHER GRADES, HOMEWORK, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HYPERMEDIA, INSTRUCTION, INSTRUCTION METHODS, INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY, INTERVENTIONS, LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, LANGUAGE EDUCATION, LANGUAGE TEACHERS, LEARNING, LEARNING PROCESS, LEARNING PROCESSES, LECTURES, LITERATURE, LOWER SECONDARY, MATH SCORES, MATH TEACHERS, MATHEMATICS, NATURAL SCIENCES, NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, NUMBER OF STUDENTS, PAPERS, PEDAGOGY, PRIMARY SCHOOL, PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS, PRINCIPALS, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, QUALITY OF EDUCATION, READING, READING SKILLS, REASONING, REGULAR CLASSROOM, REPETITION, RESEARCH LITERATURE, RESEARCHERS, RURAL AREAS, SCHOOL LEVEL, SCHOOLING, SCHOOLS, SECONDARY SCHOOLS, SOCIAL SCIENCE, SOCIAL SCIENCES, STANDARDIZED TESTS, STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, STUDENT ASSESSMENT, STUDENT BEHAVIOR, STUDENT OUTCOMES, SUBJECTS, TEACHER, TEACHER BEHAVIOR, TEACHER PERFORMANCE, TEACHERS, TEACHING, TEACHING METHODOLOGIES, TEACHING METHODS, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, TEST SCORES, TEXTBOOKS, TRAINING OF TEACHERS, TUTORIALS, TYPES OF STUDENTS, WRITING SKILLS,
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090211111507 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4032
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