Access to educational technology and its implications on learning outcomes of 15-year olds in Saudi Arabia empirical evidence from OECD PISA 2018 in the context of COVID-19.

Abstract

Fueled by the increasing availability and sophistication of digital technology, applications of Educational Technology (EdTech) have gained popularity at home and school. EdTech applications have been argued to address global education challenges by increasing access to education, identifying and teaching at the right level, managing class-sizes, and enhancing teacher development. The COVID-19 global health emergency has accelerated interest in how technology may support learning given that the mode of schooling is likely to be seriously impacted in the short-, medium, and potentially long-term. According to the Educational Production Function (EPF) theory evolved after the Coleman report (1966), more emphasis should be laid upon input factors that can be controlled by policymakers like the educational physical environment available to students. EdTech access is one such input factor. Education policymakers across the world, including Saudi Arabia, are now relying upon online portals and digital gadgets to provide lessons at home. Given this context, the current paper has used the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 dataset administered on a representative group of 15-year olds in the Kingdom and applied the EPF model to understand the role of EdTech access at home in improving learning outcomes. The paper finds a positive and statistically significant association between the availability and usage of EdTech resources with students' academic performance on subjects like reading, mathematics, and science. In addition, the paper shows that EdTech use varies across student subgroups in Saudi Arabia. For instance, students belonging to higher income households benefit more from EdTech usage. Further, female students outperform male students in both EdTech usage and test scores. Based on such findings, the paper concludes with key policy recommendations to inform a holistic EdTech response to the COVID-19 pandemic.