Nice to see it confirmed

A new study looks at one particular educational technology and finds, not surprisingly, that it can lead to improved outcomes… if the teacher knows what to do with it:

Integrating… a suite of educational technologies that includes an interactive whiteboard, teaching software, and student response systems… into instruction can raise student achievement by an average of 17 percentile points, according to new research that also confirms the experience, comfort, and skill level of teachers in using the technology has a huge impact on how effective they’ll be.

The study determined that student achievement can really soar if a teacher has 10 or more years of teaching experience, has been using the technology for two or more years, has high confidence in his or her ability to use [it].

I’ve written before (as have others) that it is absurd to expect that technology by itself will impact learning, which is why studies that test “the impact of technology” without considering how it is used make little sense.