A report released today from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has revealed that computers in the classroom do not improve student performance and in fact may do the opposite.

The international study "looked at the impact of technology in schools from around the globe and found that while around seventy-five percent of pupils in the countries surveyed use computers at school, there was no noteworthy improvement in results," said DW.com.

The study found that regions absent of school-time computer use performed the best when it came to learning outcomes.

"While students in Western countries spend more time using technology during school time - 58 minutes a day in Australia, 42 in Greece and 39 in Sweden - it is in parts of Asia, where technology is an integral part of life outside school but relatively absent in classroom hours, where some of the highest-performing schools can be found," the article said.

OECD Education Director Andrea Schleicher called tech in the classroom "mixed at best" and said that learning outcomes are unaffected if not worsened by computer use.

In order to arrive at its conclusions, the OECD study looked at international test results and investment in communication technology.

It hopes the study's results will encourage schools and teachers to find ways to use technology to benefit student learning and performance, something it says is simply not happening today.

Read the full article here and comment with your thoughts below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

09/15/2015