Examining the effectiveness of technology use in classrooms: A tertiary meta-analysis

Abstract

Identifying effective literacy instruction programs has been a focal point for governments, educators and parents over the last few decades (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004, 2006; Council of Ontario Directors of Education, 2011). Given the increasing use of computer technologies in the classroom and in the home, a variety of information communication technology (ICT) interventions for learning have been introduced. Meta-analyses comparing the impact of these programs on learning, however, have yielded inconsistent findings (Andrews, Freeman, Hou, McGuinn, Robinson, & Zhu, 2007; Slavin, Cheung, Groff, & Lake, 2008; Slavin, Lake, Chambers, Cheung, & Davis, 2009; Torgerson & Zhu, 2003). The present tertiary meta-analytic review re-assesses outcomes presented in three previous meta-analyses. Four moderator variables assessed the impact of the systematic review from which they were retrieved, training and support, implementation fidelity and who delivered the intervention (teacher versus researcher). Significant results were found when training and support was entered as a moderator variable with the small overall effectiveness of the ICTs (ES = 0.18), similar to those found in previous research, increasing significantly (ES = 0.57). These findings indicate the importance of including implementation factors such as training and support, when considering the relative effectiveness of ICT interventions.