Paper Number
ECIS2026-1287
Paper Type
CRP
Abstract
This systematic literature review examines how digital technologies shape learning outcomes across educational settings. Drawing on 362 empirical studies, we use the SAMR and ICAP models to characterize four recurring digital learning configurations: content-delivery, collaborative construction, immersive experiential, and adaptive feedback. The synthesis shows that most interventions adopt content-delivery configurations at substitution or augmentation levels and elicit mainly passive or active engagement, producing gains in knowledge and motivation but limited higher-order cognitive and behavioural outcomes. Collaborative, immersive, and adaptive configurations are less frequent yet associated with richer outcome portfolios when they foster constructive or interactive engagement. Building on these patterns, we propose the Technology–Activity–Outcome (TAO) framework, which conceptualizes digital learning interventions as socio-technical configurations linking technology families, engagement mechanisms, and outcome portfolios through the notion of transformative alignment. The review offers a diagnostic map of how current research populates this framework and outlines a structured agenda for future work on adaptive and AI-based learning environments and richer measurements of learning processes
Recommended Citation
Omezzine, Mohamed Amir, "Decoding Learning In The Era Of Digital Technology: A Systematic Review and Synthesis Of The Literature" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 2.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/litrev/litrev/2
Decoding Learning In The Era Of Digital Technology: A Systematic Review and Synthesis Of The Literature
This systematic literature review examines how digital technologies shape learning outcomes across educational settings. Drawing on 362 empirical studies, we use the SAMR and ICAP models to characterize four recurring digital learning configurations: content-delivery, collaborative construction, immersive experiential, and adaptive feedback. The synthesis shows that most interventions adopt content-delivery configurations at substitution or augmentation levels and elicit mainly passive or active engagement, producing gains in knowledge and motivation but limited higher-order cognitive and behavioural outcomes. Collaborative, immersive, and adaptive configurations are less frequent yet associated with richer outcome portfolios when they foster constructive or interactive engagement. Building on these patterns, we propose the Technology–Activity–Outcome (TAO) framework, which conceptualizes digital learning interventions as socio-technical configurations linking technology families, engagement mechanisms, and outcome portfolios through the notion of transformative alignment. The review offers a diagnostic map of how current research populates this framework and outlines a structured agenda for future work on adaptive and AI-based learning environments and richer measurements of learning processes