Digital Technologies & Inclusive Education

This post is also available in: Spanish

A new ECLAC publication entitled “Digital Technologies Confront the Challenge of Inclusive Education in Latin America” (in Spanish) presents a series of studies on the effectiveness of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education.

The document observes that the process of integrating ICTs into schools has been slow, and has not consistently produced the positive impacts on learning and equity that were expected. Based on the results of eight diverse and relatively recent case studies of best practices, the editors offer a set of five conclusions intended to help policymakers take better advantage of the potential of digital technologies to improve the quality and equity of education systems in the region. These include:

• ICTs are a means to bring educational improvement – not a magic bullet.
• The use of ICTs should be aligned with efforts to improve equity.
• ICT policies should take into account the unique needs and challenges of individual contexts.
• Schools must adapt to the change in environment caused by the introduction of ICTs.
• ICT policies must address key tensions such as public vs. private interests and the need for communication across sectors.