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Field
Trial Title
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Before
Aspire to Innovate Digital Lab Access in Bangladesh: Evidence from an At-Scale Randomized Field Experiment
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After
Access or Mandate? A Field Experiment on Digital Learning Resources in Schools across Bangladesh
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Field
Trial Status
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Before
in_development
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After
on_going
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Field
Abstract
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Before
Extended school closures of 1.5 years during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a learning crisis due to lack of access to digital learning resources in Bangladesh. This study aims to incentivize school-centric EdTech utilization and improve learning through a randomized control trial (RCT). The RCT would entail providing pedagogical and ICT training to teachers, offline digital educational content to students, and school curricula integration in randomly selected secondary schools. We hypothesize that blended education through school-based EdTech that leverages the existing ICT infrastructure in schools, offers the most practical, equitable, and cost-effective way to substantially and sustainably increase EdTech outreach to all, particularly in reducing the current learning crisis.
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After
School-based educational technology (EdTech) has the potential to enhance student learning. However, there is limited evidence on how low-cost EdTech can promote learning in economically marginalized settings with inadequate internet penetration, growing digital divide, and varying teacher competencies. Collaborating with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), we conduct an at-scale randomized field experiment to evaluate the impact of mobilizing under-utilized in-school ICT infrastructure to facilitate digital learning through two channels: providing better ``access'' to video-assisted learning (VAL) resources and ``mandating'' EdTech-based lessons. 466 nationwide secondary schools with existing functional digital classrooms were randomly assigned to three groups: 1) packaged intervention consisting of offline educational videos and teacher training (Access treatment), 2) Access treatment plus GoB mandating weekly EdTech-based lessons in English and Mathematics (Mandate treatment), and status-quo (control). We aim to examine the effectiveness of providing access to VAL resources and mandating EdTech-based lessons on digital class utilization and student learning.
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Field
Trial Start Date
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Before
January 15, 2023
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After
March 01, 2023
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Field
Trial End Date
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Before
October 31, 2023
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After
August 31, 2025
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Field
JEL Code(s)
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Before
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After
H52, H75, I21, I28, O15, O33
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Field
Last Published
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Before
November 09, 2022 04:54 PM
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After
November 12, 2024 05:15 AM
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Field
Intervention Start Date
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Before
March 01, 2023
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After
October 01, 2023
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
August 31, 2023
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After
August 31, 2025
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Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Frequency of lab utilization/access to study materials captured through lab sign-up sheets, surveys, and computer logs.
Test scores for mathematics and English.
Student and teacher school attendance.
Household human capital response such as household expenditure on education.
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After
Test scores for English and Mathematics.
Take up of EdTech-based subject lessons.
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Extended school closures of 1.5 years during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a learning crisis due to lack of access to digital learning resources in Bangladesh. This study aims to incentivize school-centric EdTech utilization and improve learning through a randomized control trial (RCT). The RCT would entail providing pedagogical and ICT training to teachers, offline digital educational content to students, and school curricula integration in randomly selected secondary schools. We hypothesize that blended education through school-based EdTech that leverages the existing ICT infrastructure in schools, offers the most practical, equitable, and cost-effective way to substantially and sustainably increase EdTech outreach to all, particularly in reducing the current learning crisis.
|
After
School-based educational technology (EdTech) has the potential to enhance student learning. However, there is limited evidence on how low-cost EdTech can promote learning in economically marginalized settings with inadequate internet penetration, growing digital divide, and varying teacher competencies. Collaborating with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), we conduct an at-scale randomized field experiment to evaluate the impact of mobilizing under-utilized in-school ICT infrastructure to facilitate digital learning through two channels: providing better ``access'' to video-assisted learning (VAL) resources and ``mandating'' EdTech-based lessons. 466 nationwide secondary schools with existing functional digital classrooms were randomly assigned to three groups: 1) packaged intervention consisting of offline educational videos and teacher training (Access treatment), 2) Access treatment plus GoB mandating weekly EdTech-based lessons in English and Mathematics (Mandate treatment), and status-quo (control). We aim to examine the effectiveness of providing access to VAL resources and mandating EdTech-based lessons on digital class utilization and student learning.
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
510 schools.
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After
466 schools.
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
510 headmasters, 2250 teachers, 3060 students and parents.
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After
466 headmasters, 1,398 teachers, 14,000 students.
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
170 schools control, 170 schools with teacher training and offline digital learning resources, 170 schools with teacher training and offline digital learning resources and school curricula integration.
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After
156 schools control, 155 schools with teacher training and offline digital learning resources, 155 schools with teacher training and offline digital learning resources and school curricula integration.
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Field
Additional Keyword(s)
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Before
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After
Video-assisted learning, EdTech-based lessons, policy mandate, scalability
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