The relationship between ICT and student literacy in mathematics, reading, and science across 44 countries: A multilevel analysis

This study conceptualized ICT as multi-level (country-, school-, and student-level) constructs and examined their relationships with student mathematics, reading, and scientific literacy. Threelevel hierarchical linear models (HLM) were employed to analyse the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 data of 305,414 15-year-old students from 11,075 schools across 44 countries. The findings indicated that (i) national ICT skills had a more positive effect on student academic performance than did national ICT access and use; (ii) students ICT availability at school positively associated with student academic success, whereas student ICT availability at home negatively associated with student academic success; (iii) student ICT academic use negatively correlated with student performance, while ICT entertainment use positively correlated with student performance; and (v) student attitudes toward ICT demonstrated mixed effects on student academic success – specifically, student interest, competence, and autonomy in using ICT had positive correlations, while student enjoyment of social interaction around ICT had a negative correlation with student academic performance.

In this study, we examine the relationship between national-, school-, and student-level ICT factors and student mathematics, reading, and scientific literacy. The results indicated that ICT explained considerable variance in student academic performance (especially at the national- and school-levels); besides, different ICT factors showed diverse influential patterns on student learning outcomes.