The Effects of Information and Communication Technology on Student Achievement

The objective of this research was to explore the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on student achievement in a secondary social studies classroom. The research was conducted in three sections of ninth-grade Geography in a rural public high school over the course of four weeks. A pre-test was completed by students to understand their background using ICT in the classroom. Data was collected through the completion of journal writing by students, and through the analysis of grades earned on assessments. A post-test was completed by students to measure their acceptance of ICT in the classroom. The data revealed students are reluctant to use ICT in the classroom, unless they have availability to the technology and teachers are well-organized with the application of ICT. Students accepted, over other modes of ICT, the use of cell-phones when in the act of communicating with the teacher, and were inconsistent with their acceptance of using computers to complete the coursework. Based on the data, some students benefited from using ICT while other students preferred traditional methods of learning. To fully understand the effects of ICT, more individualized research on specific modes of ICT needs to be conducted