research topic about technology in education

15 EdTech research papers that we share all the time

We hope you saw our recent blog post responding to questions we often get about interesting large-scale EdTech initiatives. Another question we are often asked is: “What EdTech research should I know about?” 

As Sara’s blog post explains, one of the Hub’s core spheres of work is research, so we ourselves are very interested in the answer to this question. Katy’s latest blog post explains how the Hub’s research programme is addressing this question through a literature review to create a foundation for further research.  While the literature review is in progress, we thought we would share an initial list of EdTech papers that we often reach for. At the Hub we are fortunate enough to have authors of several papers on this list as members of our team. 

All papers on this list are linked to a record in the EdTech Hub’s growing document library – where you will find the citation and source to the full text. This library is currently an alpha version. This means it’s the first version of the service and we’re testing how it works for you. If you have any feedback or find any issues with our evidence library, please get in touch.

Tablet use in schools: a critical review of the evidence for learning outcomes

This critical review by our own Bjӧrn Haßler, Sara Hennessy, and Louis Major has been cited over 200 times since it was published in 2016. It examines evidence from 23 studies on tablet use at the primary and secondary school levels. It discusses the fragmented nature of the knowledge base and limited rigorous evidence on tablet use in education. 

Haßler, B., Major, L., & Hennessy, S. (2016) Tablet use in schools: a critical review of the evidence for learning outcomes . Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 32(2), 139-156.

The impact and reach of MOOCs: a developing countries’ perspective

This article challenges the narrative that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a solution to low and middle-income countries’ (LMIC) lack of access to education, examining the features of MOOCs from their perspectives. It argues that a complicated set of conditions, including access, language, and computer literacy, among others, challenge the viability of MOOCs as a solution for populations in LMIC. 

Liyanagunawardena, T., Williams, S., & Adams, A. (2013) The impact and reach of MOOCs: a developing countries’ perspective. eLearning Papers , 33(33).

Technology and education – Why it’s crucial to be critical

A thought-provoking read, Selwyn’s book chapter argues that technology and education should continuously be viewed through a critical lens. It points to how the use of technology in education is entwined with issues of inequality, domination, and exploitation, and offers suggestions for how to grapple with these issues. 

Selwyn, N. (2015) Technology and education – Why it’s crucial to be critical. In S. Bulfin, N. F. Johnson & L. Rowan (Eds.), Critical Perspectives on Technology and Education (pp. 245-255). Basingstoke and St. Martins, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Moving beyond the predictable failure of Ed-Tech initiatives

This article argues that a narrow vision of digital technology, which ignores the complexity of education, is becoming an obstacle to improvement and transformation of education. Specifically, the authors critically reflect on common approaches to introducing digital technology in education under the guise of promoting equality and digital inclusion.

Sancho-Gil, J.M., Rivera-Vargas, P. & Miño-Puigcercós, R. (2019) Moving beyond the predictable failure of Ed-Tech initiatives. Learning, Media and Technology , early view. DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2019.1666873

Synergies Between the Principles for Digital Development and Four Case Studies

The REAL Centre’s report, which includes contributions from the Hub’s own ranks, is one of the few we’ve seen that provides an in-depth exploration of how the Principles for Digital Development apply to the education sector. It uses four case studies on the work of the Aga Khan Foundation, Camfed, the Punjab Education and Technology Board, and the Varkey Foundation. 

REAL Centre (2018). Synergies Between the Principles for Digital Development and Four Case Studies. Cambridge, UK: Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge .

Education technology map: guidance document

This report by the Hub’s Jigsaw colleagues accompanies a comprehensive map of 401 resources with evidence on the use of EdTech in low-resource environments. The evidence mapping reviews certain criteria of the resources from sources such as journal indices, online research, evaluation repositories, and resource centres and experts. The type of criteria it maps include: the geographical location of study, outcomes studied, and type of EdTech introduced.  While not inclusive of the latest EdTech research and evidence (from 2016 to the present), this mapping represents a strong starting point to understand what we know about EdTech as well as the characteristics of existing evidence.

Muyoya, C., Brugha, M., Hollow, D. (2016). Education technology map: guidance document. Jigsaw, United Kingdom.

Scaling Access & Impact: Realizing the Power of EdTech

Commissioned by Omidyar Network and written by RTI, this executive summary (with the full report expected soon) is a useful examination of the factors needed to enable, scale, and sustain equitable EdTech on a national basis. Four country reports on Chile, China, Indonesia, and the United States examine at-scale access and use of EdTech across a broad spectrum of students. It also provides a framework for an ecosystem that will allow EdTech to be equitable and able to be scaled.  

S caling Access & Impact: Realizing the Power of EdTech (Executive Summary). Omidyar Network.

Perspectives on Technology, Resources and Learning – Productive Classroom Practices, Effective Teacher Professional Development

If you are interested in how technology can be used in the classroom and to support teacher professional development, this report by the Hub’s Björn Haßler and members of the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge emphasizes the key point that technology should be seen as complementary to, rather than as a replacement for, teachers. As the authors put it, “the teacher and teacher education are central for the successful integration of digital technology into the classroom.” The report is also accompanied by a toolkit (linked below) with questions that can be used to interrogate EdTech interventions.

Haßler, B., Major, L., Warwick, P., Watson, S., Hennessy, S., & Nichol, B. (2016). Perspectives on Technology, Resources and Learning – Productive Classroom Practices, Effective Teacher Professional Development . Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.2626440

Haßler, B., Major, L., Warwick, P., Watson, S., Hennessy, S., & Nichol, B. (2016). A short guide on the use of technology in learning: Perspectives and Toolkit for Discussion . Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.2626660

Teacher Factors Influencing Classroom Use of ICT in Sub-Saharan Africa

In this paper, the Hub’s Sara Hennessy and co-authors synthesise literature on teachers’ use of ICT, with a focus on using ICT to improve the quality of teaching and learning. They find evidence to support the integration of ICT into subject learning, instead of treating it as a discrete subject, and to provide relevant preparation to teachers during pre- and in-service training to use ICT in classrooms. Although this evidence has been available for a decade, the implications of the paper’s findings are still not often reflected in practice.  

Hennessy, S., Harrison, D., & Wamakote, L. (2010). Teacher Factors Influencing Classroom Use of ICT in Sub-Saharan Africa. Itupale Online Journal of African Studies, 2, 39- 54.

Information and Communications Technologies in Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies, Practices, Trends, and Recommendations

This landscape review by Burns and co-authors offers a useful descriptive starting point for understanding technology use in sub-Saharan Africa in secondary education, including the policy environment, key actors, promising practices, challenges, trends, and opportunities. The report includes four case studies on South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana, and Cape Verde. 

Burns, M., Santally, M. I., Halkhoree, R., Sungkur, K. R., Juggurnath, B., Rajabalee, Y. B. (2019) Information and Communications Technologies in Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies, Practices, Trends, and Recommendations. Mastercard Foundation.

The influence of infrastructure, training, content and communication on the success of NEPAD’S pilot e-Schools in Kenya

This study examines the impact of training teachers to use ICT, on the success of NEPAD’S e-Schools. The e-Schools objectives were to impart ICT skills to students, enhance teachers’ capacities through the use of ICT in teaching, improve school management and increase access to education. Unlike other studies on the subject, Nyawoga, Ocholla, and Mutula crucially recognise that while teachers received technical ICT training, they did not receive training on pedagogies for integrating ICT in teaching and learning. 

Nyagowa, H. O., Ocholla, D. N., & Mutula, S. M. (2014). T he influence of infrastructure, training, content and communication on the success of NEPAD’S pilot e-Schools in Kenya . Information Development, 30(3), 235-246 .

Education in Conflict and Crisis: How Can Technology Make a Difference?

This landscape review identifies ICT projects supporting education in conflict and crisis settings. It finds that most of the projects operate in post-conflict settings and focus on the long-term development of such places. The report hones in on major thematic areas of professional development and student learning. It also presents directions for further research, including considerations of conflict sensitivity and inclusion in the use of ICT. 

Dahya, N. (2016) Education in Conflict and Crisis: How Can Technology Make a Difference? A Landscape Review . GIZ.

Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early-grade reading in Kenya

This randomized controlled trial contributes to the limited evidence base on the effects of different types of ICT investments on learning outcomes. All groups participated in the ‘base’ initiative which focused on training teachers and headteachers in literacy and numeracy, books for every student, teacher guides that matched closely with the content of the students’ book, and modest ICT intervention with tablets provided only for government-funded instructional supervisors. The RCT then compared outcomes from three interventions:  (1) base program plus e-readers for students, (2) base program plus tablets for teachers, and (3) the control group who were treated only with the base program. The paper finds that the classroom-level ICT investments do not improve literacy outcomes significantly more than the base program alone, and that cost considerations are crucial in selecting ICT investments in education.

Piper, B., Zuilkowski, S., Kwayumba, D., & Strigel, C. (2016). Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early-grade reading in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Development (49), 204-214.

[FORTHCOMING] Technology in education in low-income countries: Problem analysis and focus of the EdTech Hub’s work

Informed by the research cited in this list (and much more) – the Hub will soon publish a problem analysis. It will define our focus and the scope of our work. To give a taste of what is to come, the problem analysis will explain why we will prioritise teachers, marginalised groups, and use a systems lens. It will also explore emergent challenges in EdTech research, design, and implementation.

EdTech Hub. (2020). Technology in education in low-income countries: Problem analysis and focus of the Hub’s work (EdTech Hub Working Paper No. 5). London, UK. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3377829

It is important to note that we have included a mix of research types at varying levels of rigour, from landscape reviews and evidence maps, to critical reviews and case studies. Our list is not comprehensive and has some obvious limitations (they are all in English, for one). If you are interested in exploring more papers and evidence, don’t forget to check out the EdTech Hub’s growing document library , where you will find not just links to the full papers in this list but over 200 resources, with more being added each day.

What interesting EdTech research have you recently read, and what did you take away from it? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter at @GlobalEdTechHub and use #EdTechHub

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Research Topics & Ideas: Education

170+ Research Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

If you’re just starting out exploring education-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of research topics and ideas , including examples from actual dissertations and theses..

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Education Research Topics

• How to find a research topic (video)
• List of 50+ education-related research topics/ideas
• List of 120+ level-specific research topics 
• Examples of actual dissertation topics in education
• Tips to fast-track your topic ideation (video)
• Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
• Where to get extra help

Education-Related Research Topics & Ideas

Below you’ll find a list of education-related research topics and idea kickstarters. These are fairly broad and flexible to various contexts, so keep in mind that you will need to refine them a little. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

• The impact of school funding on student achievement
• The effects of social and emotional learning on student well-being
• The effects of parental involvement on student behaviour
• The impact of teacher training on student learning
• The impact of classroom design on student learning
• The impact of poverty on education
• The use of student data to inform instruction
• The role of parental involvement in education
• The effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom
• The use of technology in the classroom
• The role of critical thinking in education
• The use of formative and summative assessments in the classroom
• The use of differentiated instruction in the classroom
• The use of gamification in education
• The effects of teacher burnout on student learning
• The impact of school leadership on student achievement
• The effects of teacher diversity on student outcomes
• The role of teacher collaboration in improving student outcomes
• The implementation of blended and online learning
• The effects of teacher accountability on student achievement
• The effects of standardized testing on student learning
• The effects of classroom management on student behaviour
• The effects of school culture on student achievement
• The use of student-centred learning in the classroom
• The impact of teacher-student relationships on student outcomes
• The achievement gap in minority and low-income students
• The use of culturally responsive teaching in the classroom
• The impact of teacher professional development on student learning
• The use of project-based learning in the classroom
• The effects of teacher expectations on student achievement
• The use of adaptive learning technology in the classroom
• The impact of teacher turnover on student learning
• The effects of teacher recruitment and retention on student learning
• The impact of early childhood education on later academic success
• The impact of parental involvement on student engagement
• The use of positive reinforcement in education
• The impact of school climate on student engagement
• The role of STEM education in preparing students for the workforce
• The effects of school choice on student achievement
• The use of technology in the form of online tutoring

Level-Specific Research Topics

Looking for research topics for a specific level of education? We’ve got you covered. Below you can find research topic ideas for primary, secondary and tertiary-level education contexts. Click the relevant level to view the respective list.

Research Topics: Pick An Education Level

Primary education.

• Investigating the effects of peer tutoring on academic achievement in primary school
• Exploring the benefits of mindfulness practices in primary school classrooms
• Examining the effects of different teaching strategies on primary school students’ problem-solving skills
• The use of storytelling as a teaching strategy in primary school literacy instruction
• The role of cultural diversity in promoting tolerance and understanding in primary schools
• The impact of character education programs on moral development in primary school students
• Investigating the use of technology in enhancing primary school mathematics education
• The impact of inclusive curriculum on promoting equity and diversity in primary schools
• The impact of outdoor education programs on environmental awareness in primary school students
• The influence of school climate on student motivation and engagement in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of early literacy interventions on reading comprehension in primary school students
• The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student achievement in primary schools
• Exploring the benefits of inclusive education for students with special needs in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of teacher-student feedback on academic motivation in primary schools
• The role of technology in developing digital literacy skills in primary school students
• Effective strategies for fostering a growth mindset in primary school students
• Investigating the role of parental support in reducing academic stress in primary school children
• The role of arts education in fostering creativity and self-expression in primary school students
• Examining the effects of early childhood education programs on primary school readiness
• Examining the effects of homework on primary school students’ academic performance
• The role of formative assessment in improving learning outcomes in primary school classrooms
• The impact of teacher-student relationships on academic outcomes in primary school
• Investigating the effects of classroom environment on student behavior and learning outcomes in primary schools
• Investigating the role of creativity and imagination in primary school curriculum
• The impact of nutrition and healthy eating programs on academic performance in primary schools
• The impact of social-emotional learning programs on primary school students’ well-being and academic performance
• The role of parental involvement in academic achievement of primary school children
• Examining the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior in primary school
• The role of school leadership in creating a positive school climate Exploring the benefits of bilingual education in primary schools
• The effectiveness of project-based learning in developing critical thinking skills in primary school students
• The role of inquiry-based learning in fostering curiosity and critical thinking in primary school students
• The effects of class size on student engagement and achievement in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of recess and physical activity breaks on attention and learning in primary school
• Exploring the benefits of outdoor play in developing gross motor skills in primary school children
• The effects of educational field trips on knowledge retention in primary school students
• Examining the effects of inclusive classroom practices on students’ attitudes towards diversity in primary schools
• The impact of parental involvement in homework on primary school students’ academic achievement
• Investigating the effectiveness of different assessment methods in primary school classrooms
• The influence of physical activity and exercise on cognitive development in primary school children
• Exploring the benefits of cooperative learning in promoting social skills in primary school students

Secondary Education

• Investigating the effects of school discipline policies on student behavior and academic success in secondary education
• The role of social media in enhancing communication and collaboration among secondary school students
• The impact of school leadership on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes in secondary schools
• Investigating the effects of technology integration on teaching and learning in secondary education
• Exploring the benefits of interdisciplinary instruction in promoting critical thinking skills in secondary schools
• The impact of arts education on creativity and self-expression in secondary school students
• The effectiveness of flipped classrooms in promoting student learning in secondary education
• The role of career guidance programs in preparing secondary school students for future employment
• Investigating the effects of student-centered learning approaches on student autonomy and academic success in secondary schools
• The impact of socio-economic factors on educational attainment in secondary education
• Investigating the impact of project-based learning on student engagement and academic achievement in secondary schools
• Investigating the effects of multicultural education on cultural understanding and tolerance in secondary schools
• The influence of standardized testing on teaching practices and student learning in secondary education
• Investigating the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior and academic engagement in secondary education
• The influence of teacher professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in secondary schools
• The role of extracurricular activities in promoting holistic development and well-roundedness in secondary school students
• Investigating the effects of blended learning models on student engagement and achievement in secondary education
• The role of physical education in promoting physical health and well-being among secondary school students
• Investigating the effects of gender on academic achievement and career aspirations in secondary education
• Exploring the benefits of multicultural literature in promoting cultural awareness and empathy among secondary school students
• The impact of school counseling services on student mental health and well-being in secondary schools
• Exploring the benefits of vocational education and training in preparing secondary school students for the workforce
• The role of digital literacy in preparing secondary school students for the digital age
• The influence of parental involvement on academic success and well-being of secondary school students
• The impact of social-emotional learning programs on secondary school students’ well-being and academic success
• The role of character education in fostering ethical and responsible behavior in secondary school students
• Examining the effects of digital citizenship education on responsible and ethical technology use among secondary school students
• The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student outcomes in secondary schools
• The role of educational technology in promoting personalized learning experiences in secondary schools
• The impact of inclusive education on the social and academic outcomes of students with disabilities in secondary schools
• The influence of parental support on academic motivation and achievement in secondary education
• The role of school climate in promoting positive behavior and well-being among secondary school students
• Examining the effects of peer mentoring programs on academic achievement and social-emotional development in secondary schools
• Examining the effects of teacher-student relationships on student motivation and achievement in secondary schools
• Exploring the benefits of service-learning programs in promoting civic engagement among secondary school students
• The impact of educational policies on educational equity and access in secondary education
• Examining the effects of homework on academic achievement and student well-being in secondary education
• Investigating the effects of different assessment methods on student performance in secondary schools
• Examining the effects of single-sex education on academic performance and gender stereotypes in secondary schools
• The role of mentoring programs in supporting the transition from secondary to post-secondary education

Tertiary Education

• The role of student support services in promoting academic success and well-being in higher education
• The impact of internationalization initiatives on students’ intercultural competence and global perspectives in tertiary education
• Investigating the effects of active learning classrooms and learning spaces on student engagement and learning outcomes in tertiary education
• Exploring the benefits of service-learning experiences in fostering civic engagement and social responsibility in higher education
• The influence of learning communities and collaborative learning environments on student academic and social integration in higher education
• Exploring the benefits of undergraduate research experiences in fostering critical thinking and scientific inquiry skills
• Investigating the effects of academic advising and mentoring on student retention and degree completion in higher education
• The role of student engagement and involvement in co-curricular activities on holistic student development in higher education
• The impact of multicultural education on fostering cultural competence and diversity appreciation in higher education
• The role of internships and work-integrated learning experiences in enhancing students’ employability and career outcomes
• Examining the effects of assessment and feedback practices on student learning and academic achievement in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty-student relationships on student success and well-being in tertiary education
• The impact of college transition programs on students’ academic and social adjustment to higher education
• The impact of online learning platforms on student learning outcomes in higher education
• The impact of financial aid and scholarships on access and persistence in higher education
• The influence of student leadership and involvement in extracurricular activities on personal development and campus engagement
• Exploring the benefits of competency-based education in developing job-specific skills in tertiary students
• Examining the effects of flipped classroom models on student learning and retention in higher education
• Exploring the benefits of online collaboration and virtual team projects in developing teamwork skills in tertiary students
• Investigating the effects of diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus climate and student experiences in tertiary education
• The influence of study abroad programs on intercultural competence and global perspectives of college students
• Investigating the effects of peer mentoring and tutoring programs on student retention and academic performance in tertiary education
• Investigating the effectiveness of active learning strategies in promoting student engagement and achievement in tertiary education
• Investigating the effects of blended learning models and hybrid courses on student learning and satisfaction in higher education
• The role of digital literacy and information literacy skills in supporting student success in the digital age
• Investigating the effects of experiential learning opportunities on career readiness and employability of college students
• The impact of e-portfolios on student reflection, self-assessment, and showcasing of learning in higher education
• The role of technology in enhancing collaborative learning experiences in tertiary classrooms
• The impact of research opportunities on undergraduate student engagement and pursuit of advanced degrees
• Examining the effects of competency-based assessment on measuring student learning and achievement in tertiary education
• Examining the effects of interdisciplinary programs and courses on critical thinking and problem-solving skills in college students
• The role of inclusive education and accessibility in promoting equitable learning experiences for diverse student populations
• The role of career counseling and guidance in supporting students’ career decision-making in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty diversity and representation on student success and inclusive learning environments in higher education

Education-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in education, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses in the education space to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of education-related research projects to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• From Rural to Urban: Education Conditions of Migrant Children in China (Wang, 2019)
• Energy Renovation While Learning English: A Guidebook for Elementary ESL Teachers (Yang, 2019)
• A Reanalyses of Intercorrelational Matrices of Visual and Verbal Learners’ Abilities, Cognitive Styles, and Learning Preferences (Fox, 2020)
• A study of the elementary math program utilized by a mid-Missouri school district (Barabas, 2020)
• Instructor formative assessment practices in virtual learning environments : a posthumanist sociomaterial perspective (Burcks, 2019)
• Higher education students services: a qualitative study of two mid-size universities’ direct exchange programs (Kinde, 2020)
• Exploring editorial leadership : a qualitative study of scholastic journalism advisers teaching leadership in Missouri secondary schools (Lewis, 2020)
• Selling the virtual university: a multimodal discourse analysis of marketing for online learning (Ludwig, 2020)
• Advocacy and accountability in school counselling: assessing the use of data as related to professional self-efficacy (Matthews, 2020)
• The use of an application screening assessment as a predictor of teaching retention at a midwestern, K-12, public school district (Scarbrough, 2020)
• Core values driving sustained elite performance cultures (Beiner, 2020)
• Educative features of upper elementary Eureka math curriculum (Dwiggins, 2020)
• How female principals nurture adult learning opportunities in successful high schools with challenging student demographics (Woodward, 2020)
• The disproportionality of Black Males in Special Education: A Case Study Analysis of Educator Perceptions in a Southeastern Urban High School (McCrae, 2021)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, in order for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest.  In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic within education, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

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54 Comments

This is an helpful tool 🙏

Special education

Really appreciated by this . It is the best platform for research related items

Research title related to school of students

Research title related to students

Good idea I’m going to teach my colleagues

You can find our list of nursing-related research topic ideas here: https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-nursing/

Write on action research topic, using guidance and counseling to address unwanted teenage pregnancy in school

Thanks a lot

I learned a lot from this site, thank you so much!

Thank you for the information.. I would like to request a topic based on school major in social studies

parental involvement and students academic performance

Science education topics?

How about School management and supervision pls.?

Hi i am an Deputy Principal in a primary school. My wish is to srudy foe Master’s degree in Education.Please advice me on which topic can be relevant for me. Thanks.

Every topic proposed above on primary education is a starting point for me. I appreciate immensely the team that has sat down to make a detail of these selected topics just for beginners like us. Be blessed.

Kindly help me with the research questions on the topic” Effects of workplace conflict on the employees’ job performance”. The effects can be applicable in every institution,enterprise or organisation.

Greetings, I am a student majoring in Sociology and minoring in Public Administration. I’m considering any recommended research topic in the field of Sociology.

I’m a student pursuing Mphil in Basic education and I’m considering any recommended research proposal topic in my field of study

Kindly help me with a research topic in educational psychology. Ph.D level. Thank you.

Project-based learning is a teaching/learning type,if well applied in a classroom setting will yield serious positive impact. What can a teacher do to implement this in a disadvantaged zone like “North West Region of Cameroon ( hinterland) where war has brought about prolonged and untold sufferings on the indegins?

I wish to get help on topics of research on educational administration

I wish to get help on topics of research on educational administration PhD level

I am also looking for such type of title

I am a student of undergraduate, doing research on how to use guidance and counseling to address unwanted teenage pregnancy in school

the topics are very good regarding research & education .

Can i request your suggestion topic for my Thesis about Teachers as an OFW. thanx you

Would like to request for suggestions on a topic in Economics of education,PhD level

Would like to request for suggestions on a topic in Economics of education

Hi 👋 I request that you help me with a written research proposal about education the format

l would like to request suggestions on a topic in managing teaching and learning, PhD level (educational leadership and management)

request suggestions on a topic in managing teaching and learning, PhD level (educational leadership and management)

I would to inquire on research topics on Educational psychology, Masters degree

I am PhD student, I am searching my Research topic, It should be innovative,my area of interest is online education,use of technology in education

request suggestion on topic in masters in medical education .

Look at British Library as they keep a copy of all PhDs in the UK Core.ac.uk to access Open University and 6 other university e-archives, pdf downloads mostly available, all free.

May I also ask for a topic based on mathematics education for college teaching, please?

Please I am a masters student of the department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education Please I am in need of proposed project topics to help with my final year thesis

Am a PhD student in Educational Foundations would like a sociological topic. Thank

please i need a proposed thesis project regardging computer science

Greetings and Regards I am a doctoral student in the field of philosophy of education. I am looking for a new topic for my thesis. Because of my work in the elementary school, I am looking for a topic that is from the field of elementary education and is related to the philosophy of education.

Masters student in the field of curriculum, any ideas of a research topic on low achiever students

In the field of curriculum any ideas of a research topic on deconalization in contextualization of digital teaching and learning through in higher education

Amazing guidelines

I am a graduate with two masters. 1) Master of arts in religious studies and 2) Master in education in foundations of education. I intend to do a Ph.D. on my second master’s, however, I need to bring both masters together through my Ph.D. research. can I do something like, ” The contribution of Philosophy of education for a quality religion education in Kenya”? kindly, assist and be free to suggest a similar topic that will bring together the two masters. thanks in advance

Hi, I am an Early childhood trainer as well as a researcher, I need more support on this topic: The impact of early childhood education on later academic success.

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The Hottest Topics in Edtech for 2022!

• Education Leadership

For a few years now, we’ve shared on this blog the hottest edtech trends of the year based on the topics resonating with educators who submit proposals to present at the annual ISTE conference . The topics that presenters submit can tell us a lot about what educators are interested in — and experimenting with — in their schools and classrooms.

Often the topics don’t change much from year to year, but that hasn’t been the case the past two years. 

Last year, after many months of remote learning under their belts, educators were eager to share their best practices about online learning, as well as how to build equity and boost social emotional learning, which were three of the hottest topics going into 2021.

While those topics made the list again this year, there were some surprises at the top of the list. Here are the eight hottest topics for 2022, starting with No 8. 

8. Augmented, mixed and virtual reality 

The ISTE community has been excited about this topic for years now, but it’s been elevated recently as tools for immersive learning become more affordable, accessible and easier for both teachers and students to use.

“Education has just started to tap into what it can bring,” says Camilla Gagliolo, a longtime educator and ISTE’s senior director of event content. “Personally, I’m really excited about the growth in AR/VR and in immersive learning.”

Augmented reality involves superimposing a computer-generated image on your view of the real world. Think Pokemon Go. 

Virtual reality is a 3D, computer-generated environment that you can immerse yourself in. Using an Oculus or a similar headset, you can transport yourself to a another place or time and interact within it, whether it’s visiting the Great Pyramid of Giza or exploring the functions of the human body.

Some of the newer trends involve being able to interact with historical events that have been recreated in a virtual environment. So, you can show up at an event and actually be part of it — well, sort of.

The pandemic has caused a lot of educators to focus on how to better engage students in content online, and AR/VR is a sure-fire way to do that. 

In addition to having students experience learning through AR/VR, many educators are helping students create their own experiences.

Look for sessions on how to do this and much more with AR/VR in your classroom when the ISTELive 22 program goes live in February.

7. Social-emotional learning

As soon as COVID-19 closed school buildings in 2020, it was immediately clear that educators would need to do far more than teach their students. Every single student was struggling with something in addition to trying to adapt to a new way of learning, and educators were on the front lines of helping students feel safe, secure, emotionally stable and ready to learn. 

But many of their needs — like food, internet and medical care — were shared by the whole family, so educators realized they couldn’t help students in isolation. They had to work with families as a whole. 

In a way, roles were reversed — or at least blurred: Educators helped families meet their basic needs by assisting them with finding resources like meals, child care and other services, while parents took over a lot of the teaching tasks. 

What evolved was a whole-village approach to education, where, for the first time on a grand scale, teachers and schools were working in concert with students and families. 

“When the parent community took over the teaching, the teachers had to help the parents help the children,” Gagliolo said. “There is a new role for parents, and I think this is going to change how we work with parents going forward.”

Many individual educators and school systems as a whole developed innovative ways of working with parents and are eager to share what they’ve learned at ISTELive 22 .

6. Equity and inclusion

Never has equity and inclusion seemed more urgent than in the past two years. The pandemic brought inequities — whether they were due to socio-economic status, special needs or the family circumstances of the student — into sharp focus. 

The most immediate need was devices and bandwidth. Schools, government, the business sector and local communities combined forces to deliver devices and connectivity to nearly every household in the country, but that's not enough.

“ It took a pandemic to give every kid a device,” Gagliolo says. “Now the challenge is to get meaningful learning with these devices.”

Educators have been doing just that — experimenting with ways to make learning more engaging, student-centered and inclusive with technology tools.

 “Even Zoom has become a tool of access,” Gagliolo says. “The pandemic actually brought to the forefront what tech can do to bridge equity and meet the need for tools, platforms and access.”

Although the learning curve was high, many educators discovered strategies and ideas for making learning more accessible to a range of learners using various tools. And they are eager to share what worked at ISTELive 22.

5. Online tools and apps

This topic has been a favorite of presenters and ISTE conference participants for years because it appeals to the tech geek in all of us. But this time around, there’s an emphasis on highlighting tools that — just like students and educators themselves — have made a big leap in what they are capable of because of the pandemic.

“There’s been so much improvement in tools and apps,” Gagliolo said. “They were forced to be much more stable. They can handle more interaction and have developed features for connecting students with teachers.”

A lot of what the newest versions of tools are offering allow students to learn — and share their learning — in a variety of ways, whether it’s being able to quickly upload a video, make a comment via a sound recording, or create and quickly upload an artifact.

Free creation tools like Adobe Spark as well as myriad video-creation tools have taken a big leap in terms of ease of use and accessibility.    

4. Distance, online, blended learning

This was hands-down the hottest topic of 2021 as educators around the globe were still learning how to best transition their teaching to online formats. The biggest hurdle at first was how to use the tools. The learning curve was high as educators had to figure out everything from creating breakout groups in Zoom and Teams to establishing rules about cameras and appropriate backgrounds. 

This year the topic is less about how to use the technology and more about how to best engage students. 

And the stakes are high. Disengaged students can simply turn off their cameras when they are bored. But with the threat of learning loss looming, no educator wants any student to miss out on access to learning. So they’ve been coming up with lots of ways to stimulate collaboration and build community — online and in person. 

“There are a lot of new strategies and new tools developed over the past two years that engage students at a high level,” Gagliolo says. 

Although it’s not exactly new, she points to FlipGrid, as a tool that’s being used in diverse ways. It allows students to record comments, facilitates a connection between home and school, and lets students demonstrate their storytelling chops.

And speaking of tools, learning management systems, once the bane of educators’ existence, have enjoyed a resurgence. Educators in general have become more comfortable with these tools and are seeing the potential for communicating with students and parents in a much more streamlined way. 

3. Computer science and computational thinking

Computer science and computational thinking have long been a favorite topic of teachers who love technology and see it as a gateway for their students to enter STEM careers. So it’s no surprise that it made it to the No. 3 spot on the list.

What is more surprising is the evolution of computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) as something strictly reserved for math and science class to a discipline that has infiltrated all subjects, from literature and art to music and dance.

“You think of CS and CT as being for math and science, but we’re seeing educators incorporating it into language learning and storytelling quite a bit,” Gagliolo says. “It’s taking different shapes and forms and not just in the traditional areas.” 

Tools like Scratch, Snap, Tynker and KODU allow students to use programming to create stories. They develop their characters, or sprites, and build out their environments. “They can create their world and their scenario,” Gagliolo says.

2. Instructional design and delivery

Of all the topics on the list, this one is perhaps the most exciting because it illustrates a sophistication in how educators are thinking about educational technology, Gagliolo says. The focus is on educational strategies and instruction with technology for higher-order thinking — not tools and gadgets.

“The pedagogy and learning strategies are rising to the top more than the technology topics,” Gagliolo said. “It shows that awareness that learning comes first and tech tools are there to support.”

Instructional design and delivery covers an array of topics from designing content in online formats that is accessible to all learners to ensuring that the content is culturally relevant. It covers ways to encourage community and interaction among students and teachers as well as an awareness of research on how students learn and how online delivery differs from face to face. 

This information is not just from educators who have the instructional designer title. Remote learning  made educators of all subject areas and grade bands realize that they, too, were assuming the role of instructional designers. 

1. Project-based learning 

Also known as problem- and challenge-based learning, PBL is a model where students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. 

While this model isn’t new to ISTE presenters, what’s astonishing is that it landed on the top, Gagliano said. What it shows is that as educators become more comfortable with various tools, they are focusing more on pedagogy and how to guide students to use tools to practice their personal passions and achieve their goals.

“It’s a level of maturity that ISTE has advocated for for a long time,” she said. "It’s more about the learning strategy than the tool.”

Many of the conference proposals related to PBL are for poster sessions, which means these are from educators eager to show a project their students have taken on. What that shows is that PBL has moved from the theoretical to the practical. These are projects that have been tested in classrooms around the world.

Many of them, Gagliolo says, are related to design thinking. Students are coming up with problems and solutions, prototyping and iterating. 

Diana Fingal is ISTE's director of editorial content.

• artificial intelligence

EDITORIAL article

This article is part of the research topic.

Metaverse in Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Editorial - Metaverse in Education: Opportunities and Challenges Provisionally Accepted

• 1 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
• 2 California State University, Chico, United States
• 3 Qatar University, Qatar

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Tang et al. proposed a design of immersive VR to train biomedical sciences undergraduates in animal handling. The authors developed a virtual animal-holding simulator (ViSi) and reported that students participating in ViSi were positive in their assessment of their involvement in the virtual environment experience and their concentration on the assigned task. The authors notes that the impact of immersive VR technology integrated into skills training is promising, although few technical problems are to be resolved.In their study on 360° Desktop Virtual Reality (DVR), Albus and Seufert found that using signals to highlight key information significantly boosts recall and comprehension while reducing extraneous cognitive load, or unnecessary mental effort, among learners. However, they observed no difference in germane cognitive load, which is the effort related to the learning process itself, between signalled and non-signalled groups. This indicates that signalling in DVR environments can enhance learning efficiency by improving memory performance and minimizing cognitive overload.In this review article, the authors explore the relationship between the Metaverse and complex thinking through a systematic review of the literature by analysing 234 publications. Their study reveals the extensive exploration of the Metaverse since 2022 which aligns with the design of algorithms and virtual reality technology. This massive interest from the academic community underscores the importance of the Metaverse in fostering pedagogies centred around complex thinking which encompasses scientific, critical, systemic and innovative thinking. The research highlights how the Metaverse, when viewed through the lese of complex thinking, unlocks new horizons of research avenues to harness the Metaverse's full potential for future academic landscape.This review article delves into the of eye-tracking in immersive virtual reality for education that indicates a transformative approach in the educational methodologies. The review not only talks about the technicalities of eye-tracking, but it also covers its multifaceted applications across disciplines. The narrative is built to the integration of eye-tracking with virtual reality with a potential to revolutionise the educational landscape through personalised and engaging learning strategies. The merger of eyetracking and virtual reality can enable innovative learning and assessment approaches through better understanding of student engagement and cognitive processes. The authors advocate for further research to maximize the benefits of eye-tracking in the virtual reality environment that could unlock new dimensions of personalised learning experiences.Li et al. perform an extensive bibliometric analysis of virtual reality in anatomy education. The review covering publications from 1999 to 2022, reveals a substantial increase in research on the use of virtual reality for anatomy teaching that indicates growing interest within the academic community. Learning human anatomy is challenging for medical students due to the lack of specimens for experimental teaching and unclear observation of fine specimen structures. However, virtual reality can overcome such challenges by providing active learning environments and improving observation clarity. The paper advocates for collaborative e`orts across countries to make further advancements in virtual reality-based anatomy teaching while highlighting the challenges associated with the technology costs and training requirements.Author Pieter Hermanus Myburgh reflects on the creation of virtual reality experiences for biology students. It is highlighted that, during COVID-19, while academics around the globe tried to keep the educational processes going, it was challenging to provide appropriate learning support for subjects like biology that rely heavily on practical laboratory training. The author, therefore, stresses on the need for virtual laboratories with immersive learning environments to overcome such challenges in the remote teaching context. The paper presents an overview of the available resources that can be used by faculty for remote teaching, however, creation of a set of free and open-source virtual laboratories is proposed to address the global demand for a more accessible, practical biology education.The study by Mukasheva et al. evaluated a virtual reality (VR)-based workshop to support deeper learning of sorting algorithms. Concepts of bubble sorting and selection sorting were integrated into a VR sorting application developed by the authors. The authors concluded that the level of visualization and student interaction in the VR environment had significant positive impact on students' understanding of abstract concepts associated with and processes required to develop the sorting algorithms.Sahin, et al. studied the impact of an intervention with a teenager with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) facilitated by a smart glasses-based social communication module. The module employed sensors in the smart glasses to monitor social interactions of the teen and to prompted the child to employ socially accepted behaviors while interacting with others. The intervention was conducted during two weeks in addition to regularly scheduled interventions provided by two professionals. At the end of two weeks, the teen's parent and two teachers reported a global-scale improvement, as measured using Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) School-age Form, as well as on several of the subscales, which demonstrated the promise of augmented reality interventions with autistic children.An extensive literature review on immersive virtual reality (VR) headsets in postsecondary education was conducted by Concannon, et al. The authors identified three types of student engagement in the VR environment. They concluded that educating educators would spur adoption of VR as a pedagogical method, which was shown to have multiple benefits compared to traditional instruction. The authors noted that concerns about cost and accessibility of head-mounted displays may be reduced with the availability of mobile phone-based headsets. The authors identified an additional concern, the adaptability of learning in an VR environment to the real world. LaDisa, Jr. and Larkee described an immersive virtual environment for research, teaching, collaboration and outreach at Marquette University. The authors outlined processes used during the design phase to identify potential users. The system favored by potential users was a CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment as it enabled collaborations through shared visualization experience. Modifications to address lag time, eye fatigue, and simulation sickness were noted. Examples of CAVE immersive visualization system projects from Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Health Sciences and Nursing were highlighted.

Keywords: Metaverse, Augmented Realitiy, Mixed reality, Virtual Reality, immersive 3D

Received: 03 Apr 2024; Accepted: 05 Apr 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Hussain, Meehan and Qadir. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. Sajjad Hussain, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom

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Classroom technology offers a multitude of benefits for students. It fosters a more interactive and engaging learning environment, promotes creativity, allows students to learn at their own pace, and provides access to a vast array of resources. These resources include online materials, educational tools, and even connections with global communities. Additionally, technology empowers students with essential tech skills for future careers and provides access to up-to-date information for tackling complex topics.

Classroom technology allows teachers to steer their students away from by-heart learning and towards practical learning in the truest sense. Innovations in education technology enable teachers to stream educational videos, watch recorded lectures and access digital textbooks to improve the learning experience. The use of technology in the classroom increases engagement, promotes teamwork, inspires creativity and enhances student learning. Read this blog to learn more about how classroom technology benefits learning.

The Impact of Education Technology on Students

Here is how the use of technology in the classroom impacts students positively –

Increases Interactivity and Classroom Engagement

Seamless and careful incorporation of classroom technology makes students more engaged and take more control over the learning process. Effective technology stimulates student-centred project-based learning and alters the dynamics of classroom management . Chat rooms and other available applications allow students to engage with the teacher and another student swiftly without wasting class time.

Encourages Creativity

No matter what the students are interested in learning- arts, video production, or music – online resources are virtually endless. Technology can support all creative endeavors of students. While tablets can capture students’ sketches, editing software lets them bring photos to life and manipulate them creatively.

Encourages Self-Paced Learning

In traditional classrooms, students trying to understand new ideas often lag behind their peers. However, online assignments allow them to progress at their own pace. Guided lessons or supplementary coursework help students who need more time to get extra support. Both the teachers and the students benefit from classroom technology. The ever-present nature of education technology allows students to access their material online whenever, and teachers can also see which students need extra support.

Provides Greater Access to Resources

The Internet allows students to access everything from study materials and digital applications to immersive education and online tools from across the globe. They can also link to community forums and virtual worlds in real time and work on community projects using cloud-based applications. Teachers can access course materials at any time by setting up an LMS (Learning Management System) or providing each student access to course-specific applications. Blended learning – a combination of classroom technology and face-to-face learning is a way to achieve this.

Increases Accessibility and Inclusivity

Technology helps bridge the gap for students with disabilities or those who live in remote locations. Word processors point out spelling mistakes of students, and adaptive readers highlight text or read aloud to students so they can research and use technology. With the use of technology in the classroom becoming more prevalent, students with special needs will not stand out or seem out of place.

Empowers Students for the Future

Though we do not know the kinds of jobs that will be around when many of the students are adults joining the workforce, we do know that technology is not going anywhere. They will need strong technology skills in whichever field they choose after school. A mindset that processes newer ways of learning and technology can make all the difference in a student’s future.

Provides Up-to-Date Information

While revisions to hard copy materials take months or even years, students and teachers can access the latest information instantly with online textbooks. There is no longer a need to cut out articles from a newspaper to discuss current issues in class. Students and teachers can access current events online on many reputable news sites.

Tackles Complex Topics

Students may be required to explore challenging and complex matters during learning. With classroom technology, students and teachers can access all the resources they need to address intricate topics they may encounter during the teaching and learning processes.

Final Thoughts

While some people vehemently support the use of classroom technology, others point out the negative impact it has on the students. Parents and teachers may worry about the extra screen time, distractions and the lack of face-to-face interactions. However, if the use of technology in the classroom is done effectively, teachers can negate the handful of negative associations to create a safe learning environment. Education technology will increase the engagement and motivation of students while working on fun and interactive educational tasks. Overall, they will develop the skills to have a golden future.

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Research Topics and Trends in Educational Technology

• First Online: 12 May 2018

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A trend is a shift or tendency within a system. Some trends may present an opportunity for advancement of an idea, while others may disrupt, challenge or threaten advancement. Some technological innovations may result in fads or temporary novelties, while others may endure for many years while receiving little attention. Schools may be unable to control the direction in which some trends may lead, but they may be able to leverage other trends to improve teaching and learning. Educational technologies may not cause complete changes in trends in education but are necessary for innovation and improvement. Spector ( 2013 ) stated in Emerging Educational Technologies and Research Directions : “the implications for schools really are ground-shaking in the sense that significant transformations need to occur if schools are to be responsive to such trends” (p. 22).

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Kulkarni, S., Apte, U., & Evangelopoulos, N. (2014). The use of latent semantic analysis in operations management research. Decision Sciences, 45, 971–994.

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Natividad, G., Spector, J.M., Evangelopoulos, N. (2018). Research Topics and Trends in Educational Technology. In: An Analysis of Two Decades of Educational Technology Publications. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0137-7_5

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Jessica Grose

Screens are everywhere in schools. do they actually help kids learn.

By Jessica Grose

Opinion Writer

A few weeks ago, a parent who lives in Texas asked me how much my kids were using screens to do schoolwork in their classrooms. She wasn’t talking about personal devices. (Smartwatches and smartphones are banned in my children’s schools during the school day, which I’m very happy about; I find any argument for allowing these devices in the classroom to be risible.) No, this parent was talking about screens that are school sanctioned, like iPads and Chromebooks issued to children individually for educational activities.

I’m embarrassed to say that I couldn’t answer her question because I had never asked or even thought about asking. Partly because the Covid-19 era made screens imperative in an instant — as one ed-tech executive told my colleague Natasha Singer in 2021, the pandemic “sped the adoption of technology in education by easily five to 10 years.” In the early Covid years, when my older daughter started using a Chromebook to do assignments for second and third grade, I was mostly just relieved that she had great teachers and seemed to be learning what she needed to know. By the time she was in fifth grade and the world was mostly back to normal, I knew she took her laptop to school for in-class assignments, but I never asked for specifics about how devices were being used. I trusted her teachers and her school implicitly.

In New York State, ed tech is often discussed as an equity problem — with good reason: At home, less privileged children might not have access to personal devices and high-speed internet that would allow them to complete digital assignments. But in our learn-to-code society, in which computer skills are seen as a meal ticket and the humanities as a ticket to the unemployment line, there seems to be less chatter about whether there are too many screens in our kids’ day-to-day educational environment beyond the classes that are specifically tech focused. I rarely heard details about what these screens are adding to our children’s literacy, math, science or history skills.

And screens truly are everywhere. For example, according to 2022 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only about 8 percent of eighth graders in public schools said their math teachers “never or hardly ever” used computers or digital devices to teach math, 37 percent said their math teachers used this technology half or more than half the time, and 44 percent said their math teachers used this technology all or most of the time.

As is often the case with rapid change, “the speed at which new technologies and intervention models are reaching the market has far outpaced the ability of policy researchers to keep up with evaluating them,” according to a dazzlingly thorough review of the research on education technology by Maya Escueta, Andre Joshua Nickow, Philip Oreopoulos and Vincent Quan published in The Journal of Economic Literature in 2020.

Despite the relative paucity of research, particularly on in-class use of tech, Escueta and her co-authors put together “a comprehensive list of all publicly available studies on technology-based education interventions that report findings from studies following either of two research designs, randomized controlled trials or regression discontinuity designs.”

They found that increasing access to devices didn’t always lead to positive academic outcomes. In a couple of cases, it just increased the amount of time kids were spending on devices playing games. They wrote, “We found that simply providing students with access to technology yields largely mixed results. At the K-12 level, much of the experimental evidence suggests that giving a child a computer may have limited impacts on learning outcomes but generally improves computer proficiency and other cognitive outcomes.”

Some of the most promising research is around computer-assisted learning, which the researchers defined as “computer programs and other software applications designed to improve academic skills.” They cited a 2016 randomized study of 2,850 seventh-grade math students in Maine who used an online homework tool. The authors of that study “found that the program improved math scores for treatment students by 0.18 standard deviations. This impact is particularly noteworthy, given that treatment students used the program, on average, for less than 10 minutes per night, three to four nights per week,” according to Escueta and her co-authors.

They also explained that in the classroom, computer programs may help teachers meet the needs of students who are at different levels, since “when confronted with a wide range of student ability, teachers often end up teaching the core curriculum and tailoring instruction to the middle of the class.” A good program, they found, could help provide individual attention and skill building for kids at the bottom and the top, as well. There are computer programs for reading comprehension that have shown similar positive results in the research. Anecdotally: My older daughter practices her Spanish language skills using an app, and she hand-writes Spanish vocabulary words on index cards. The combination seems to be working well for her.

Though their review was published in 2020, before the data was out on our grand remote-learning experiment, Escueta and her co-authors found that fully online remote learning did not work as well as hybrid or in-person school. I called Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, who said that in light of earlier studies “and what we’re coming to understand about the long-lived effects of the pandemic on learning, it underscores for me that there’s a social dimension to learning that we ignore at our peril. And I think technology can often strip that away.”

Still, Dee summarized the entire topic of ed tech to me this way: “I don’t want to be black and white about this. I think there are really positive things coming from technology.” But he said that they are “meaningful supports on the margins, not fundamental changes in the modality of how people learn.”

I’d add that the implementation of any technology also matters a great deal; any educational tool can be great or awful, depending on how it’s used.

I’m neither a tech evangelist nor a Luddite. (Though I haven’t even touched on the potential implications of classroom teaching with artificial intelligence, a technology that, in other contexts, has so much destructive potential .) What I do want is the most effective educational experience for all kids.

Because there’s such a lag in the data and a lack of granularity to the information we do have, I want to hear from my readers: If you’re a teacher or a parent of a current K-12 student, I want to know how you and they are using technology — the good and the bad. Please complete the questionnaire below and let me know. I may reach out to you for further conversation.

Do your children or your students use technology in the classroom?

If you’re a parent, an educator or both, I want to hear from you.

Jessica Grose is an Opinion writer for The Times, covering family, religion, education, culture and the way we live now.

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Schools are using research to try to improve children's learning—but it's not working

by Sally Riordan, The Conversation

Evidence is obviously a good thing. We take it for granted that evidence from research can help solve the post-lockdown crises in education—from how to keep teachers in the profession to how to improve behavior in schools, get children back into school and protect the mental health of a generation.

But my research and that of others shows that incorporating strategies that have evidence backing them into teaching doesn't always yield the results we want.

The Department for Education encourages school leadership teams to cite evidence from research studies when deciding how to spend school funding. Teachers are more frequently required to conduct their own research as part of their professional training than they were a decade ago. Independent consultancies have sprung up to support schools to bring evidence-based methods into their teaching.

This push for evidence to back up teaching methods has become particularly strong in the past ten years. The movement has been driven by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), a charity set up in 2011 with funding from the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government to provide schools with information about which teaching methods and other approaches to education actually work.

The EEF funds randomized controlled trials —large-scale studies in which students are randomly assigned to an educational initiative or not and then comparisons are then made to see which students perform better. For instance, several of these studies have been carried out in which some children received one-on-one reading sessions with a trained classroom assistant, and their reading progress was compared to children who had not. The cost of one of these trials was around £500,000 over the course of a year.

Trials such as this in education were lobbied for by Ben Goldacre , a doctor and data scientist who wrote a report in 2013 on behalf of the Department for Education. Goldacre suggested that education should follow the lead of medicine in the use of evidence.

Using evidence

In 2023, however, researchers at the University of Warwick pointed out something that should have been obvious for some time but has been very much overlooked—that following the evidence is not resulting in the progress we might expect.

Reading is the most heavily supported area of the EEF's research, accounting for more than 40% of projects . Most schools have implemented reading programs with significant amounts of evidence behind them. But, despite this, reading abilities have not changed much in the UK for decades.

This flatlining of test scores is a global phenomenon . If reading programs worked as the evidence says they do, reading abilities should be better.

And the evidence is coming back with unexpected results. A series of randomized controlled trials, including one looking at how to improve literacy through evidence , have suggested that schools that use methods based on research are not performing better than schools that do not.

In fact, research by a team at Sheffield Hallam University have demonstrated that on average, these kinds of education initiatives have very little to no impact .

My work has shown that when the findings of different research studies are brought together and synthesized, teachers may end up implementing these findings in contradictory ways. Research messages are frequently too vague to be effective because the skills and expertise of teaching are difficult to transfer.

It is also becoming apparent that the gains in education are usually very small, perhaps because learning is the sum total of trillions of interactions. It is possible that the research trials we really need in education would be so vast that they are currently too impractical to do.

It seems that evidence is much harder to tame and to apply sensibly in education than elsewhere. In my view, it was inevitable and necessary that educators had to follow medicine in our search for answers. But we now need to think harder about the peculiarities of how evidence works in education.

Right now, we don't have enough evidence to be confident that evidence should always be our first port of call.

Provided by The Conversation

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Student spotlight: Victory Yinka-Banjo

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This interview is part of a series from the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science featuring students answering questions about themselves and life at the Institute. Today’s interviewee, Victory Yinka-Banjo, is a junior majoring in MIT Course 6-7: Computer Science and Molecular Biology. Yinka-Banjo keeps a packed schedule: She is a member of the Office of Minority Education (OME) Laureates and Leaders program ; a 2024 fellow in the public service-oriented BCAP program ; has previously served as secretary of the African Students’ Association, and is now undergraduate president of the MIT Biotech Group ; additionally, she is a SuperUROP Scholar ; a member of the Ginkgo Bioworks' Cultivate Fellowship (a program that supports students interested in synthetic biology/biotech); and an ambassador for Leadership Brainery , which equips juniors/leaders of color with the resources needed to prepare for graduate school. She recently found time to share a peek into her MIT experience.

Q: What’s your favorite building or room within MIT?

A: It has to be the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard on Ames Street in Kendall Square, where I do my SuperUROP research in Caroline Uhler's lab . Outside of classes, you're 90 percent likely to find me on the newest mezzanine floor (between the 11th and 12th floor), in one of the UROP [Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program] rooms I share with two other undergrads in the lab. We have standing desks, an amazing coffee/hot chocolate machine, external personal monitors, comfortable sofas — everything, really! Not only is it my favorite building, it is also my favorite study spot on campus. In fact, I am there so often that when friends recently planned a birthday surprise for me, they told me they were considering having it at the Broad, since they could count on me being there. 

I think the most beautiful thing about this building, apart from the beautiful view of Cambridge we get from being on one of the highest floors, is that when I was applying to MIT from high school, I had fantasized working at the Broad because of the groundbreaking research. To think that it is now a reality makes me appreciate every minute I spend on my floor, whether I am doing actual research or some last-minute studying for a midterm. 

Q: Tell me about one interest or hobby you’ve discovered since you came to MIT.

A: I have become pretty involved in the performing arts since I got to MIT! I have acted in two plays run by the Black Theater Guild, which was revived during my freshman year by one of my friends. I played a supporting role in the first play called “Nkrumah’s Last Day,” which was about Ghana at a time of governance under Kwame Nkrumah, its first president. In the second play, a ghost story/comedy called “Shooting the Sheriff,” I played one of the lead roles. Both caused me to step way out of my comfort zone and I loved the experiences because of that. I also got to act with some of my close friends who were first-time stage actors as well, so that made it even more fun. 

Outside of acting, I also do spoken word/poetry. I have performed at events like the African Students Association Cultural Night, MIT Africa Innovate Conference, and Black Women’s Alliance Banquet. I try to use my pieces to share my experiences both within and beyond MIT, offering the perspective of an international Nigerian student. My favorite piece was called “Code Switch,” and I used concepts from [computer science] and biology (especially genetic code switching), to draw parallels with linguistic code-switching, and emphasize the beauty and originality of authenticity. This semester, I’m also a part of MIT Monologues and will be performing a piece called “Inheritance,” about the beauty of self-love found in affection transferred from a mother. 

Q: Are you a re-reader or a re-watcher — and if so, what are your comfort books, shows, or movies?

A: I don’t watch too many movies, although I used to be obsessed with all parts of “High School Musical;” and the only book I’ve ever reread is “Americanah.” I would actually say I am a re-podcaster! My go-to comfort-podcast is this episode, “A Breakthrough Unfolds”, by Google DeepMind . It makes me a little emotional every time I listen. It is such an exemplification of the power of science and its ability to break boundaries that humans formerly thought impossible. As a computer science and biology major, I am particularly interested in these two disciplines’ applications to relevant problems, like the protein-folding problem discussed in the episode, which DeepMind's solution for has caused massive advances in the biotech industry. It makes me so hopeful for the future of biology, and the ways in which computation can advance human health and precision medicine.

Q: Who’s your favorite artist?

A: When I think of the word 'artist,' I think of music artists first. There are so many who I love; my favorites also evolve over time. I’m Christian, so I listen to a lot of gospel music. I’m also Nigerian so I listen to a lot of Afrobeats. Since last summer, I’ve been obsessed with Limoblaze , who fuses both gospel and Afrobeats music! KB, a super talented gospel rapper , is also somewhat tied in ranking with Limo for me right now. His songs are probably ~50 percent of my workout playlist.

Q: It’s time to get on the shuttle to the first Mars colony, and you can only bring one personal item. What are you going to bring?

A: Oooh, this is a tough one, but it has to be my Brass Rat. Ever since I got mine at the end of sophomore year, it’s been nearly impossible for me to take it off. If there’s ever a time I forget to wear it, my finger feels off for the entire day. 

Q: Tell me about one conversation that changed the trajectory of your life.

A: Two specific career-defining moments come to mind. They aren’t quite conversations, but they are talks/lectures that I was deeply inspired by. The first was towards the end of high school when I watched this TEDx Talk about storing data in DNA . At the time, I was getting ready to apply to colleges and I knew that biology and computer science were two things I really liked, but I didn’t really understand the possibilities that could be birthed from them coming together as an interdisciplinary field. The TEDx talk was my eureka moment for computational biology. 

The second moment was in my junior fall during an introductory lecture to “Lab Fundamentals for Bioengineering,” by Professor Jacquin Niles. I started the school year with a lot of confusion about my future post-grad, and the relevance of my planned career path to the communities that I care about. Basically, I was unsure about how computational biology fit into the context of Nigeria’s problems, especially because my interest in the field is oriented towards molecular biology/medicine, not necessarily public health. 

In the U.S., most research focuses on diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s, which, while important, are not the most pressing health conditions in tropical regions like Nigeria. When Professor Niles told us about his lab’s dedication to malaria research from a molecular biology standpoint, it was yet another eureka moment. Like, Yes! Computation and molecular biology can indeed mitigate diseases that affect developing nations like Nigeria — diseases that are understudied, and whose research is underfunded. 

Since his talk, I found a renewed sense of purpose. Grad school isn’t the end goal. Using my skills to shine a light on the issues affecting my people that deserve far more attention is the goal. I’m so excited to see how I will use computational biology to possibly create the next cure to a commonly neglected tropical disease, or accelerate the diagnosis of one. Whatever it may be, I know that it will be close to home, eventually.

Q: What are you looking forward to about life after graduation? What do you think you’ll miss about MIT?

A: Thinking about graduating actually makes me sad. I’ve grown to love MIT. The biggest thing I’ll miss, though, is Independent Activities Period (IAP). It is such a unique part of the MIT experience. I’ve done a web development class/competition, research, a data science challenge, a molecular bio crash course, and a deep learning crash course over the past three IAPs. It is such an amazing time to try something low stakes, forget about grades, explore Boston, build a robot, travel abroad, do less, go slower, really rejuvenate before the spring, and embrace MIT’s motto of “mind and hand” by just being creative and explorative. It is such an exemplification of what it means to go here, and I can’t imagine it being the same anywhere else. 

That said, I look forward to graduating so I can do more research. My hours spent at the Broad thinking about my UROP are always the quickest hours of my week. I love the rabbit holes my research allows me to explore, and I hope that I find those over and over again as I apply and hopefully get into PhD programs. I look forward to exploring a new city after I graduate, too. I wouldn’t mind staying in Cambridge/Boston. I love it here. But I would welcome a chance to be somewhere new and embrace all the people and unique experiences it has to offer.

I also hope to work on more passion projects post-grad. I feel like I have this idea in my head that once I graduate from MIT, I’ll have so much more time on my hands (we’ll see how that goes). I hope that I can use that time to work on education projects in Nigeria, which is a space I care a lot about. Generally, I want to make service more integrated in my lifestyle. I hope that post-graduation, I can prioritize doing that even more: making it a norm to lift others as I continue to climb.

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