The Impact of ICT on Student Performance in Higher Education: Direct Effects, Indirect Effects and Organisational Change

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the relationship between the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and student performance in higher education. So far, economic research has failed to provide a clear consensus on the effect of ICT investments on student's achievement.

Our paper aims to summarise the main findings of the literature and to give two complementary explanations.

The first explanation focuses on the indirect effects of ICT on standard explanatory factors. Since a student's performance is mainly explained by a student's characteristics, educational environment and teachers' characteristics, ICT may have an impact on these determinants and consequently the outcome of education. The differences observed in students' performance are thus more related to the differentiated impact of ICT on standard explanatory factors.

The second hypothesis advocates that ICT uses need a change in the organisation of higher education. While ICT equipment and use rates are growing very fast in the European Union, the adoption of complementary organisational designs is very slow and differs from one institution to another. This may explain the observed differences in students' achievement.