ICT for Education: Jan 2011

4 December 2010 ICTfE Investment I nvestment in ICT equipment, training and teaching is fundamental to educational development, but faced with reduced budgets schools are increasingly questioning their spend on ICT. Adding to a focus on low cost... More

4 December 2010 ICTfE Investment I nvestment in ICT equipment, training and teaching is fundamental to educational development, but faced with reduced budgets schools are increasingly questioning their spend on ICT. Adding to a focus on low cost and value for money, return on investment (ROI) is coming into the picture with schools investigating the long-term outcomes of implementing new technologies. For many, the pursuit of ROI is only just beginning. Unlike business, where ROI is a simple equation describing the financial outcomes, hopefully positive, of particular investments, ROI in education is more of an art than a science, with outcomes ranging from better school management to improved student exam results. The difficulty, at least so far, is that there is little evidence showing direct gains as a result of investment purely in ICT and that standard measurements with which to prove ROI cannot be defined in a sector with a number of approac Less