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Does Technology Support Better Learning?

By October 21, 2026No Comments

Each year, U.S. schools spend tens of billions of dollars on technology—far more than other nations. And yet many of those countries consistently achieve better results than we do, with less tech in the classroom.  

Moreover, a growing body of research suggests that screen time is linked to a number of negative factors for children, including ADHD, depression and suicide, and lower academic performance.  

Indeed, a new “digital divide” appears to be emerging—children from higher income families and in higher income schools are spending less time on screens than lower-income students and, as a result, experiencing fewer negative consequences of screen time. 

So, in light of all this, is an investment in education technology worth it? Does technology support better learning?

A snapshot of research on technology 

Research tends to paint a mixed picture of the benefits of technology. For example, international comparison studies suggest that some devices, such as data projectors and Internet-connected computers, are linked with better student outcomes. But other devices, including tablets and laptops, are linked with worse student outcomes.  

Cautionary data are also emerging from studies of the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on student thinking and writing. Indeed, the very thing AI is so good at doing—reducing the cognitive demand of searching for information and wrestling words on a page—may make it very bad for learning. These studies also suggest that putting technology in the hands of teachers appears to be more beneficial than putting it in the hands of students.   

These findings have prompted some researchers to call on schools to re-think their investments in technology—especially when a study examining curriculum software licenses purchased by hundreds of schools found that two-thirds of the licenses were not being used.  

Research from The McREL Institute paints a nuanced picture that likely squares with your own experiences with digital devices and technology: It can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how it’s used.  

So, how can schools and districts ensure they put technology to good use?

Detecting tech that works for learning and teaching

Too often, school staff purchase (or receive) the latest whiz-bang technology and then wonder how to use it in their classrooms. But simply buying tech because it’s available can, over time, lead to creating a “monster” of cobbled-together gadgets and apps that clutter classrooms and cloud the process of learning.  

A better approach is to start by considering the science of learning (how learning happens inside the brain) and the science of teaching (how teachers support learning in the classroom), and then create learning experiences for students that thoughtfully integrate high-touch with high-tech. In other words, the technology must help teachers deliver high-quality instruction more effectively and efficiently and help students unleash their curiosity and potential as learners. 

When the science of learning and teaching both guide the application of technology, it’s far easier and simpler to see where technology can enhance teaching and learning, where it’s likely to have limited or no effects, and where it may actually impede or distract from learning. 

The science of learning addresses how students absorb new knowledge and skills and convert them into long-term memory. McREL simplifies this process into six distinct phases of learning students go through:

  • Phase 1: Become interested
  • Phase 2: Commit to learning
  • Phase 3: Focus on new knowledge
  • Phase 4: Make sense of learning
  • Phase 5: Practice and reflect
  • Phase 6: Extend and apply

The science of teaching focuses on how teachers can support this process by using high-quality instructional practices. McREL identified 14 teaching strategies that research shows have significant effects on student learning. In many ways, the 14 strategies reflect what works in classrooms, and the six phases of learning explain why the strategies work and when to use them to best support student learning.  

Once we understand what works in the classroom and why, it’s easier to see where technology can enhance learning. The table below aligns the six phases of learning with the 14 strategies and highlights technology’s potential for supporting effective teaching and learning (based on McREL’s analysis of hundreds of education research studies). It includes:

  • Where digital technologies have strong potential to support better student learning.
  • Where digital technologies appear to have promising potential for enhancing teaching and learning.
  • Where digital technologies are unproven and/or may have limited potential to the process of learning (or worse, may even distract from learning).

The Science of Learning  

The 6 phases of learning students experience, based on cognitive science. 

Teaching Strategies  

14 effective instructional strategies, identified by McREL during its most recent “Classroom Instruction That Works” analysis of more than 100 high-quality classroom studies.

Technology’s Potential as an Effective Instructional Support 

Potential for using technology to support effective learning, based on McREL’s research and analysis. 

1) Become interested

To learning anything, students must first become interested in it—finding it curiosity-provoking, meaningful, or relevant to our lives.

Cognitive interest cues

Multiple studies point to the power of hooking student interest in learning with thought-provoking questions, compelling visuals, and personal connections that draw students, intellectually, into new learning. 

Tech Potential: Strong

Many low- and no-tech methods, such as asking thought-provoking questions, can pique student interest. Nonetheless, a handful of studies demonstrate positive effects for using digital technology—such as compelling videos or visuals—to stimulate students’ intellectual interest in learning.  

2) Commit to learning

All learning requires mental effort, so students must tell their brains it’s worth the effort, often by setting personal goals for learning.

Student goal setting & monitoring

Many studies report significant effects for engaging students in setting personal goals for learning and monitoring their own progress. 

Tech Potential: Promising

Goal setting helps students connect effort with success—a key disposition linked to success in life and school. It’s likely that apps designed to help students connect effort and success through goal setting can support student learning—so long as such applications support a mastery orientation to learning. 

3) Focus on new knowledge

Learning requires focusing attention on information in our short-term working memories—a process that’s aided when students receive information visually and verbally, see concrete examples of abstract ideas or new processes, and can encode new concepts as words.   

Vocabulary instruction

Direct instruction of subject-specific and academic vocabulary has been shown to significantly improve student learning outcomes. Effective vocabulary instruction is not limited to memorization of word lists but rather engages students in learning and applying words in multiple ways.  

Tech Potential: Strong

A McREL study of a web-based tool for vocabulary development that exposed students to new words in multi-faceted ways spread over time found significant effects for this intervention—equivalent to improving the vocabulary retention of average students 38 percentile points. 

Strategy instruction & modeling

A large group of studies make a strong case for providing students with direct instruction and modeling of new skills and procedural knowledge. Students benefit from step-by-step instruction (often with worked-out examples) on how to solve math problems, combine shorter sentences into more sophisticated compound sentences, or engage in close reading.  

Tech Potential: Promising

One possible digital application of this strategy is use of instructional videos that offer step-by-step guidance for procedural learning, which students can watch at their own pace during or outside of school hours—an approach some refer to as “flipped learning.” A recent meta-analysis of 114 studies of flipped classrooms  found small positive effects (equivalent to raising average achievement by 14 percentile points) as long as flipped lessons were followed by in-person instruction to help students integrate and make sense of what they had learned from the video.  

Visualizations & concrete examples

As it turns out, we are all visual learners. Our brains are hard-wired to process information better when we receive it both visually and verbally. Multiple studies point to the power of making learning visual with images and nonlinguistic representations and helping students to grasp abstract concepts with concrete examples.

Tech Potential: Strong

Multiple studies have found positive effects for digitally enhanced delivery of visualizations and examples—including an interactive math app designed to provide 4- and 5-year-olds with visually rich, direct instruction, a middle school math program that delivered visually enhanced instruction, and computer-based animations to help high school students visualize algebra problems. McREL has also found positive effects for Discovery Education’s Techbooks—science and math textbooks enhanced with videos to help students comprehend key concepts.  

4) Make sense of learning

To encode information in their brains, students must pause and process it, connecting new learning with prior learning and receiving feedback while attempting to master new skills. 

High-level questions & student explanations

Students only learn what they think about. That’s because reflecting on new learning helps our brains combine disparate bits of information into neural networks—a process called consolidation. So, it’s not surprising that numerous studies point to the power of posing high-level questions to students that prompt them to analyze, synthesize, reflect on their learning—or, similarly, to explain their thinking.     

Tech Potential: Unproven/Limited

None of the studies McREL reviewed that showed positive effects for high-level questions and student explanations were delivered using technology supported instruction. Instead, teachers used low-tech methods—namely, posing questions to students verbally or in writing and asking them to share their thinking in whole-class or small-group settings. In short, the power of this strategy comes from engaging students in sharing their thinking in real-time with real people. For now, this strategy appears best suited to high-touch, low-tech delivery.  

Guided initial application with formative feedback

After seeing a new skill demonstrated, students need opportunities to try it for themselves and begin forming the neural connections that will eventually become automated mental scripts. So, it’s vital they receive real-time feedback during these initial attempts to ensure they learn new skills correctly. Multiple studies highlight the need for formative feedback that helps students reflect on error patterns and how to correct them.  

Tech Potential: Promising

Most studies that demonstrated the power of guided initial application and formative feedback examined high-touch approaches to teaching—such as teachers observing students closely and providing feedback tailored to their learning needs. One study in this sample, though, reported positive effects for an online math homework tool that guided middle school students’ initial application of math skills with feedback tailored to error patterns in their responses. This study suggests sophisticated digital technologies may support guided initial application of new skills as long as teachers themselves monitor student progress and provide feedback and guidance as needed. 

Peer-assisted consolidation of learning

Multiple studies point to the power of group learning with peers to help students consolidate their new knowledge. Importantly, this strategy is best used after initial instruction rather than used while introducing students to new learning. In addition, effective peer-assisted learning tends to include highly structured protocols and activities and a focus on answering high-level questions. 

Tech Potential: Unproven/Limited

Across multiple studies, the key feature of peer-assisted consolidation of learning is engaging students in real-time processing of learning following direct instruction. To date, research studies have found that online cooperative learning has insignificant or inferior effects compared to face-to-face cooperative learning. The essential element of this strategy appears to be providing students with real-time interaction with peers following new learning—something technology may facilitate, especially when students cannot meet in person, but likely does not enhance.     

5) Practice and reflect

Repetition is the key to memory, especially when practice sessions are spaced over time and encourage retrieval of newly encoded information.  

Retrieval practice (quiz to remember)

For decades, research has shown that one of the best ways to remember something is to quiz oneself on it. Racking our brains to retrieve information strengthens the neural connections used to store it Multiple studies have found significant positive effects (equivalent to raising average student achievement 11 to 37 percentile points) for giving students frequent ungraded quizzes designed to strengthen recall of new learning. 

Tech Potential: Strong

Most of the retrieval practice interventions with positive effect sizes were low tech (using verbal quizzes, flash cards, self-quizzing, and written quizzes). But a handful of studies demonstrated the power of digital technology to automate speeded retrieval practice and support learning with immediate feedback. Collectively, these studies suggest that digital tools can enhance retrieval practice by giving students immediate feedback and ensuring students can correctly recall new learning multiple times before moving on. 

Spaced, mixed practice

Studies show that practice sessions spaced over days and weeks—as well as rehearsing a mix of skills during the same practice session—support long-term memory. Conversely, research shows that massed practice in a short time period (think of late-night “cramming” for a test) leads to fast learning and fast forgetting. Multiple studies report significant positive effects (equivalent to improving average student achievement 9 to 47 percentile points) for spaced, mixed practice opportunities for students.   

Tech Potential: Promising

Most of the studies McREL reviewed examined traditional paper-and-pencil practice activities. One large-scale study, however, found statistically significant positive effects for an online math homework tool that engaged students in repeated practice on problems until they achieved mastery (a streak of three correct answers on similar problems) followed by additional spaced practice sessions to enhance retention of new skills. These findings suggest that digital tools may be effective in automating key principles of spaced, mixed practice, including ensuring students practice until they can get at least three correct recalls and encounter those same items in at least three more sessions spread over time. 

Targeted support (scaffolded practice)

Multiple studies demonstrate the power of providing students who initially struggle to master new learning with opportunities to re-learn and re-practice. Delivered well, such supports have been shown to virtually close achievement gaps and help students return to on-grade-level performance. By definition, these supports are intended to be targeted and temporary—not a permanent designation or classification.    

Tech Potential: Promising

Although most of the studies reviewed by McREL examined high-touch, low-tech interventions (small group tutoring, for example), a handful of studies highlight ways that digital technologies can enhance targeted supports. Two separate studies found significant long-term effects for a software-based intervention that tracked student vocabulary and reading skills and provided teachers with guidance for how to adjust their instruction accordingly to meet student learning needs. These studies suggest that digital technology can supplement (but not replace) support and guidance from trained educators.  

6) Extend and apply

Students must extend and apply new learning in order to encode it deeply into their memories.

Cognitive writing

Thinking and writing are closely linked; as the old adage goes, we often don’t know what we think until we see what we’ve written. So, it’s not surprising that scientific studies (eight in all) point to the power of cognitive writing—extended writing assignments that engage students in high-order processing of new learning—to improve student learning outcomes.  

Tech Potential: Unproven/Limited

All of the studies McREL reviewed reported significant positive effects for decidedly low-tech interventions—in many cases, students were writing by hand or using simple word processing software. While some studies suggest software applications may improve students’ writing abilities, the goal of cognitive writing is not to teach students to write, but to encourage them to think about their learning through writing. Research suggests students retain more information when taking notes by hand versus on a laptop, likely because laptops make it too easy to mindlessly dictate notes and/or get distracted by other apps and web pages. Thus, any digital supports for cognitive writing should be thoughtfully applied to ensure students stay focused on thinking about learning. 

Guided investigations

Several studies demonstrate that guided investigations have positive effects on student learning (equivalent to raising achievement of average students from 10 to 49 percentile points). Likely, that’s because they help students develop richer mental connections to new material by engaging them in exploring compelling questions, observing real-world phenomena, analyzing data and evidence, and reporting their discoveries.  

Tech Potential: Promising

Although most guided investigations with positive effects on student learning were relatively low-tech learning experiences, such as hands-on experiments, McREL found one study that points to a possible way digital technologies may enhance guided investigations. A technology-based application and curriculum called Playground Physics was found to support middle school students’ learning of force, energy, and motion by having them record videos of one another playing on a playground, then watching the videos and discussing the physics principles they saw. Notably, the key feature of the intervention was its ability to help students visualize, think about, and develop understanding of complex concepts.   

Structured problem solving

A key outcome of learning is helping students develop mental models or schema—that is, the ability to identify the underlying structure of problems and to then retrieve prior learning to solve them. Multiple studies point to the power of engaging students in structured problem solving—challenging learning activities designed to help students develop mental schema by teaching them how to apply their knowledge and skills to solve complex, real-life problems. 

Tech Potential: Unproven/Limited

None of the structured problem-solving interventions with positive effects on student learning were supported with digital technologies. Instead, they were all low-tech interventions that provided direct instruction and guidance to help students recognize and recall strategies for solving complex problems. A key element of many of these interventions was their emphasis on helping students simplify problems by parsing relevant from irrelevant details in order to see the underlying structure of the problems themselves. Accordingly, digital enhancements may be unlikely to add value to structured problem-solving activities—and could even interfere with learning if they obfuscate the key elements of the problem that we want students to identify. 

Making sense of the research 

Across all 14 strategies, the vast majority of classrooms interventions reviewed by McREL were decidedly low-tech affairs with no digital enhancements. This fact makes clear that teachers can deliver high-quality learning experiences without any digital technology. 

Nonetheless, many learning activities—such as retrieval practice, vocabulary development, and spaced, mixed practice—do lend themselves easily to computer-assisted learning. Moreover, these studies point to ways that digital technologies can enhance teaching and learning, such as using videos to spark student interest in learning and visualize abstract ideas and key concepts.

Begin with the end in mind 

Perhaps the most important takeaway is that instructional tech decisions ought to begin with a clear understanding of how learning occurs in the brain and how teachers support it in the classroom—as well as with the recognition that it’s entirely possible to provide effective learning experiences without technology. Once that’s clear, educators would be well-served to ask the following questions when allocating resources to technology: 

  • How will this technology make teaching and learning more effective or efficient?
  • Which phase of learning or high-leverage teaching strategy will it enhance?
  • Could we deliver effective teaching and learning experiences without it?
  • In what ways might this technology distract from or diminish teaching and learning?
  • Which aspects of teaching and learning should we protect from technology, ensuring that it remains high-touch and low-tech? 

On the supply side, education technology companies would be well served to use this research to channel their entrepreneurial energies and talents by asking themselves a related series of questions: 

  • Which phase(s) of learning or proven teaching strategy(ies) does our technology make more efficient for teachers and/or effective for students?
  • Which phase(s) of learning or proven teaching strategy(ies) might we make more efficient for teachers or students? Which might we automate? Which might we personalize or individualize for students?
  • How can we demonstrate that our applications support deeper learning for students and/or more powerful instruction for teachers?  
McREL.org

About McREL.org

McREL is a non-profit, non-partisan education research and development organization that since 1966 has turned knowledge about what works in education into practical, effective guidance and training for teachers and education leaders across the U.S. and around the world.

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