IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodepp/v3y2018i1p55-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Digital Technologies Play a Role in Improving Children’s Learning Outcomes in India?

Author

Listed:
  • Sashwati Banerjee
  • Sujoy Chakravarty
  • Ira Joshi
  • Siddharth Pillai

Abstract

In this study, we explore the effects of an educational intervention in the form of digital games targeted towards improving the learning outcomes in mathematics and Hindi language among first, second and third graders in four government schools in southern New Delhi. In addition to administering these games in the classroom, we randomly recruited 40 households from a low-income community, where children play the games as an extra-curricular activity. We measure the improvement in aptitude in math and Hindi pre- and post-intervention, using various demographic controls and find that the community intervention had some impact in boosting aptitude. In contrast, the school intervention did not show the desired results though it did register some improvement in children’s knowledge. Using qualitative observation coupled with the quantitative assessment of impact, we attempt to deconstruct the various infrastructural challenges and sampling issues posed in our school intervention, and identify key features that need to be adhered to for future researchers who may want to assess the impact of educational interventions on young children from underprivileged backgrounds in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Sashwati Banerjee & Sujoy Chakravarty & Ira Joshi & Siddharth Pillai, 2018. "Can Digital Technologies Play a Role in Improving Children’s Learning Outcomes in India?," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 3(1), pages 55-86, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:3:y:2018:i:1:p:55-86
    DOI: 10.1177/2455133317736234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2455133317736234
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2455133317736234?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Shawn Cole & Esther Duflo & Leigh Linden, 2007. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1235-1264.
    2. Elizabeth U. Cascio & Douglas O. Staiger, 2012. "Knowledge, Tests, and Fadeout in Educational Interventions," NBER Working Papers 18038, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Sarin, Ankur & Jain, Rekha, 2009. "Effect of Mobiles on Socio-economic Life of Urban Poor," IIMA Working Papers WP2009-02-05, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    4. Ankur Sarin, 2009. "Effect of Mobiles on Socio-economic Life of Urban Poor," Working Papers id:1984, eSocialSciences.
    5. Brij Kothari & Avinash Pandey & Amita R. Chudgar, 2004. "Reading Out of the "Idiot Box": Same-Language Subtitling on Television in India," Information Technologies and International Development, MIT Press, vol. 2(1), pages 23-44.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Terence Govender & Joan Arnedo-Moreno, 2021. "An Analysis of Game Design Elements Used in Digital Game-Based Language Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sarkar, Kalyan & Deb, Sujit & Hazari, Sujoy, 2022. "The Impact of ICT on Rural Livelihood of Farmers in West Bengal, India," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 14(4), December.
    2. Philip J. Cook & Kenneth Dodge & George Farkas & Roland G. Fryer, Jr & Jonathan Guryan & Jens Ludwig & Susan Mayer & Harold Pollack & Laurence Steinberg, 2014. "The (Surprising) Efficacy of Academic and Behavioral Intervention with Disadvantaged Youth: Results from a Randomized Experiment in Chicago," NBER Working Papers 19862, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Karthik Muralidharan & Abhijeet Singh & Alejandro J. Ganimian, 2019. "Disrupting Education? Experimental Evidence on Technology-Aided Instruction in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1426-1460, April.
    4. Duflo, Esther & Dupas, Pascaline & Kremer, Michael, 2015. "School governance, teacher incentives, and pupil–teacher ratios: Experimental evidence from Kenyan primary schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 92-110.
    5. David K. Evans & Arkadipta Ghosh, 2008. "Prioritizing Educational Investments in Children in the Developing World," Working Papers WR-587, RAND Corporation.
    6. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja, 2017. "Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1535-1563, June.
    7. Schultz, T. Paul, 2009. "The Gender and Generational Consequences of the Demographic Transition and Population Policy: An Assessment of the Micro and Macro Linkages," Working Papers 71, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    8. Battaglia, Marianna & Lebedinski, Lara, 2015. "Equal Access to Education: An Evaluation of the Roma Teaching Assistant Program in Serbia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 62-81.
    9. Holla,Alaka & Bendini,Maria Magdalena & Dinarte Diaz,Lelys Ileana & Trako,Iva, 2021. "Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low ? Lessons from (Quasi) ExperimentalEvidence across Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9723, The World Bank.
    10. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Olmo Silva, 2007. "New Technology in Schools: Is There a Payoff?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(522), pages 1145-1167, July.
    11. Aurino, Elisabetta & Fledderjohann, Jasmine & Vellakkal, Sukumar, 2019. "Inequalities in adolescent learning: Does the timing and persistence of food insecurity at home matter?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 94-108.
    12. John A. List, 2024. "Optimally generate policy-based evidence before scaling," Nature, Nature, vol. 626(7999), pages 491-499, February.
    13. Annette N. Brown & Drew B. Cameron & Benjamin D. K. Wood, 2014. "Quality evidence for policymaking: I'll believe it when I see the replication," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 215-235, September.
    14. Sally Murray, 2017. "New technologies create opportunities," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-156, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Blimpo, Moussa P. & Pugatch, Todd, 2021. "Entrepreneurship education and teacher training in Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    16. Hisaki Kono & Yasuyuki Sawada & Abu S. Shonchoy, 2016. "DVD-based Distance-learning Program for University Entrance Exams: Experimental Evidence from Rural Bangladesh," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1027, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    17. Baylis, Kathy & Ham, Andres, 2015. "How important is spatial correlation in randomized controlled trials?," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205586, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Deshpande, Ashwini & Desrochers, Alain & Ksoll, Christopher & Shonchoy, Abu S., 2017. "The Impact of a Computer-based Adult Literacy Program on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 451-473.
    19. Verónica Cabezas & José Ignacio Cuesta & Francisco Gallego, 2021. "Does Short-Term School Tutoring have Medium-Term Effects? Experimental Evidence from Chile," Documentos de Trabajo 565, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    20. Sonia Bhalotra & Martin Karlsson & Therese Nilsson & Nina Schwarz, 2022. "Infant Health, Cognitive Performance, and Earnings: Evidence from Inception of the Welfare State in Sweden," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1138-1156, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:3:y:2018:i:1:p:55-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.