16th September 2015

Competitiveness: OECD: New approach needed to deliver on technology’s potential in schools

 

Students, Computers and Learning: Making The Connection” says that even countries which have invested heavily in information and communication technologies (ICT) for education have seen no noticeable improvement in their performances in PISA results for reading, mathematics or science. Ensuring that every child reaches a baseline level of proficiency in reading and mathematics will do more to create equal opportunities in a digital world than solely expanding or subsidising access to high-tech devices and services, says the OECD.

In 2012, 96% of 15-year-old students in OECD countries reported having a computer at home, but only 72% reported using one at school. Overall, students who use computers moderately at school tend to have somewhat better learning outcomes than students who use computers rarely. But students who use computers very frequently at school do much worse, even after accounting for social background and student demographics, the OECD report released on 15 September says. Read more.

Click also on an article on the Aktuálně.cz server on the planned introduction of programming lessons for pupils of the first grade of Czech primary schools. More on that in an article published on Euractiv.cz (in Czech). Also, view a video interview with Petr Popov, MD. MHA, Chief of Clinic of Addictology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague; General University Hospital, Prague. Addiction of children to PCs, smart devices and related disorders? A bigger problem than we thought. But hard to measure.

Click here to find out more on results of the public debate Do Schools Teach Digital Thinking? organized by the Aspen Institute Prague during the Forum 2000 Conference held in Prague in September 2015.

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic