Learn to Play and Play to Learn: Evaluation of the One Laptop per Child Program in Costa Rica

Abstract

AbstractThe One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative is one of the world's most popular interventions aiming to reduce the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) digital divide. Costa Rica introduced its first OLPC program in February 2012. In collaboration with the Quirós Tanzi Foundation (Foundation), implementing the program, baseline and post‐intervention information was collected from a set of 15 primary schools that were selected to be treated, and from 19 primary schools that served as a comparison group. Using a difference in difference design, this paper estimates the short‐term effects of the program on various outcomes of interest, namely: students' computer usage, time allocation and test scores. The results indicate that the program led to an increase in treated students' computer use outside of school of about 5 hours per week. Moreover, the research provides evidence that the treated students used the computer specifically to browse the internet, do homework, read and play. The research also demonstrates that the program led to a decline in the time that treated students spent on homework and outdoor activities. The research does not provide evidence to suggest that the program had an effect on participating students' school performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.