A study commissioned by the Milken Exchange on Education Technology and recently released by Columbia University discovered that West Virginia's use of educational technology led directly to significant gains in K-6 students' reading, math, and language skills. School officials in West Virginia selected software carefully and then integrated it into the curriculum. They provided students an adequate number of computers, and they thoroughly trained teachers in how to use the software to improve student learning. It takes that 'I'm not working for an authority figure' element out of it. They're working at their own pace, and they love the multimedia effect.
Many studies published in recent years also document the benefits of technology.
Another group of Vanderbilt University researchers reported that students in the fifth grade and up who used a specific computer software product learned to solve multistep word problems more quickly than students in a control group did. A study conducted at Stephens Institute of Technology found that high-school students retained math skills longer after using commercially available mathematics software than did students in a control group receiving traditional classroom instruction. A study of elementary-aged students learning math found that students who used multimedia computer software showed less math anxiety and more frequently perceived the subject as relevant to everyday life than students in a control group did. An Educational Testing Service study discovered that math teachers who used computers could significantly boost fourth and eighth graders' standardized math scores, and a study of 53 elementary, middle, and high schools found that providing cutting-edge technology improves teachers' morale. That ETS study also found that students' attitudes, motivation, and behaviors improved very quickly when they used computers in school.