Dear colleagues
I wanted to bring to your attention two recent publications from the Digital Futures for Children centre:
- 'Assessing the impact of using EdTech on children's learning: A scoping review of meta-analyses' (by Kruakae Pothong, Kim Ringmar Sylwander, Sonia Livingstone, and Sandra El Gemayel)
Open access link: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/140402/
We conducted a scoping review of meta-studies assessing the impact of using EdTech on children's learning. This review considers 56 meta-analyses, encompassing findings from 2,111 studies, involving many thousands of children worldwide. The evidence shows that gains from EdTech are realised in very particular contexts and conditions of implementation. Thus, we find that learning effects depend on how and by whom technology is deployed and used, rather than on an EdTech technology in isolation. EdTech produces its strongest effects when embedded in active, collaborative and contextually grounded pedagogical approaches. When findings are disaggregated by children with different needs, ages and abilities, the measured impact varies greatly, and the evidence is the weakest for the most vulnerable children.
- Our anthology 'Children's rights under pressure in a digital world' (edited by Kim R Sylwander, Gazal Shekhawat and Sonia Livingstone)
Open access link: https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work/rights-under-pressure
The DFC's first anthology showcases work presented at the ICA 2026 pre-conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Spanning continents, the anthology's papers are organised around five themes: participation, regulation, family, commercial interests, and new technology. We invite readers to engage with the papers and seek conversation and collaboration with our anthology collaborators across the world.
You can learn more about the DFC's work here: https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work
All the very best, Sonia