FOCUS AREA: NEW TECHNOLOGIES




TECHNOLOGY
OFFERS NEW
POSSIBILITIES
FOR TEACHING
AND LEARNING
   New technologies have the potential to disrupt education
   for the better.

   WHY IT MATTERS                                                    OUR APPROACH
   Technology is already playing a crucial role in providing         The World Bank works in partnership with governments
   support to teachers, students, and the learning process           and organizations worldwide to support innovative
   more broadly. In a field that is developing at dizzying speeds,   projects, timely research, and knowledge-sharing
   new solutions to educational challenges are springing up          activities about the effective and appropriate use of
   everywhere. At the classroom level, machine learning tech-        educational technologies to strengthen learning. We
   nology can enhance the effectiveness of teachers and can          have set ambitious goals to increase the use of digital
   allow students to learn at their own pace. At the education       technologies in classrooms, schools, and education
   system level, technology can help make possible more evi-         systems as a whole. We approach this through what we
   dence-based decisions for policy and service delivery. Digital    call the 3Ds: Discovery, Diffusion, and Deployment of
   platforms expand access to state-of-the-art knowledge and         Disruptive Technology Solutions in Education. We want
   interactive learning. Assistive technologies can support          to Discover, document, generate, and analyze evidence-
   access for people with disabilities. These all can help create    based and promising technology solutions for education
   a richer environment for learning and foster inclusion. Our       in developing countries; Diffuse this knowledge in our
   challenge is to make technology a driver of equity and inclu-     client countries and ensure capacity to use this new
   sion and not a source of greater inequality of opportunity.       knowledge; and Deploy solutions using an evidence-
                                                                     based approach that also targets barriers to adoption.
For the foreseeable future, education will remain a fundamentally
human interaction-intensive endeavor. The challenge is to give
educators the skills to use technology effectively and to support
students in getting the competencies needed to thrive.


OUR PRIORITIES:
1 Using technology to improve quality of                          4 Incorporating technology for more customized
teaching                                                          learning approaches
We aim to boost the capacity of teachers by deploying             Education systems can improve learning by using
technologies that help improve daily lesson planning              interactive and real-time metrics to provide teachers with
and delivery, foster collaboration, and support long-term         information on how students are doing, making it possible
development. For example, technology can be used to               for teachers to adapt lessons to the needs of the students.
expand the reach of the best teachers by enabling them to
deliver education at distance or to coach other teachers.         5 Using technology to expand access to education
                                                                  The World Bank sees potential in using technology to
2 Deploying technology for the development                        enrich the learning environment and increase access
and measurement of the breath of skills needed                    to textbooks and reading materials, and to expand
in the 21st century                                               opportunities for children to learn independently or with
Technology can be used for fostering higher-order skills          light adult supervision, in particular in fragile and conflict
like problem solving and creativity; teaching abstract            contexts or remote areas where teacher support is scarce.
concepts in science to hands-on learning; and building
social-emotional skills like persistence, resilience,             6 Developing digital literacy
empathy, and collaboration.                                       Young people—and adults—must be proficient and
                                                                  comfortable with technology to have the skills to thrive
3 Using technology to improve implementation                      in an increasingly technology-intensive workplace, and to
capacity of education ministries 	                                confront larger challenges which demand sophisticated
Technology is one tool used for improving the capacity            levels of knowledge and technological innovation.
of government ministries to collect and analyze infor-
mation on facilities, enrollment, student achievement,            7 Improving accountability and parental
financing, human resources, and citizen feedback. De-             engagement with technological tools
ployed correctly, technology and the metrics collected            Technology can be used to facilitate attendance tracking,
can be used to improve the quality and equity of service          monitor teacher absenteeism, and report on student
delivery, lower costs, and elevate safety measures.               assignments, performance, and learning assessments.




       educationgp@worldbank.org    worldbank.org/education    @WBG_Education Human Capital Project #INVESTinPeople