No one knows the exact figure but a vast amount of money is being invested globally in technology and education. Technology is seen as one of the key drivers for widening opportunity, improving educational attainment and helping young people reach their full potential, but the evidence on its effectiveness is at best patchy.

“Many public/private sector alliances have been around the issue of technology,” notes Andrea Bosch, vice-president, Education Centre, at the International Youth Foundation (IYF). “Radio has had the biggest impact on return on investment because the medium is so cheap and yet it can reach so many. But with other forms of technology, the issue isn’t so clear cut.”

In the developed world, there has been a large investment in information and communications technology (ICT) and education, and now, ICT is increasingly being used in the developing world as a tool for education.

Last November, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unveiled a prototype laptop PC at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. It has a production target price of under $100 and is seen as a way of bringing ICT to many more people in developing countries. The initiative was enthusiastically endorsed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

But the compelling evidence that these initiatives can make a significant difference on a large scale is not available at present. “What you have are a series of small scale pilots that show how technology can improve the quality of education on particular areas, such as learning gains. The problem with computers is that you are looking at a high cost initiative, even with computers like the MIT laptop,” adds Ms Bosch.

Mark Nieker, president of the Pearson Foundation, says: “The real issue for ICT in education is in scaling up and replicating programmes that have proved to be successful in one place or community. Then there’s the problem of how you fund it if that community can’t afford it.”

A definitive answer on the effectiveness issue is hoped to be provided by a major global study on education and technology being conducted by the Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), with support from the Irish Government, technology company Cisco Systems and consultancy group A.T. Kearney. GeSCI was founded in 2003 by the United Nations ICT Task Force to raise global standards in education. GeSCI sees ICT underpinning much of this goal.

“We are on a long road ahead and the challenge is to answer the question industry is asking: ‘show us the benefits of investing in education,’” says Stephen Nolan, GeSCI’s executive director.

“What we have to show is that investing in education isn’t just about raising attainment, but that there are also social and economic benefits too. If you look at the situation in Ireland, where there was great investment in education in the 1960s, the benefits can be clearly seen.

“Japan, Korea, Singapore, Estonia and Costa Rica are other examples of places where investing in ICT in education has paid off. If you put in ICT, you can leapfrog and get there faster – that’s what the study needs to prove.”

GeSCI’s ROI study is in its early stages and will last around two to three years. It will cover about half a dozen territories around the world and include experts from organisations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“What we want to do is to help the key people making the investment decisions,” says Mr Nolan, “we want to build up the evidence for ministers and organisations such as the IMF and say ‘there’s the hard evidence.’” Mr Nolan adds that: “It’s important that technology can be shown to work, but it’s also important that when we talk about education and technology, the educational objectives come first. It’s technology that helps us overcome the challenges.”