SDG 4: Quality Education | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
Institutions: Ministry of Education
The OECD report “The impact of digital technologies on students’ learning” synthesises systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and primary studies to evaluate how digital technologies influence student learning in primary and secondary education. It identifies five categories of tools-programming & robotics, media production & literacy, gaming, extended reality, and AI/learning analytics-and concludes that access to technology alone is insufficient; pedagogy, teacher competence, alignment with objectives, and context are decisive.
Programming & Robotics: Block-based coding (e.g. Scratch) reduces cognitive load for younger learners and builds computational thinking; text-based programming aids older students but requires scaffolding. Gains often spill into mathematics and problem-solving.
Media Production & Literacy: Digital storytelling and multimedia tools enhance reading, writing, and engagement, especially for disadvantaged learners. Risks include cognitive overload and digital divide effects.
Gaming: Game-based learning boosts motivation, creativity, and critical thinking, but only when tightly aligned to learning goals and guided by teachers.
Extended Reality (AR/VR): Simulations improve understanding of abstract STEM concepts and promote hands-on learning. Barriers include cost, infrastructure, and need for teacher training.
AI & Learning Analytics: Adaptive tools offer personalised feedback, risk identification, and workload support. Risks include ethical issues, bias, privacy gaps, and overreliance without pedagogy.
Cross-cutting insights:
Teacher role is critical: success depends on design and integration, not tool availability.
Digital literacy and equity are essential-both access and skills matter.
Poorly designed tools can increase extraneous cognitive load, harming learning.
Motivation benefits align with self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness).
Impact varies by grade, context, intervention duration, and assessment method.
Overall, the OECD concludes that digital technologies can enhance learning moderately and contingently, but require strong pedagogy, teacher training, and equity of access to be effective.
For India, which is expanding Digital India in Education (PM eVIDYA, SWAYAM, DIKSHA, National Digital University), the report is a reminder that technology must be teacher-centred, context-sensitive, and equity-driven. Simply distributing devices will not ensure learning gains; investments must prioritise teacher training, digital literacy, cognitive design of tools, and infrastructure parity across states. In addition, safeguards on data privacy, bias in AI-based platforms, and sustainable costs will be vital for long-term impact.
What is Extended Reality (XR)? → A collective term for augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and simulations that immerse learners in interactive digital environments to make abstract concepts tangible.
Follow the full report here: OECD: The Impact of Digital Technologies on Students’ Learning (Sep 2025)