The impact of ICT ’ s on students ’ performance in Higher Education : Direct effects , Indirect effects and Organizational change

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the relationship between the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and students’ performance in Higher Education. Earlier economic research has failed to provide a clear consensus on the effect of ICTs' investments on student's achievement. Our paper aims at summarizing the main findings of the literature and to give two complementary explanations. The first one focuses on the indirect effects of ICT on standard explanatory factors. Since student’s performance is mainly explained by student’s characteristics, educational environment and teachers characteristics, ICT may impact those determinants and consequently the outcome of education. The differences observed in students’ performances are thus more related to the differentiated impact of ICT on standard explanatory factors. The second thesis advocates that ICT uses need a change in the organization of the Higher Education. While ICT equipment and uses rates are growing very fast in the European Union, the adoption of complementary organizational designs is very slow and differs from one institution to another. This may explain the observed differences in student’s achievement. * This Work is partially funded by the European Commission, eLene-EE project: Creating models for the efficient use of elearning. Introducing Economics of elearning – eLene-EE. European Commission (EAC/23/05 SE001). General Directorate for Education and Culture. Participants: University of Umeå, CANEGE (University of Nancy 2-Vidéoscop, University of Nancy, University of Paris-Sud), UOC, METIDMilano Polithecnic, Maria Curie Sklodowska University (Polish Virtual University). February 2006-July 2008.

[1]  Petra E. Todd,et al.  On the Specification and Estimation of the Production Function for Cognitive Achievement , 2003 .

[2]  Harold F. O'Neil,et al.  Technology assessment in education and training , 1994 .

[3]  Douglas Walker,et al.  Additional Evidence on the Relationship between Class Size and Student Performance , 2004 .

[4]  Steve Bradley,et al.  The effect of school size on the exam performance of secondary schools , 1998 .

[5]  Frederick Mosteller,et al.  The Tennessee Study of Class Size in the Early School Grades , 1997 .

[6]  J. Angrist,et al.  Teacher Testing, Teacher Education, and Teacher Characteristics , 2004 .

[7]  C. Jaag.  A Simple Model of Educational Production , 2006 .

[8]  Julian R. Betts,et al.  Determinants of Student Achievement: New Evidence from San Diego , 2003 .

[9]  S. Jaggia,et al.  AN ANALYSIS OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STUDENT PERFORMANCE: A FRESH APPROACH TO AN OLD DEBATE , 1999 .

[10]  Willis Glen.  Separate But Not Yet Equal: The Relation Between School Finance Adequacy Litigation and African American Student Achievement , 2006 .

[11]  Mikael Lindahl,et al.  The Effect of Extra Funding for Disadvantaged Pupils on Achievement , 2004, The Review of Economics and Statistics.

[12]  B. W. Brown,et al.  Can Web Courses Replace the Classroom in Principles of Microeconomics , 2002 .

[13]  Paul Attewell,et al.  Home Computers and School Performance , 1999, Inf. Soc..

[14]  Susan Pozo,et al.  Requiring a Math Skills Unit: Results of a Randomized Experiment , 2006 .

[15]  Johan Lundin,et al.  Collaborative learning in mobile work , 2003, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[16]  John Kane,et al.  "No Significant Distance" between Face-to-Face and Online Instruction: Evidence from Principles of Economics , 2004 .

[17]  Henry Jay Becker,et al.  Pedagogical Motivations for Student Computer Use That Lead to Student Engagement , 2000 .

[18]  E. Hanushek,et al.  Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement , 1998 .

[19]  Ludger Woessmann,et al.  Computers and Student Learning: Bivariate and Multivariate Evidence on the Availability and Use of Computers at Home and at School , 2004, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[20]  Barak Rosenshine,et al.  Recent Research on Teaching Behaviors and Student Achievement , 1976 .

[21]  J. Mairesse,et al.  A Firm Level Investigation of the Complementarity between Information and Communication Technologies and New Organizational Practices , 2004 .

[22]  Leonie Arthur,et al.  Effective learning environments for young children using digital resources: an Australian perspective , 2001 .

[23]  P. K. Basu,et al.  Development of a web‐based mass transfer processes laboratory: System development and implementation , 2003, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ..

[24]  J. Angrist,et al.  New Evidence on Classroom Computers and Pupil Learning , 1999, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[25]  E. Lazear,et al.  Educational Production , 1999 .

[26]  E. Hanushek,et al.  The Failure of Input-Based Schooling Policies , 2002 .

[27]  Roger Reid,et al.  A Note on the Environment as a Factor Affecting Student Performance in Principles of Economics , 1983 .

[28]  Robin L. Bartlett,et al.  Efficiency in the Use of Technology in Economic Education: Some Preliminary Results , 2004 .

[29]  E. Hanushek.  Teacher Characteristics and Gains in Student Achievement: Estimation Using Micro Data. , 1971 .

[30]  Larry Cuban,et al.  Computers Make Kids Smarter—Right? , 1998 .

[31]  Jonah E. Rockoff.  The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data , 2004 .

[32]  C. Hoxby.  The Effects of Class Size on Student Achievement: New Evidence from Population Variation , 2000 .

[33]  B. Wolfe,et al.  The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings , 1995 .

[34]  C. Dustmann.  The Class Size Debate and Educational Mechanisms: Editorial , 2003 .

[35]  Eric Zitzewitz,et al.  Retrospective vs. Prospective Analyses of School Inputs: The Case of Flip Charts in Kenya , 2004 .

[36]  Cristiano Antonelli,et al.  The digital divide: understanding the economics of new information and communication technology in the global economy , 2003, Inf. Econ. Policy.

[37]  A. Krueger,et al.  Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions , 1997 .

[38]  Andrew Sharpe,et al.  Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers , 2004 .

[39]  Stephen W. Raudenbush,et al.  The Estimation of School Effects , 1995 .