Working Paper: NBER ID: w22928
Authors: Rosangela Bando; Francisco Gallego; Paul Gertler; Dario Romero
Abstract: Information and communication technologies, such as laptops, can be used for educational purposes as they provide users with computational tools, information storage and communication opportunities, but these devices may also pose as distractors that may tamper with the learning process. This paper presents results from a randomized controlled trial in which laptops replaced traditional textbook provision in elementary schools in high poverty communities in Honduras in 2013 through the program Educatracho. We show that at the end of one school year, the substitution of laptops for textbooks did not make a significant difference in student learning. We additionally conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis, which demonstrated that given the low marginal costs of digital textbook provision, the substitution of three additional textbooks in the program (for a total of five) would guarantee computers to be more cost-effective than textbooks. Therefore, textbook substitution by laptops may be a cost-effective manner to provide classroom learning content.
Keywords: educational technology; cost-effectiveness analysis; randomized controlled trial; digital literacy
JEL Codes: I21; I28; J24; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Cost-effectiveness of laptops vs. textbooks (A21) | Economic efficiency (D61) |
| Provision of laptops (L86) | Student learning outcomes (A22) |
| Textbooks (A33) | Student learning outcomes (A22) |
| Laptops vs. Textbooks (A33) | Student learning outcomes (A22) |
| Laptops (L63) | Cognitive learning outcomes (G53) |