Education outcomes enhanced by the use of digital technology: reimagining the school learning ecology

This report explores some of the factors that influence the transformative use of digital technology in schools, with a particular focus on innovations that contribute to enhanced educational outcomes. 

The underlying assumption is that digitisation is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities of today’s world and that digital competence has become essential for successfully living, working and learning in the 21st century. After all, schools do not exist to only prepare the next generation of workers and nor can they be expected to fix all the problems of an ever-changing society. 

The report seeks to extend current discussions about the use of digital technology in schools in relation to the following questions:

• How can digital technology support and enhance teaching and learning?
• What are the enablers for successful digital technology use in school education?
• What are the implications for education policy, in terms of harnessing the potential of digital technology in schools? 

The report builds on the seminal 2015 OECD report, which helps to frame the significance of recent changes and the impact of digital technologies on school education. It largely supports the OECD’s assertion that connections between students, computers and learning are neither simple nor hard-wired; and the real contributions technology can make have yet to be fully realised. 

However, there are many examples of innovative practice and we need to be realistic about what we can expect from schools as there is no single off-the-shelf solution for harnessing the potential of digital technologies.

Authors

Mark Brown, Gráinne Conole and Miroslav Beblavý

Cite as

European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE), Conole, G., Beblavỳ, M. and Brown, M., Education outcomes enhanced by the use of digital technology – Reimagining the school learning ecology, Publications Office, 2019, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/965566