Increasing performance by differentiated teaching? Experimental evidence of the student benefits of digital differentiation

• Published in: British journal of educational technology Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 1161 - 1174
• Main Authors: Haelermans, Carla, Ghysels, Joris, Prince, Fernao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Coventry Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2015; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Ability Grouping; Academic Ability; Age; Biology; College students; Educational Benefits; Educational Experiments; Educational technology; Electronic Learning; Foreign Countries; Grade repetition; Grades (Scholastic); Income; Individualized Instruction; Large Group Instruction; Neighborhoods; Netherlands; Pretests Posttests; Prevocational Education; Repetition; Robustness (Statistics); Scores; Sex; Social Class; Teaching methods; Netherlands
• ISSN: 0007-1013; 1467-8535
• DOI: 10.1111/bjet.12209

This paper explores the effect of digital differentiation on student performance using a randomized experiment. The experiment is conducted in a second year biology class among 115 prevocational students in the Netherlands. Differentiation allowed students in the treatment group to work at three different levels. The results show that there is a significant effect of digital differentiation on the posttest score. This effect is robust to adding covariates such as students' ability, grade repetition, age, gender, class and average neighborhood income. There are no differential effects when dividing students in three groups, by ability. The results imply that differentiation in large classrooms is possible and beneficial for all students, once done digitally.