Technology for learning: A critical review of the meta-analysis literature

From Skinner’s teaching machines to adaptive learning or virtual reality, educational technology has continuously raised new expectations for individualizing teaching and fostering learning. As technology infuses classrooms with digital learning and teaching tools, their effectiveness is being widely debated. For the last forty years, many research projects have sought to assess the impact of educational technology on student learning and have been meta-analyzed. After presenting the main results of these studies, this article analyzes the contribution of this meta-analytical literature from a critical point of view. It aims to shed light on the digital education debate and to outline future research directions.