Closing the digital divide: The impact of teachers’ ICT use on student achievement in China

Abstract

There is growing interest in exploring the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance academic performance. Whereas previous studies have predominantly focused on the direct effects of ICT on education quality, only limited attention has been paid to the interactions between teachers’ use of ICT in the classroom and the students’ use of ICT at home and the role of teachers in the pedagogical process. In this study, we use a nationally representative survey of secondary school students in China to investigate the impact of teachers’ integration of ICT into the instructional process and the impact of the interactions between home ICT resources and school ICT use on students’ academic performance. Our findings indicate that teachers’ increased frequency of ICT use during instruction improves the current and long-term academic performance of students who lack access to computers at home, compared with those with home computers. These positive effects can be attributed to improvements in the quality and preparation time of teachers’ lessons, increased use of interactive teaching methods, and heightened student motivation to learn.