The Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) has published its latest guidance report today, Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning. The report reviews the best available evidence to offer schools four recommendations of how technology can improve teaching and learning.
Schools spend an estimated £900 million each year on education technology. However, an overarching recommendation in the report is that technology itself is unlikely to improve young people’s learning
Put simply, this means buying a tablet for every pupil is unlikely to boost pupil attainment. But the pedagogy behind it can. So, if those tablets are used purposefully – for example, increasing the quality or quantity of practice pupils undertake through a quiz app, or the precision with which feedback on misunderstandings is provided – they stand a much better chance of doing so
The report – which is free to download here – also includes guidance on tailoring school communications to encourage parental engagement and offering more intensive support where needed
This guidance report sits alongside the EEF’s nine other guidance reports – focused on literacy, maths, science, metacognition, effective implementation, parental engagement and making best use of teaching assistants – providing the basis for an overall advance towards evidence-informed school improvement
Sir Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: