This international expert meeting, sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MoE&HRD) and the Korea Educational Research and Information Service (KERIS) was devoted to analysing the effects of digital technologies on educational performance. infoDev presented the findings from its recent Monitoring and Evaluation of the NEPAD e-schools project and surveys of ICT and education in Africa and the Caribbean, and participated in panel discussions on the effective uses of information and communication technologies in education in developing countries.

Objectives of the meeting

This expert meeting was intended to summarise the existing evidence regarding the effects of digital technologies on educational performance. In particular, the meeting focused on:

• A wider definition of educational performance, including not only traditional school-related competences and contents but also those linked to the emergence of a knowledge society.
• An updated synthesis on the effects of digital technologies on this wider concept of school performance, thus addressing the relationships between:
  
  1. In-school use of digital technologies and academic and non-academic results; and
  2. Non-school uses of these technologies and academic and non-academic results.
  
• A discussion of the educational and political implications of these effects:
  
  1. Digital technologies lead to better educational performance?
  2. How should learning environments be designed for a better use of digital technologies in view of improved performance and learning experience?
  
• Future orientations for educational and social research in this area.

This meeting is part of the "New Millennium Learners" initiative, a multi-year research program launched by the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in January 2007. The main objective of this activity is to conceptualise and analyse, from a comparative perspective, the effects of digital technologies on cognitive development, values and lifestyles, and educational expectations and performance, and to examine the educational responses to the emergence of this new phenomenon, both in terms of policies and practices.

To learn more about this initiative, and to download papers and presentations from this workshop, please visit:

• OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI)
  --> http://www.oecd.org/edu/nml  
• Korean Information and Research Information Service (KERIS)
  --> http://nml.keris.or.kr/eng/