Online conference by Pierre Dillenbourg, Professeur Emeritus in learning technologies in the School of Computer & Communication Sciences at EPFL and fellow for a one-month writing residency in May 2026 at the Paris IAS as part of the "Paris IAS Ideas" series.

The "Paris IAS Ideas" online talk series features short and stimulating presentations from fellows of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, marking the beginning of 1-month writing residencies.

Only online and in English.
Free event but registration required.
Register via the form at the bottom of the page to receive the connection link.

Presentation

Many research projects have empirically demonstrated the effectiveness of some specific learning technology. Typically, a group of learners uses an educational software while a second group does another learning activity. Scholars measures the learners skills or knowledge by a test before and after the activities and verify if the gain between the pre-test and post-test is significantly higher for those who have been using the educational software. This is done as rigorously as it an be and, yet, it does not lead to spread this successful tool in our schools. There are many reasons for that. The one he will address is why the effects observed in a well-controlled study do not appear later on when scaling up the succesfull activity.