journal of modern education review

Search the FAQ

I am trying to see if i could review this journal: journal of modern education review..

In trying to research this journal, I found many conflicting signs as to its quality and hence, its likelihood of being available in a library, which would be one source for getting to look at it for free.

I have recently created a guide to evaluating journal quality, found at http://library.uhd.edu/journalquality . I checked the Ulrich's Serials Directory, and although the journal was listed, very little information was given about it. (You can also check this through the guide above.) It was not listed as peer-reviewed, and it is not indexed anywhere. I did not find it in the Cabell's journal directory in education.

When I just searched the name of the journal on the Web, a half-finished Web site came up for it, which might be what you found, saying it was published by Academic Star - ( http://academicstar.ecrater.com/p/11598874/journal-of-modern-education-review ). When I found Academic Star's main site at http://academicstar.us/ , they don't list the journal. They say they're located in New York, but appear to be Chinese. What is there on that site has indicators that mark it as a potentially suspicious publisher, as you'll see from the checklist I have on the guide above.

I searched the ISSN on the Web, which is 2155-7993. A couple of papers came up, but they indicated they were online submissions to the journal, not necessarily the journal itself.

I also searched Worldcat.org, which includes listings of the holdings of most U.S. libraries. It doesn't list any library as holding this journal.

In short, I am not aware of a way to get this to look at for free, and I didn't find any direct reviews; however, what I did find is reason to question the quality, and perhaps the existence, of this journal. Sorry this may not be helpful to you!

Links & Files

• Journal Quality Evaluation Research Guide
• Research FAQ
• Faculty FAQ
• Last Updated Dec 03, 2018
• Views 36547
• Answered By UHD Librarian

FAQ Actions

• Share on Facebook

Comments (3)

• The University of Houston-Downtown does not subscribe to the Journal of Modern Education. Based on the lack of quality in their website, as well as descriptions of their publishing practices found on other websites, I would strongly discourage you from using this publication in your research. Further, I would be suspicious of any article or book that cites articles from the Journal of Modern Education. If you are looking for reputable, scholarly works on education, please consider using ERIC database. This can be accessed by click on the ERIC Database link on the Education Research Guide - http://library.uhd.edu/Education. When accessing the database from off campus, you will be asked for a username and password - these are the same as your username and password for Blackboard. by Billy Hoya on Nov 22, 2012
• Here's a link to an article about pseudo-journals (and pseudo-conferences). http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/health/for-scientists-an-exploding-world-of-pseudo-academia.html?hp&_r=0 by Kay Stand on Apr 04, 2014
• Faculty should consult Cabell's directory and check the "Blacklist" category for titles of journals with violations. The Journal of Modern Education Review is on the Cabell's blacklist and has 6 violations. There are eight other journals published by the same publisher (Academic Star Publishing Company) that also have numerous violations. UHD faculty can access Cabell's by going to the UHD library website and selecting "Databases" > "C" > "Cabell's Directories". by Steve Bonario on Sep 01, 2018

More Ways to Ask a Librarian

Identifiers

Linking ISSN (ISSN-L): 2155-7993

Google https://www.google.com/search?q=ISSN+%222155-7993%22

Bing https://www.bing.com/search?q=ISSN+%222155-7993%22

Yahoo https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=ISSN%20%222155-7993%22

Library of Congress https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=STNO&searchArg=2155-7993&searchType=1&limitTo=none&fromYear=&toYear=&limitTo=LOCA%3Dall&limitTo=PLAC%3Dall&limitTo=TYPE%3Dall&limitTo=LANG%3Dall&recCount=25

Resource information

Title proper: Journal of modern education review.

Country: United States

Medium: Print

Record information

Last modification date: 03/02/2012

Type of record: Confirmed

ISSN Center responsible of the record: ISSN National Centre for the USA For all potential issues concerning the description of the publication identified by this bibliographic record (missing or wrong data etc.), please contact the ISSN National Centre mentioned above by clicking on the link.

downloads requested

Discover all the features of the complete ISSN records

Display mode x.

Labelled view

MARC21 view

UNIMARC view

Journal of modern education review  

Papers published on a yearly basis, a comparative study of staff perspectives on design based learning in engineering education.

7  citations

Emotional development in children with intellectual disability - a comparative approach with “normal” children.

6  citations

Thinking in the Japanese Classroom

4  citations

Obstacles Libyan Teachers of English Encounter While Implementing English Language Curriculum in Libyan High Schools

Teachers’ levels of knowledge and interest on higher order thinking skills (hots) according to the field taught and category of schools, network information, computers in education, teaching and teacher education, teachers and teaching, international journal of science and mathematics education, environmental education research, performance.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Review Article
• Open access
• Published: 12 February 2024

Education reform and change driven by digital technology: a bibliometric study from a global perspective

• Chengliang Wang 1 ,
• Xiaojiao Chen 1 ,
• Teng Yu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5198-7261 2 , 3 ,
• Yidan Liu 1 , 4 &
• Yuhui Jing 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  256 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

11k Accesses

11 Citations

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Development studies
• Science, technology and society

Amidst the global digital transformation of educational institutions, digital technology has emerged as a significant area of interest among scholars. Such technologies have played an instrumental role in enhancing learner performance and improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning. These digital technologies also ensure the sustainability and stability of education during the epidemic. Despite this, a dearth of systematic reviews exists regarding the current state of digital technology application in education. To address this gap, this study utilized the Web of Science Core Collection as a data source (specifically selecting the high-quality SSCI and SCIE) and implemented a topic search by setting keywords, yielding 1849 initial publications. Furthermore, following the PRISMA guidelines, we refined the selection to 588 high-quality articles. Using software tools such as CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Charticulator, we reviewed these 588 publications to identify core authors (such as Selwyn, Henderson, Edwards), highly productive countries/regions (England, Australia, USA), key institutions (Monash University, Australian Catholic University), and crucial journals in the field ( Education and Information Technologies , Computers & Education , British Journal of Educational Technology ). Evolutionary analysis reveals four developmental periods in the research field of digital technology education application: the embryonic period, the preliminary development period, the key exploration, and the acceleration period of change. The study highlights the dual influence of technological factors and historical context on the research topic. Technology is a key factor in enabling education to transform and upgrade, and the context of the times is an important driving force in promoting the adoption of new technologies in the education system and the transformation and upgrading of education. Additionally, the study identifies three frontier hotspots in the field: physical education, digital transformation, and professional development under the promotion of digital technology. This study presents a clear framework for digital technology application in education, which can serve as a valuable reference for researchers and educational practitioners concerned with digital technology education application in theory and practice.

Similar content being viewed by others

A bibliometric analysis of knowledge mapping in Chinese education digitalization research from 2012 to 2022

Digital transformation and digital literacy in the context of complexity within higher education institutions: a systematic literature review

Knowledge mapping of vocational education and training research (2004–2020): a visual analysis based on CiteSpace

Introduction.

Digital technology has become an essential component of modern education, facilitating the extension of temporal and spatial boundaries and enriching the pedagogical contexts (Selwyn and Facer, 2014 ). The advent of mobile communication technology has enabled learning through social media platforms (Szeto et al. 2015 ; Pires et al. 2022 ), while the advancement of augmented reality technology has disrupted traditional conceptions of learning environments and spaces (Perez-Sanagustin et al., 2014 ; Kyza and Georgiou, 2018 ). A wide range of digital technologies has enabled learning to become a norm in various settings, including the workplace (Sjöberg and Holmgren, 2021 ), home (Nazare et al. 2022 ), and online communities (Tang and Lam, 2014 ). Education is no longer limited to fixed locations and schedules, but has permeated all aspects of life, allowing learning to continue at any time and any place (Camilleri and Camilleri, 2016 ; Selwyn and Facer, 2014 ).

The advent of digital technology has led to the creation of several informal learning environments (Greenhow and Lewin, 2015 ) that exhibit divergent form, function, features, and patterns in comparison to conventional learning environments (Nygren et al. 2019 ). Consequently, the associated teaching and learning processes, as well as the strategies for the creation, dissemination, and acquisition of learning resources, have undergone a complete overhaul. The ensuing transformations have posed a myriad of novel issues, such as the optimal structuring of teaching methods by instructors and the adoption of appropriate learning strategies by students in the new digital technology environment. Consequently, an examination of the principles that underpin effective teaching and learning in this environment is a topic of significant interest to numerous scholars engaged in digital technology education research.

Over the course of the last two decades, digital technology has made significant strides in the field of education, notably in extending education time and space and creating novel educational contexts with sustainability. Despite research attempts to consolidate the application of digital technology in education, previous studies have only focused on specific aspects of digital technology, such as Pinto and Leite’s ( 2020 ) investigation into digital technology in higher education and Mustapha et al.’s ( 2021 ) examination of the role and value of digital technology in education during the pandemic. While these studies have provided valuable insights into the practical applications of digital technology in particular educational domains, they have not comprehensively explored the macro-mechanisms and internal logic of digital technology implementation in education. Additionally, these studies were conducted over a relatively brief period, making it challenging to gain a comprehensive understanding of the macro-dynamics and evolutionary process of digital technology in education. Some studies have provided an overview of digital education from an educational perspective but lack a precise understanding of technological advancement and change (Yang et al. 2022 ). Therefore, this study seeks to employ a systematic scientific approach to collate relevant research from 2000 to 2022, comprehend the internal logic and development trends of digital technology in education, and grasp the outstanding contribution of digital technology in promoting the sustainability of education in time and space. In summary, this study aims to address the following questions:

RQ1: Since the turn of the century, what is the productivity distribution of the field of digital technology education application research in terms of authorship, country/region, institutional and journal level?

RQ2: What is the development trend of research on the application of digital technology in education in the past two decades?

RQ3: What are the current frontiers of research on the application of digital technology in education?

Literature review

Although the term “digital technology” has become ubiquitous, a unified definition has yet to be agreed upon by scholars. Because the meaning of the word digital technology is closely related to the specific context. Within the educational research domain, Selwyn’s ( 2016 ) definition is widely favored by scholars (Pinto and Leite, 2020 ). Selwyn ( 2016 ) provides a comprehensive view of various concrete digital technologies and their applications in education through ten specific cases, such as immediate feedback in classes, orchestrating teaching, and community learning. Through these specific application scenarios, Selwyn ( 2016 ) argues that digital technology encompasses technologies associated with digital devices, including but not limited to tablets, smartphones, computers, and social media platforms (such as Facebook and YouTube). Furthermore, Further, the behavior of accessing the internet at any location through portable devices can be taken as an extension of the behavior of applying digital technology.

The evolving nature of digital technology has significant implications in the field of education. In the 1890s, the focus of digital technology in education was on comprehending the nuances of digital space, digital culture, and educational methodologies, with its connotations aligned more towards the idea of e-learning. The advent and subsequent widespread usage of mobile devices since the dawn of the new millennium have been instrumental in the rapid expansion of the concept of digital technology. Notably, mobile learning devices such as smartphones and tablets, along with social media platforms, have become integral components of digital technology (Conole and Alevizou, 2010 ; Batista et al. 2016 ). In recent times, the burgeoning application of AI technology in the education sector has played a vital role in enriching the digital technology lexicon (Banerjee et al. 2021 ). ChatGPT, for instance, is identified as a novel educational technology that has immense potential to revolutionize future education (Rospigliosi, 2023 ; Arif, Munaf and Ul-Haque, 2023 ).

Pinto and Leite ( 2020 ) conducted a comprehensive macroscopic survey of the use of digital technologies in the education sector and identified three distinct categories, namely technologies for assessment and feedback, mobile technologies, and Information Communication Technologies (ICT). This classification criterion is both macroscopic and highly condensed. In light of the established concept definitions of digital technology in the educational research literature, this study has adopted the characterizations of digital technology proposed by Selwyn ( 2016 ) and Pinto and Leite ( 2020 ) as crucial criteria for analysis and research inclusion. Specifically, this criterion encompasses several distinct types of digital technologies, including Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Mobile tools, eXtended Reality (XR) Technologies, Assessment and Feedback systems, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Publish and Share tools, Collaborative systems, Social media, Interpersonal Communication tools, and Content Aggregation tools.

Methodology and materials

Research method: bibliometric.

The research on econometric properties has been present in various aspects of human production and life, yet systematic scientific theoretical guidance has been lacking, resulting in disorganization. In 1969, British scholar Pritchard ( 1969 ) proposed “bibliometrics,” which subsequently emerged as an independent discipline in scientific quantification research. Initially, Pritchard defined bibliometrics as “the application of mathematical and statistical methods to books and other media of communication,” however, the definition was not entirely rigorous. To remedy this, Hawkins ( 2001 ) expanded Pritchard’s definition to “the quantitative analysis of the bibliographic features of a body of literature.” De Bellis further clarified the objectives of bibliometrics, stating that it aims to analyze and identify patterns in literature, such as the most productive authors, institutions, countries, and journals in scientific disciplines, trends in literary production over time, and collaboration networks (De Bellis, 2009 ). According to Garfield ( 2006 ), bibliometric research enables the examination of the history and structure of a field, the flow of information within the field, the impact of journals, and the citation status of publications over a longer time scale. All of these definitions illustrate the unique role of bibliometrics as a research method for evaluating specific research fields.

This study uses CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Charticulator to analyze data and create visualizations. Each of these three tools has its own strengths and can complement each other. CiteSpace and VOSviewer use set theory and probability theory to provide various visualization views in fields such as keywords, co-occurrence, and co-authors. They are easy to use and produce visually appealing graphics (Chen, 2006 ; van Eck and Waltman, 2009 ) and are currently the two most widely used bibliometric tools in the field of visualization (Pan et al. 2018 ). In this study, VOSviewer provided the data necessary for the Performance Analysis; Charticulator was then used to redraw using the tabular data exported from VOSviewer (for creating the chord diagram of country collaboration); this was to complement the mapping process, while CiteSpace was primarily utilized to generate keyword maps and conduct burst word analysis.

Data retrieval

This study selected documents from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) in the Web of Science Core Collection as the data source, for the following reasons:

(1) The Web of Science Core Collection, as a high-quality digital literature resource database, has been widely accepted by many researchers and is currently considered the most suitable database for bibliometric analysis (Jing et al. 2023a ). Compared to other databases, Web of Science provides more comprehensive data information (Chen et al. 2022a ), and also provides data formats suitable for analysis using VOSviewer and CiteSpace (Gaviria-Marin et al. 2019 ).

(2) The application of digital technology in the field of education is an interdisciplinary research topic, involving technical knowledge literature belonging to the natural sciences and education-related literature belonging to the social sciences. Therefore, it is necessary to select Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) as the sources of research data, ensuring the comprehensiveness of data while ensuring the reliability and persuasiveness of bibliometric research (Hwang and Tsai, 2011 ; Wang et al. 2022 ).

After establishing the source of research data, it is necessary to determine a retrieval strategy (Jing et al. 2023b ). The choice of a retrieval strategy should consider a balance between the breadth and precision of the search formula. That is to say, it should encompass all the literature pertaining to the research topic while excluding irrelevant documents as much as possible. In light of this, this study has set a retrieval strategy informed by multiple related papers (Mustapha et al. 2021 ; Luo et al. 2021 ). The research by Mustapha et al. ( 2021 ) guided us in selecting keywords (“digital” AND “technolog*”) to target digital technology, while Luo et al. ( 2021 ) informed the selection of terms (such as “instruct*,” “teach*,” and “education”) to establish links with the field of education. Then, based on the current application of digital technology in the educational domain and the scope of selection criteria, we constructed the final retrieval strategy. Following the general patterns of past research (Jing et al. 2023a , 2023b ), we conducted a specific screening using the topic search (Topics, TS) function in Web of Science. For the specific criteria used in the screening for this study, please refer to Table 1 .

Literature screening

Literature acquired through keyword searches may contain ostensibly related yet actually unrelated works. Therefore, to ensure the close relevance of literature included in the analysis to the research topic, it is often necessary to perform a manual screening process to identify the final literature to be analyzed, subsequent to completing the initial literature search.

The manual screening process consists of two steps. Initially, irrelevant literature is weeded out based on the title and abstract, with two members of the research team involved in this phase. This stage lasted about one week, resulting in 1106 articles being retained. Subsequently, a comprehensive review of the full text is conducted to accurately identify the literature required for the study. To carry out the second phase of manual screening effectively and scientifically, and to minimize the potential for researcher bias, the research team established the inclusion criteria presented in Table 2 . Three members were engaged in this phase, which took approximately 2 weeks, culminating in the retention of 588 articles after meticulous screening. The entire screening process is depicted in Fig. 1 , adhering to the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al. 2021 ).

The process of obtaining and filtering the necessary literature data for research.

Data standardization

Nguyen and Hallinger ( 2020 ) pointed out that raw data extracted from scientific databases often contains multiple expressions of the same term, and not addressing these synonymous expressions could affect research results in bibliometric analysis. For instance, in the original data, the author list may include “Tsai, C. C.” and “Tsai, C.-C.”, while the keyword list may include “professional-development” and “professional development,” which often require merging. Therefore, before analyzing the selected literature, a data disambiguation process is necessary to standardize the data (Strotmann and Zhao, 2012 ; Van Eck and Waltman, 2019 ). This study adopted the data standardization process proposed by Taskin and Al ( 2019 ), mainly including the following standardization operations:

Firstly, the author and source fields in the data are corrected and standardized to differentiate authors with similar names.

Secondly, the study checks whether the journals to which the literature belongs have been renamed in the past over 20 years, so as to avoid the influence of periodical name change on the analysis results.

Finally, the keyword field is standardized by unifying parts of speech and singular/plural forms of keywords, which can help eliminate redundant entries in the knowledge graph.

Performance analysis (RQ1)

This section offers a thorough and detailed analysis of the state of research in the field of digital technology education. By utilizing descriptive statistics and visual maps, it provides a comprehensive overview of the development trends, authors, countries, institutions, and journal distribution within the field. The insights presented in this section are of great significance in advancing our understanding of the current state of research in this field and identifying areas for further investigation. The use of visual aids to display inter-country cooperation and the evolution of the field adds to the clarity and coherence of the analysis.

Time trend of the publications

To understand a research field, it is first necessary to understand the most basic quantitative information, among which the change in the number of publications per year best reflects the development trend of a research field. Figure 2 shows the distribution of publication dates.

Time trend of the publications on application of digital technology in education.

From the Fig. 2 , it can be seen that the development of this field over the past over 20 years can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage was from 2000 to 2007, during which the number of publications was relatively low. Due to various factors such as technological maturity, the academic community did not pay widespread attention to the role of digital technology in expanding the scope of teaching and learning. The second stage was from 2008 to 2019, during which the overall number of publications showed an upward trend, and the development of the field entered an accelerated period, attracting more and more scholars’ attention. The third stage was from 2020 to 2022, during which the number of publications stabilized at around 100. During this period, the impact of the pandemic led to a large number of scholars focusing on the role of digital technology in education during the pandemic, and research on the application of digital technology in education became a core topic in social science research.

Analysis of authors

An analysis of the author’s publication volume provides information about the representative scholars and core research strengths of a research area. Table 3 presents information on the core authors in adaptive learning research, including name, publication number, and average number of citations per article (based on the analysis and statistics from VOSviewer).

Variations in research foci among scholars abound. Within the field of digital technology education application research over the past two decades, Neil Selwyn stands as the most productive author, having published 15 papers garnering a total of 1027 citations, resulting in an average of 68.47 citations per paper. As a Professor at the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Selwyn concentrates on exploring the application of digital technology in higher education contexts (Selwyn et al. 2021 ), as well as related products in higher education such as Coursera, edX, and Udacity MOOC platforms (Bulfin et al. 2014 ). Selwyn’s contributions to the educational sociology perspective include extensive research on the impact of digital technology on education, highlighting the spatiotemporal extension of educational processes and practices through technological means as the greatest value of educational technology (Selwyn, 2012 ; Selwyn and Facer, 2014 ). In addition, he provides a blueprint for the development of future schools in 2030 based on the present impact of digital technology on education (Selwyn et al. 2019 ). The second most productive author in this field, Henderson, also offers significant contributions to the understanding of the important value of digital technology in education, specifically in the higher education setting, with a focus on the impact of the pandemic (Henderson et al. 2015 ; Cohen et al. 2022 ). In contrast, Edwards’ research interests focus on early childhood education, particularly the application of digital technology in this context (Edwards, 2013 ; Bird and Edwards, 2015 ). Additionally, on the technical level, Edwards also mainly prefers digital game technology, because it is a digital technology that children are relatively easy to accept (Edwards, 2015 ).

Analysis of countries/regions and organization

The present study aimed to ascertain the leading countries in digital technology education application research by analyzing 75 countries related to 558 works of literature. Table 4 depicts the top ten countries that have contributed significantly to this field in terms of publication count (based on the analysis and statistics from VOSviewer). Our analysis of Table 4 data shows that England emerged as the most influential country/region, with 92 published papers and 2401 citations. Australia and the United States secured the second and third ranks, respectively, with 90 papers (2187 citations) and 70 papers (1331 citations) published. Geographically, most of the countries featured in the top ten publication volumes are situated in Australia, North America, and Europe, with China being the only exception. Notably, all these countries, except China, belong to the group of developed nations, suggesting that economic strength is a prerequisite for fostering research in the digital technology education application field.

This study presents a visual representation of the publication output and cooperation relationships among different countries in the field of digital technology education application research. Specifically, a chord diagram is employed to display the top 30 countries in terms of publication output, as depicted in Fig. 3 . The chord diagram is composed of nodes and chords, where the nodes are positioned as scattered points along the circumference, and the length of each node corresponds to the publication output, with longer lengths indicating higher publication output. The chords, on the other hand, represent the cooperation relationships between any two countries, and are weighted based on the degree of closeness of the cooperation, with wider chords indicating closer cooperation. Through the analysis of the cooperation relationships, the findings suggest that the main publishing countries in this field are engaged in cooperative relationships with each other, indicating a relatively high level of international academic exchange and research internationalization.

In the diagram, nodes are scattered along the circumference of a circle, with the length of each node representing the volume of publications. The weighted arcs connecting any two points on the circle are known as chords, representing the collaborative relationship between the two, with the width of the arc indicating the closeness of the collaboration.

Further analyzing Fig. 3 , we can extract more valuable information, enabling a deeper understanding of the connections between countries in the research field of digital technology in educational applications. It is evident that certain countries, such as the United States, China, and England, display thicker connections, indicating robust collaborative relationships in terms of productivity. These thicker lines signify substantial mutual contributions and shared objectives in certain sectors or fields, highlighting the interconnectedness and global integration in these areas. By delving deeper, we can also explore potential future collaboration opportunities through the chord diagram, identifying possible partners to propel research and development in this field. In essence, the chord diagram successfully encapsulates and conveys the multi-dimensionality of global productivity and cooperation, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the intricate inter-country relationships and networks in a global context, providing valuable guidance and insights for future research and collaborations.

An in-depth examination of the publishing institutions is provided in Table 5 , showcasing the foremost 10 institutions ranked by their publication volume. Notably, Monash University and Australian Catholic University, situated in Australia, have recorded the most prolific publications within the digital technology education application realm, with 22 and 10 publications respectively. Moreover, the University of Oslo from Norway is featured among the top 10 publishing institutions, with an impressive average citation count of 64 per publication. It is worth highlighting that six institutions based in the United Kingdom were also ranked within the top 10 publishing institutions, signifying their leading position in this area of research.

Analysis of journals

Journals are the main carriers for publishing high-quality papers. Some scholars point out that the two key factors to measure the influence of journals in the specified field are the number of articles published and the number of citations. The more papers published in a magazine and the more citations, the greater its influence (Dzikowski, 2018 ). Therefore, this study utilized VOSviewer to statistically analyze the top 10 journals with the most publications in the field of digital technology in education and calculated the average citations per article (see Table 6 ).

Based on Table 6 , it is apparent that the highest number of articles in the domain of digital technology in education research were published in Education and Information Technologies (47 articles), Computers & Education (34 articles), and British Journal of Educational Technology (32 articles), indicating a higher article output compared to other journals. This underscores the fact that these three journals concentrate more on the application of digital technology in education. Furthermore, several other journals, such as Technology Pedagogy and Education and Sustainability, have published more than 15 articles in this domain. Sustainability represents the open access movement, which has notably facilitated research progress in this field, indicating that the development of open access journals in recent years has had a significant impact. Although there is still considerable disagreement among scholars on the optimal approach to achieve open access, the notion that research outcomes should be accessible to all is widely recognized (Huang et al. 2020 ). On further analysis of the research fields to which these journals belong, except for Sustainability, it is evident that they all pertain to educational technology, thus providing a qualitative definition of the research area of digital technology education from the perspective of journals.

Temporal keyword analysis: thematic evolution (RQ2)

The evolution of research themes is a dynamic process, and previous studies have attempted to present the developmental trajectory of fields by drawing keyword networks in phases (Kumar et al. 2021 ; Chen et al. 2022b ). To understand the shifts in research topics across different periods, this study follows past research and, based on the significant changes in the research field and corresponding technological advancements during the outlined periods, divides the timeline into four stages (the first stage from January 2000 to December 2005, the second stage from January 2006 to December 2011, the third stage from January 2012 to December 2017; and the fourth stage from January 2018 to December 2022). The division into these four stages was determined through a combination of bibliometric analysis and literature review, which presented a clear trajectory of the field’s development. The research analyzes the keyword networks for each time period (as there are only three articles in the first stage, it was not possible to generate an appropriate keyword co-occurrence map, hence only the keyword co-occurrence maps from the second to the fourth stages are provided), to understand the evolutionary track of the digital technology education application research field over time.

2000.1–2005.12: germination period

From January 2000 to December 2005, digital technology education application research was in its infancy. Only three studies focused on digital technology, all of which were related to computers. Due to the popularity of computers, the home became a new learning environment, highlighting the important role of digital technology in expanding the scope of learning spaces (Sutherland et al. 2000 ). In specific disciplines and contexts, digital technology was first favored in medical clinical practice, becoming an important tool for supporting the learning of clinical knowledge and practice (Tegtmeyer et al. 2001 ; Durfee et al. 2003 ).

2006.1–2011.12: initial development period

Between January 2006 and December 2011, it was the initial development period of digital technology education research. Significant growth was observed in research related to digital technology, and discussions and theoretical analyses about “digital natives” emerged. During this phase, scholars focused on the debate about “how to use digital technology reasonably” and “whether current educational models and school curriculum design need to be adjusted on a large scale” (Bennett and Maton, 2010 ; Selwyn, 2009 ; Margaryan et al. 2011 ). These theoretical and speculative arguments provided a unique perspective on the impact of cognitive digital technology on education and teaching. As can be seen from the vocabulary such as “rethinking”, “disruptive pedagogy”, and “attitude” in Fig. 4 , many scholars joined the calm reflection and analysis under the trend of digital technology (Laurillard, 2008 ; Vratulis et al. 2011 ). During this phase, technology was still undergoing dramatic changes. The development of mobile technology had already caught the attention of many scholars (Wong et al. 2011 ), but digital technology represented by computers was still very active (Selwyn et al. 2011 ). The change in technological form would inevitably lead to educational transformation. Collins and Halverson ( 2010 ) summarized the prospects and challenges of using digital technology for learning and educational practices, believing that digital technology would bring a disruptive revolution to the education field and bring about a new educational system. In addition, the term “teacher education” in Fig. 4 reflects the impact of digital technology development on teachers. The rapid development of technology has widened the generation gap between teachers and students. To ensure smooth communication between teachers and students, teachers must keep up with the trend of technological development and establish a lifelong learning concept (Donnison, 2009 ).

In the diagram, each node represents a keyword, with the size of the node indicating the frequency of occurrence of the keyword. The connections represent the co-occurrence relationships between keywords, with a higher frequency of co-occurrence resulting in tighter connections.

2012.1–2017.12: critical exploration period

During the period spanning January 2012 to December 2017, the application of digital technology in education research underwent a significant exploration phase. As can be seen from Fig. 5 , different from the previous stage, the specific elements of specific digital technology have started to increase significantly, including the enrichment of technological contexts, the greater variety of research methods, and the diversification of learning modes. Moreover, the temporal and spatial dimensions of the learning environment were further de-emphasized, as noted in previous literature (Za et al. 2014 ). Given the rapidly accelerating pace of technological development, the education system in the digital era is in urgent need of collaborative evolution and reconstruction, as argued by Davis, Eickelmann, and Zaka ( 2013 ).

In the domain of digital technology, social media has garnered substantial scholarly attention as a promising avenue for learning, as noted by Pasquini and Evangelopoulos ( 2016 ). The implementation of social media in education presents several benefits, including the liberation of education from the restrictions of physical distance and time, as well as the erasure of conventional educational boundaries. The user-generated content (UGC) model in social media has emerged as a crucial source for knowledge creation and distribution, with the widespread adoption of mobile devices. Moreover, social networks have become an integral component of ubiquitous learning environments (Hwang et al. 2013 ). The utilization of social media allows individuals to function as both knowledge producers and recipients, which leads to a blurring of the conventional roles of learners and teachers. On mobile platforms, the roles of learners and teachers are not fixed, but instead interchangeable.

In terms of research methodology, the prevalence of empirical studies with survey designs in the field of educational technology during this period is evident from the vocabulary used, such as “achievement,” “acceptance,” “attitude,” and “ict.” in Fig. 5 . These studies aim to understand learners’ willingness to adopt and attitudes towards new technologies, and some seek to investigate the impact of digital technologies on learning outcomes through quasi-experimental designs (Domínguez et al. 2013 ). Among these empirical studies, mobile learning emerged as a hot topic, and this is not surprising. First, the advantages of mobile learning environments over traditional ones have been empirically demonstrated (Hwang et al. 2013 ). Second, learners born around the turn of the century have been heavily influenced by digital technologies and have developed their own learning styles that are more open to mobile devices as a means of learning. Consequently, analyzing mobile learning as a relatively novel mode of learning has become an important issue for scholars in the field of educational technology.

The intervention of technology has led to the emergence of several novel learning modes, with the blended learning model being the most representative one in the current phase. Blended learning, a novel concept introduced in the information age, emphasizes the integration of the benefits of traditional learning methods and online learning. This learning mode not only highlights the prominent role of teachers in guiding, inspiring, and monitoring the learning process but also underlines the importance of learners’ initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity in the learning process. Despite being an early conceptualization, blended learning’s meaning has been expanded by the widespread use of mobile technology and social media in education. The implementation of new technologies, particularly mobile devices, has resulted in the transformation of curriculum design and increased flexibility and autonomy in students’ learning processes (Trujillo Maza et al. 2016 ), rekindling scholarly attention to this learning mode. However, some scholars have raised concerns about the potential drawbacks of the blended learning model, such as its significant impact on the traditional teaching system, the lack of systematic coping strategies and relevant policies in several schools and regions (Moskal et al. 2013 ).

2018.1–2022.12: accelerated transformation period

The period spanning from January 2018 to December 2022 witnessed a rapid transformation in the application of digital technology in education research. The field of digital technology education research reached a peak period of publication, largely influenced by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Yu et al. 2023 ). Research during this period was built upon the achievements, attitudes, and social media of the previous phase, and included more elements that reflect the characteristics of this research field, such as digital literacy, digital competence, and professional development, as depicted in Fig. 6 . Alongside this, scholars’ expectations for the value of digital technology have expanded, and the pursuit of improving learning efficiency and performance is no longer the sole focus. Some research now aims to cultivate learners’ motivation and enhance their self-efficacy by applying digital technology in a reasonable manner, as demonstrated by recent studies (Beardsley et al. 2021 ; Creely et al. 2021 ).

The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a crucial backdrop for the digital technology’s role in sustaining global education, as highlighted by recent scholarly research (Zhou et al. 2022 ; Pan and Zhang, 2020 ; Mo et al. 2022 ). The online learning environment, which is supported by digital technology, has become the primary battleground for global education (Yu, 2022 ). This social context has led to various studies being conducted, with some scholars positing that the pandemic has impacted the traditional teaching order while also expanding learning possibilities in terms of patterns and forms (Alabdulaziz, 2021 ). Furthermore, the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for teacher teaching and technological innovation, and this viewpoint has been empirically substantiated (Moorhouse and Wong, 2021 ). Additionally, some scholars believe that the pandemic’s push is a crucial driving force for the digital transformation of the education system, serving as an essential mechanism for overcoming the system’s inertia (Romero et al. 2021 ).

The rapid outbreak of the pandemic posed a challenge to the large-scale implementation of digital technologies, which was influenced by a complex interplay of subjective and objective factors. Objective constraints included the lack of infrastructure in some regions to support digital technologies, while subjective obstacles included psychological resistance among certain students and teachers (Moorhouse, 2021 ). These factors greatly impacted the progress of online learning during the pandemic. Additionally, Timotheou et al. ( 2023 ) conducted a comprehensive systematic review of existing research on digital technology use during the pandemic, highlighting the critical role played by various factors such as learners’ and teachers’ digital skills, teachers’ personal attributes and professional development, school leadership and management, and administration in facilitating the digitalization and transformation of schools.

The current stage of research is characterized by the pivotal term “digital literacy,” denoting a growing interest in learners’ attitudes and adoption of emerging technologies. Initially, the term “literacy” was restricted to fundamental abilities and knowledge associated with books and print materials (McMillan, 1996 ). However, with the swift advancement of computers and digital technology, there have been various attempts to broaden the scope of literacy beyond its traditional meaning, including game literacy (Buckingham and Burn, 2007 ), information literacy (Eisenberg, 2008 ), and media literacy (Turin and Friesem, 2020 ). Similarly, digital literacy has emerged as a crucial concept, and Gilster and Glister ( 1997 ) were the first to introduce this concept, referring to the proficiency in utilizing technology and processing digital information in academic, professional, and daily life settings. In practical educational settings, learners who possess higher digital literacy often exhibit an aptitude for quickly mastering digital devices and applying them intelligently to education and teaching (Yu, 2022 ).

The utilization of digital technology in education has undergone significant changes over the past two decades, and has been a crucial driver of educational reform with each new technological revolution. The impact of these changes on the underlying logic of digital technology education applications has been noticeable. From computer technology to more recent developments such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI), the acceleration in digital technology development has been ongoing. Educational reforms spurred by digital technology development continue to be dynamic, as each new digital innovation presents new possibilities and models for teaching practice. This is especially relevant in the post-pandemic era, where the importance of technological progress in supporting teaching cannot be overstated (Mughal et al. 2022 ). Existing digital technologies have already greatly expanded the dimensions of education in both time and space, while future digital technologies aim to expand learners’ perceptions. Researchers have highlighted the potential of integrated technology and immersive technology in the development of the educational metaverse, which is highly anticipated to create a new dimension for the teaching and learning environment, foster a new value system for the discipline of educational technology, and more effectively and efficiently achieve the grand educational blueprint of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (Zhang et al. 2022 ; Li and Yu, 2023 ).

Hotspot evolution analysis (RQ3)

The examination of keyword evolution reveals a consistent trend in the advancement of digital technology education application research. The emergence and transformation of keywords serve as indicators of the varying research interests in this field. Thus, the utilization of the burst detection function available in CiteSpace allowed for the identification of the top 10 burst words that exhibited a high level of burst strength. This outcome is illustrated in Table 7 .

According to the results presented in Table 7 , the explosive terminology within the realm of digital technology education research has exhibited a concentration mainly between the years 2018 and 2022. Prior to this time frame, the emerging keywords were limited to “information technology” and “computer”. Notably, among them, computer, as an emergent keyword, has always had a high explosive intensity from 2008 to 2018, which reflects the important position of computer in digital technology and is the main carrier of many digital technologies such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Assessment and Feedback systems (Barlovits et al. 2022 ).

Since 2018, an increasing number of research studies have focused on evaluating the capabilities of learners to accept, apply, and comprehend digital technologies. As indicated by the use of terms such as “digital literacy” and “digital skill,” the assessment of learners’ digital literacy has become a critical task. Scholarly efforts have been directed towards the development of literacy assessment tools and the implementation of empirical assessments. Furthermore, enhancing the digital literacy of both learners and educators has garnered significant attention. (Nagle, 2018 ; Yu, 2022 ). Simultaneously, given the widespread use of various digital technologies in different formal and informal learning settings, promoting learners’ digital skills has become a crucial objective for contemporary schools (Nygren et al. 2019 ; Forde and OBrien, 2022 ).

Since 2020, the field of applied research on digital technology education has witnessed the emergence of three new hotspots, all of which have been affected to some extent by the pandemic. Firstly, digital technology has been widely applied in physical education, which is one of the subjects that has been severely affected by the pandemic (Parris et al. 2022 ; Jiang and Ning, 2022 ). Secondly, digital transformation has become an important measure for most schools, especially higher education institutions, to cope with the impact of the pandemic globally (García-Morales et al. 2021 ). Although the concept of digital transformation was proposed earlier, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated this transformation process. Educational institutions must carefully redesign their educational products to face this new situation, providing timely digital learning methods, environments, tools, and support systems that have far-reaching impacts on modern society (Krishnamurthy, 2020 ; Salas-Pilco et al. 2022 ). Moreover, the professional development of teachers has become a key mission of educational institutions in the post-pandemic era. Teachers need to have a certain level of digital literacy and be familiar with the tools and online teaching resources used in online teaching, which has become a research hotspot today. Organizing digital skills training for teachers to cope with the application of emerging technologies in education is an important issue for teacher professional development and lifelong learning (Garzón-Artacho et al. 2021 ). As the main organizers and practitioners of emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the pandemic, teachers must put cognitive effort into their professional development to ensure effective implementation of ERT (Romero-Hall and Jaramillo Cherrez, 2022 ).

The burst word “digital transformation” reveals that we are in the midst of an ongoing digital technology revolution. With the emergence of innovative digital technologies such as ChatGPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot, technology trends will continue to evolve, albeit unpredictably. While the impact of these advancements on school education remains uncertain, it is anticipated that the widespread integration of technology will significantly affect the current education system. Rejecting emerging technologies without careful consideration is unwise. Like any revolution, the technological revolution in the education field has both positive and negative aspects. Detractors argue that digital technology disrupts learning and memory (Baron, 2021 ) or causes learners to become addicted and distracted from learning (Selwyn and Aagaard, 2020 ). On the other hand, the prudent use of digital technology in education offers a glimpse of a golden age of open learning. Educational leaders and practitioners have the opportunity to leverage cutting-edge digital technologies to address current educational challenges and develop a rational path for the sustainable and healthy growth of education.

Discussion on performance analysis (RQ1)

The field of digital technology education application research has experienced substantial growth since the turn of the century, a phenomenon that is quantifiably apparent through an analysis of authorship, country/region contributions, and institutional engagement. This expansion reflects the increased integration of digital technologies in educational settings and the heightened scholarly interest in understanding and optimizing their use.

Discussion on authorship productivity in digital technology education research

The authorship distribution within digital technology education research is indicative of the field’s intellectual structure and depth. A primary figure in this domain is Neil Selwyn, whose substantial citation rate underscores the profound impact of his work. His focus on the implications of digital technology in higher education and educational sociology has proven to be seminal. Selwyn’s research trajectory, especially the exploration of spatiotemporal extensions of education through technology, provides valuable insights into the multifaceted role of digital tools in learning processes (Selwyn et al. 2019 ).

Other notable contributors, like Henderson and Edwards, present diversified research interests, such as the impact of digital technologies during the pandemic and their application in early childhood education, respectively. Their varied focuses highlight the breadth of digital technology education research, encompassing pedagogical innovation, technological adaptation, and policy development.

Discussion on country/region-level productivity and collaboration

At the country/region level, the United Kingdom, specifically England, emerges as a leading contributor with 92 published papers and a significant citation count. This is closely followed by Australia and the United States, indicating a strong English-speaking research axis. Such geographical concentration of scholarly output often correlates with investment in research and development, technological infrastructure, and the prevalence of higher education institutions engaging in cutting-edge research.

China’s notable inclusion as the only non-Western country among the top contributors to the field suggests a growing research capacity and interest in digital technology in education. However, the lower average citation per paper for China could reflect emerging engagement or different research focuses that may not yet have achieved the same international recognition as Western counterparts.

The chord diagram analysis furthers this understanding, revealing dense interconnections between countries like the United States, China, and England, which indicates robust collaborations. Such collaborations are fundamental in addressing global educational challenges and shaping international research agendas.

Discussion on institutional-level contributions to digital technology education

Institutional productivity in digital technology education research reveals a constellation of universities driving the field forward. Monash University and the Australian Catholic University have the highest publication output, signaling Australia’s significant role in advancing digital education research. The University of Oslo’s remarkable average citation count per publication indicates influential research contributions, potentially reflecting high-quality studies that resonate with the broader academic community.

The strong showing of UK institutions, including the University of London, The Open University, and the University of Cambridge, reinforces the UK’s prominence in this research field. Such institutions are often at the forefront of pedagogical innovation, benefiting from established research cultures and funding mechanisms that support sustained inquiry into digital education.

Discussion on journal publication analysis

An examination of journal outputs offers a lens into the communicative channels of the field’s knowledge base. Journals such as Education and Information Technologies , Computers & Education , and the British Journal of Educational Technology not only serve as the primary disseminators of research findings but also as indicators of research quality and relevance. The impact factor (IF) serves as a proxy for the quality and influence of these journals within the academic community.

The high citation counts for articles published in Computers & Education suggest that research disseminated through this medium has a wide-reaching impact and is of particular interest to the field. This is further evidenced by its significant IF of 11.182, indicating that the journal is a pivotal platform for seminal work in the application of digital technology in education.

The authorship, regional, and institutional productivity in the field of digital technology education application research collectively narrate the evolution of this domain since the turn of the century. The prominence of certain authors and countries underscores the importance of socioeconomic factors and existing academic infrastructure in fostering research productivity. Meanwhile, the centrality of specific journals as outlets for high-impact research emphasizes the role of academic publishing in shaping the research landscape.

As the field continues to grow, future research may benefit from leveraging the collaborative networks that have been elucidated through this analysis, perhaps focusing on underrepresented regions to broaden the scope and diversity of research. Furthermore, the stabilization of publication numbers in recent years invites a deeper exploration into potential plateaus in research trends or saturation in certain sub-fields, signaling an opportunity for novel inquiries and methodological innovations.

Discussion on the evolutionary trends (RQ2)

The evolution of the research field concerning the application of digital technology in education over the past two decades is a story of convergence, diversification, and transformation, shaped by rapid technological advancements and shifting educational paradigms.

At the turn of the century, the inception of digital technology in education was largely exploratory, with a focus on how emerging computer technologies could be harnessed to enhance traditional learning environments. Research from this early period was primarily descriptive, reflecting on the potential and challenges of incorporating digital tools into the educational setting. This phase was critical in establishing the fundamental discourse that would guide subsequent research, as it set the stage for understanding the scope and impact of digital technology in learning spaces (Wang et al. 2023 ).

As the first decade progressed, the narrative expanded to encompass the pedagogical implications of digital technologies. This was a period of conceptual debates, where terms like “digital natives” and “disruptive pedagogy” entered the academic lexicon, underscoring the growing acknowledgment of digital technology as a transformative force within education (Bennett and Maton, 2010 ). During this time, the research began to reflect a more nuanced understanding of the integration of technology, considering not only its potential to change where and how learning occurred but also its implications for educational equity and access.

In the second decade, with the maturation of internet connectivity and mobile technology, the focus of research shifted from theoretical speculations to empirical investigations. The proliferation of digital devices and the ubiquity of social media influenced how learners interacted with information and each other, prompting a surge in studies that sought to measure the impact of these tools on learning outcomes. The digital divide and issues related to digital literacy became central concerns, as scholars explored the varying capacities of students and educators to engage with technology effectively.

Throughout this period, there was an increasing emphasis on the individualization of learning experiences, facilitated by adaptive technologies that could cater to the unique needs and pacing of learners (Jing et al. 2023a ). This individualization was coupled with a growing recognition of the importance of collaborative learning, both online and offline, and the role of digital tools in supporting these processes. Blended learning models, which combined face-to-face instruction with online resources, emerged as a significant trend, advocating for a balance between traditional pedagogies and innovative digital strategies.

The later years, particularly marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerated the necessity for digital technology in education, transforming it from a supplementary tool to an essential platform for delivering education globally (Mo et al. 2022 ; Mustapha et al. 2021 ). This era brought about an unprecedented focus on online learning environments, distance education, and virtual classrooms. Research became more granular, examining not just the pedagogical effectiveness of digital tools, but also their role in maintaining continuity of education during crises, their impact on teacher and student well-being, and their implications for the future of educational policy and infrastructure.

Across these two decades, the research field has seen a shift from examining digital technology as an external addition to the educational process, to viewing it as an integral component of curriculum design, instructional strategies, and even assessment methods. The emergent themes have broadened from a narrow focus on specific tools or platforms to include wider considerations such as data privacy, ethical use of technology, and the environmental impact of digital tools.

Moreover, the field has moved from considering the application of digital technology in education as a primarily cognitive endeavor to recognizing its role in facilitating socio-emotional learning, digital citizenship, and global competencies. Researchers have increasingly turned their attention to the ways in which technology can support collaborative skills, cultural understanding, and ethical reasoning within diverse student populations.

In summary, the past over twenty years in the research field of digital technology applications in education have been characterized by a progression from foundational inquiries to complex analyses of digital integration. This evolution has mirrored the trajectory of technology itself, from a facilitative tool to a pervasive ecosystem defining contemporary educational experiences. As we look to the future, the field is poised to delve into the implications of emerging technologies like AI, AR, and VR, and their potential to redefine the educational landscape even further. This ongoing metamorphosis suggests that the application of digital technology in education will continue to be a rich area of inquiry, demanding continual adaptation and forward-thinking from educators and researchers alike.

Discussion on the study of research hotspots (RQ3)

The analysis of keyword evolution in digital technology education application research elucidates the current frontiers in the field, reflecting a trajectory that is in tandem with the rapidly advancing digital age. This landscape is sculpted by emergent technological innovations and shaped by the demands of an increasingly digital society.

Interdisciplinary integration and pedagogical transformation

One of the frontiers identified from recent keyword bursts includes the integration of digital technology into diverse educational contexts, particularly noted with the keyword “physical education.” The digitalization of disciplines traditionally characterized by physical presence illustrates the pervasive reach of technology and signifies a push towards interdisciplinary integration where technology is not only a facilitator but also a transformative agent. This integration challenges educators to reconceptualize curriculum delivery to accommodate digital tools that can enhance or simulate the physical aspects of learning.

Digital literacy and skills acquisition

Another pivotal frontier is the focus on “digital literacy” and “digital skill”, which has intensified in recent years. This suggests a shift from mere access to technology towards a comprehensive understanding and utilization of digital tools. In this realm, the emphasis is not only on the ability to use technology but also on critical thinking, problem-solving, and the ethical use of digital resources (Yu, 2022 ). The acquisition of digital literacy is no longer an additive skill but a fundamental aspect of modern education, essential for navigating and contributing to the digital world.

Educational digital transformation

The keyword “digital transformation” marks a significant research frontier, emphasizing the systemic changes that education institutions must undergo to align with the digital era (Romero et al. 2021 ). This transformation includes the redesigning of learning environments, pedagogical strategies, and assessment methods to harness digital technology’s full potential. Research in this area explores the complexity of institutional change, addressing the infrastructural, cultural, and policy adjustments needed for a seamless digital transition.

Engagement and participation

Further exploration into “engagement” and “participation” underscores the importance of student-centered learning environments that are mediated by technology. The current frontiers examine how digital platforms can foster collaboration, inclusivity, and active learning, potentially leading to more meaningful and personalized educational experiences. Here, the use of technology seeks to support the emotional and cognitive aspects of learning, moving beyond the transactional view of education to one that is relational and interactive.

Professional development and teacher readiness

As the field evolves, “professional development” emerges as a crucial area, particularly in light of the pandemic which necessitated emergency remote teaching. The need for teacher readiness in a digital age is a pressing frontier, with research focusing on the competencies required for educators to effectively integrate technology into their teaching practices. This includes familiarity with digital tools, pedagogical innovation, and an ongoing commitment to personal and professional growth in the digital domain.

Pandemic as a catalyst

The recent pandemic has acted as a catalyst for accelerated research and application in this field, particularly in the domains of “digital transformation,” “professional development,” and “physical education.” This period has been a litmus test for the resilience and adaptability of educational systems to continue their operations in an emergency. Research has thus been directed at understanding how digital technologies can support not only continuity but also enhance the quality and reach of education in such contexts.

Ethical and societal considerations

The frontier of digital technology in education is also expanding to consider broader ethical and societal implications. This includes issues of digital equity, data privacy, and the sociocultural impact of technology on learning communities. The research explores how educational technology can be leveraged to address inequities and create more equitable learning opportunities for all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

Innovation and emerging technologies

Looking forward, the frontiers are set to be influenced by ongoing and future technological innovations, such as artificial intelligence (AI) (Wu and Yu, 2023 ; Chen et al. 2022a ). The exploration into how these technologies can be integrated into educational practices to create immersive and adaptive learning experiences represents a bold new chapter for the field.

In conclusion, the current frontiers of research on the application of digital technology in education are multifaceted and dynamic. They reflect an overarching movement towards deeper integration of technology in educational systems and pedagogical practices, where the goals are not only to facilitate learning but to redefine it. As these frontiers continue to expand and evolve, they will shape the educational landscape, requiring a concerted effort from researchers, educators, policymakers, and technologists to navigate the challenges and harness the opportunities presented by the digital revolution in education.

Conclusions and future research

Conclusions.

The utilization of digital technology in education is a research area that cuts across multiple technical and educational domains and continues to experience dynamic growth due to the continuous progress of technology. In this study, a systematic review of this field was conducted through bibliometric techniques to examine its development trajectory. The primary focus of the review was to investigate the leading contributors, productive national institutions, significant publications, and evolving development patterns. The study’s quantitative analysis resulted in several key conclusions that shed light on this research field’s current state and future prospects.

(1) The research field of digital technology education applications has entered a stage of rapid development, particularly in recent years due to the impact of the pandemic, resulting in a peak of publications. Within this field, several key authors (Selwyn, Henderson, Edwards, etc.) and countries/regions (England, Australia, USA, etc.) have emerged, who have made significant contributions. International exchanges in this field have become frequent, with a high degree of internationalization in academic research. Higher education institutions in the UK and Australia are the core productive forces in this field at the institutional level.

(2) Education and Information Technologies , Computers & Education , and the British Journal of Educational Technology are notable journals that publish research related to digital technology education applications. These journals are affiliated with the research field of educational technology and provide effective communication platforms for sharing digital technology education applications.

(3) Over the past two decades, research on digital technology education applications has progressed from its early stages of budding, initial development, and critical exploration to accelerated transformation, and it is currently approaching maturity. Technological progress and changes in the times have been key driving forces for educational transformation and innovation, and both have played important roles in promoting the continuous development of education.

(4) Influenced by the pandemic, three emerging frontiers have emerged in current research on digital technology education applications, which are physical education, digital transformation, and professional development under the promotion of digital technology. These frontier research hotspots reflect the core issues that the education system faces when encountering new technologies. The evolution of research hotspots shows that technology breakthroughs in education’s original boundaries of time and space create new challenges. The continuous self-renewal of education is achieved by solving one hotspot problem after another.

The present study offers significant practical implications for scholars and practitioners in the field of digital technology education applications. Firstly, it presents a well-defined framework of the existing research in this area, serving as a comprehensive guide for new entrants to the field and shedding light on the developmental trajectory of this research domain. Secondly, the study identifies several contemporary research hotspots, thus offering a valuable decision-making resource for scholars aiming to explore potential research directions. Thirdly, the study undertakes an exhaustive analysis of published literature to identify core journals in the field of digital technology education applications, with Sustainability being identified as a promising open access journal that publishes extensively on this topic. This finding can potentially facilitate scholars in selecting appropriate journals for their research outputs.

Limitation and future research

Influenced by some objective factors, this study also has some limitations. First of all, the bibliometrics analysis software has high standards for data. In order to ensure the quality and integrity of the collected data, the research only selects the periodical papers in SCIE and SSCI indexes, which are the core collection of Web of Science database, and excludes other databases, conference papers, editorials and other publications, which may ignore some scientific research and original opinions in the field of digital technology education and application research. In addition, although this study used professional software to carry out bibliometric analysis and obtained more objective quantitative data, the analysis and interpretation of data will inevitably have a certain subjective color, and the influence of subjectivity on data analysis cannot be completely avoided. As such, future research endeavors will broaden the scope of literature screening and proactively engage scholars in the field to gain objective and state-of-the-art insights, while minimizing the adverse impact of personal subjectivity on research analysis.

Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available in the Dataverse repository: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/F9QMHY

Alabdulaziz MS (2021) COVID-19 and the use of digital technology in mathematics education. Educ Inf Technol 26(6):7609–7633. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10602-3

Arif TB, Munaf U, Ul-Haque I (2023) The future of medical education and research: is ChatGPT a blessing or blight in disguise? Med Educ Online 28. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2023.2181052

Banerjee M, Chiew D, Patel KT, Johns I, Chappell D, Linton N, Cole GD, Francis DP, Szram J, Ross J, Zaman S (2021) The impact of artificial intelligence on clinical education: perceptions of postgraduate trainee doctors in London (UK) and recommendations for trainers. BMC Med Educ 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02870-x

Barlovits S, Caldeira A, Fesakis G, Jablonski S, Koutsomanoli Filippaki D, Lázaro C, Ludwig M, Mammana MF, Moura A, Oehler DXK, Recio T, Taranto E, Volika S(2022) Adaptive, synchronous, and mobile online education: developing the ASYMPTOTE learning environment. Mathematics 10:1628. https://doi.org/10.3390/math10101628

Article   Google Scholar  

Baron NS(2021) Know what? How digital technologies undermine learning and remembering J Pragmat 175:27–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.01.011

Batista J, Morais NS, Ramos F (2016) Researching the use of communication technologies in higher education institutions in Portugal. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0571-6.ch057

Beardsley M, Albó L, Aragón P, Hernández-Leo D (2021) Emergency education effects on teacher abilities and motivation to use digital technologies. Br J Educ Technol 52. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13101

Bennett S, Maton K(2010) Beyond the “digital natives” debate: towards a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology experiences J Comput Assist Learn 26:321–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00360.x

Buckingham D, Burn A (2007) Game literacy in theory and practice 16:323–349

Google Scholar  

Bulfin S, Pangrazio L, Selwyn N (2014) Making “MOOCs”: the construction of a new digital higher education within news media discourse. In: The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 15. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i5.1856

Camilleri MA, Camilleri AC(2016) Digital learning resources and ubiquitous technologies in education Technol Knowl Learn 22:65–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-016-9287-7

Chen C(2006) CiteSpace II: detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol 57:359–377. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20317

Chen J, Dai J, Zhu K, Xu L(2022) Effects of extended reality on language learning: a meta-analysis Front Psychol 13:1016519. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1016519

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Chen J, Wang CL, Tang Y (2022b) Knowledge mapping of volunteer motivation: a bibliometric analysis and cross-cultural comparative study. Front Psychol 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.883150

Cohen A, Soffer T, Henderson M(2022) Students’ use of technology and their perceptions of its usefulness in higher education: International comparison J Comput Assist Learn 38(5):1321–1331. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12678

Collins A, Halverson R(2010) The second educational revolution: rethinking education in the age of technology J Comput Assist Learn 26:18–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00339.x

Conole G, Alevizou P (2010) A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in higher education. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK: the Open University, retrieved 17 February

Creely E, Henriksen D, Crawford R, Henderson M(2021) Exploring creative risk-taking and productive failure in classroom practice. A case study of the perceived self-efficacy and agency of teachers at one school Think Ski Creat 42:100951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100951

Davis N, Eickelmann B, Zaka P(2013) Restructuring of educational systems in the digital age from a co-evolutionary perspective J Comput Assist Learn 29:438–450. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12032

De Belli N (2009) Bibliometrics and citation analysis: from the science citation index to cybermetrics, Scarecrow Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12032

Domínguez A, Saenz-de-Navarrete J, de-Marcos L, Fernández-Sanz L, Pagés C, Martínez-Herráiz JJ(2013) Gamifying learning experiences: practical implications and outcomes Comput Educ 63:380–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.12.020

Donnison S (2009) Discourses in conflict: the relationship between Gen Y pre-service teachers, digital technologies and lifelong learning. Australasian J Educ Technol 25. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1138

Durfee SM, Jain S, Shaffer K (2003) Incorporating electronic media into medical student education. Acad Radiol 10:205–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1076-6332(03)80046-6

Dzikowski P(2018) A bibliometric analysis of born global firms J Bus Res 85:281–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.12.054

van Eck NJ, Waltman L(2009) Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping Scientometrics 84:523–538 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3

Edwards S(2013) Digital play in the early years: a contextual response to the problem of integrating technologies and play-based pedagogies in the early childhood curriculum Eur Early Child Educ Res J 21:199–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2013.789190

Edwards S(2015) New concepts of play and the problem of technology, digital media and popular-culture integration with play-based learning in early childhood education Technol Pedagogy Educ 25:513–532 https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939x.2015.1108929

Article   MathSciNet   Google Scholar  

Eisenberg MB(2008) Information literacy: essential skills for the information age DESIDOC J Libr Inf Technol 28:39–47. https://doi.org/10.14429/djlit.28.2.166

Forde C, OBrien A (2022) A literature review of barriers and opportunities presented by digitally enhanced practical skill teaching and learning in health science education. Med Educ Online 27. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2022.2068210

García-Morales VJ, Garrido-Moreno A, Martín-Rojas R (2021) The transformation of higher education after the COVID disruption: emerging challenges in an online learning scenario. Front Psychol 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616059

Garfield E(2006) The history and meaning of the journal impact factor JAMA 295:90. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.1.90

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Garzón-Artacho E, Sola-Martínez T, Romero-Rodríguez JM, Gómez-García G(2021) Teachers’ perceptions of digital competence at the lifelong learning stage Heliyon 7:e07513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07513

Gaviria-Marin M, Merigó JM, Baier-Fuentes H(2019) Knowledge management: a global examination based on bibliometric analysis Technol Forecast Soc Change 140:194–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.006

Gilster P, Glister P (1997) Digital literacy. Wiley Computer Pub, New York

Greenhow C, Lewin C(2015) Social media and education: reconceptualizing the boundaries of formal and informal learning Learn Media Technol 41:6–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2015.1064954

Hawkins DT(2001) Bibliometrics of electronic journals in information science Infor Res 7(1):7–1. http://informationr.net/ir/7-1/paper120.html

Henderson M, Selwyn N, Finger G, Aston R(2015) Students’ everyday engagement with digital technology in university: exploring patterns of use and “usefulness J High Educ Policy Manag 37:308–319 https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080x.2015.1034424

Huang CK, Neylon C, Hosking R, Montgomery L, Wilson KS, Ozaygen A, Brookes-Kenworthy C (2020) Evaluating the impact of open access policies on research institutions. eLife 9. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.57067

Hwang GJ, Tsai CC(2011) Research trends in mobile and ubiquitous learning: a review of publications in selected journals from 2001 to 2010 Br J Educ Technol 42:E65–E70. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01183.x

Hwang GJ, Wu PH, Zhuang YY, Huang YM(2013) Effects of the inquiry-based mobile learning model on the cognitive load and learning achievement of students Interact Learn Environ 21:338–354. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2011.575789

Jiang S, Ning CF (2022) Interactive communication in the process of physical education: are social media contributing to the improvement of physical training performance. Universal Access Inf Soc, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-022-00911-w

Jing Y, Zhao L, Zhu KK, Wang H, Wang CL, Xia Q(2023) Research landscape of adaptive learning in education: a bibliometric study on research publications from 2000 to 2022 Sustainability 15:3115–3115. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043115

Jing Y, Wang CL, Chen Y, Wang H, Yu T, Shadiev R (2023b) Bibliometric mapping techniques in educational technology research: a systematic literature review. Educ Inf Technol 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12178-6

Krishnamurthy S (2020) The future of business education: a commentary in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. J Bus Res. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.034

Kumar S, Lim WM, Pandey N, Christopher Westland J (2021) 20 years of electronic commerce research. Electron Commer Res 21:1–40

Kyza EA, Georgiou Y(2018) Scaffolding augmented reality inquiry learning: the design and investigation of the TraceReaders location-based, augmented reality platform Interact Learn Environ 27:211–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2018.1458039

Laurillard D(2008) Technology enhanced learning as a tool for pedagogical innovation J Philos Educ 42:521–533. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2008.00658.x

Li M, Yu Z (2023) A systematic review on the metaverse-based blended English learning. Front Psychol 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1087508

Luo H, Li G, Feng Q, Yang Y, Zuo M (2021) Virtual reality in K-12 and higher education: a systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2019. J Comput Assist Learn. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12538

Margaryan A, Littlejohn A, Vojt G(2011) Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students’ use of digital technologies Comput Educ 56:429–440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.09.004

McMillan S(1996) Literacy and computer literacy: definitions and comparisons Comput Educ 27:161–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0360-1315(96)00026-7

Mo CY, Wang CL, Dai J, Jin P (2022) Video playback speed influence on learning effect from the perspective of personalized adaptive learning: a study based on cognitive load theory. Front Psychology 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.839982

Moorhouse BL (2021) Beginning teaching during COVID-19: newly qualified Hong Kong teachers’ preparedness for online teaching. Educ Stud 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2021.1964939

Moorhouse BL, Wong KM (2021) The COVID-19 Pandemic as a catalyst for teacher pedagogical and technological innovation and development: teachers’ perspectives. Asia Pac J Educ 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2021.1988511

Moskal P, Dziuban C, Hartman J (2013) Blended learning: a dangerous idea? Internet High Educ 18:15–23

Mughal MY, Andleeb N, Khurram AFA, Ali MY, Aslam MS, Saleem MN (2022) Perceptions of teaching-learning force about Metaverse for education: a qualitative study. J. Positive School Psychol 6:1738–1745

Mustapha I, Thuy Van N, Shahverdi M, Qureshi MI, Khan N (2021) Effectiveness of digital technology in education during COVID-19 pandemic. a bibliometric analysis. Int J Interact Mob Technol 15:136

Nagle J (2018) Twitter, cyber-violence, and the need for a critical social media literacy in teacher education: a review of the literature. Teach Teach Education 76:86–94

Nazare J, Woolf A, Sysoev I, Ballinger S, Saveski M, Walker M, Roy D (2022) Technology-assisted coaching can increase engagement with learning technology at home and caregivers’ awareness of it. Comput Educ 188:104565

Nguyen UP, Hallinger P (2020) Assessing the distinctive contributions of simulation & gaming to the literature, 1970-2019: a bibliometric review. Simul Gaming 104687812094156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878120941569

Nygren H, Nissinen K, Hämäläinen R, Wever B(2019) Lifelong learning: formal, non-formal and informal learning in the context of the use of problem-solving skills in technology-rich environments Br J Educ Technol 50:1759–1770. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12807

Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, Boutron I, Hoffmann TC, Mulrow CD, Moher D (2021) The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Int J Surg 88:105906

Pan SL, Zhang S(2020) From fighting COVID-19 pandemic to tackling sustainable development goals: an opportunity for responsible information systems research Int J Inf Manage 55:102196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102196

Pan X, Yan E, Cui M, Hua W(2018) Examining the usage, citation, and diffusion patterns of bibliometric mapping software: a comparative study of three tools J Informetr 12:481–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2018.03.005

Parris Z, Cale L, Harris J, Casey A (2022) Physical activity for health, covid-19 and social media: what, where and why?. Movimento, 28. https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.122533

Pasquini LA, Evangelopoulos N (2016) Sociotechnical stewardship in higher education: a field study of social media policy documents. J Comput High Educ 29:218–239

Pérez-Sanagustín M, Hernández-Leo D, Santos P, Delgado Kloos C, Blat J(2014) Augmenting reality and formality of informal and non-formal settings to enhance blended learning IEEE Trans Learn Technol 7:118–131. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2014.2312719

Pinto M, Leite C (2020) Digital technologies in support of students learning in Higher Education: literature review. Digital Education Review 343–360. https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2020.37.343-360

Pires F, Masanet MJ, Tomasena JM, Scolari CA(2022) Learning with YouTube: beyond formal and informal through new actors, strategies and affordances Convergence 28(3):838–853. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856521102054

Pritchard A (1969) Statistical bibliography or bibliometrics 25:348

Romero M, Romeu T, Guitert M, Baztán P (2021) Digital transformation in higher education: the UOC case. In ICERI2021 Proceedings (pp. 6695–6703). IATED https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2021.1512

Romero-Hall E, Jaramillo Cherrez N (2022) Teaching in times of disruption: faculty digital literacy in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations in Education and Teaching International 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2022.2030782

Rospigliosi PA(2023) Artificial intelligence in teaching and learning: what questions should we ask of ChatGPT? Interactive Learning Environments 31:1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2023.2180191

Salas-Pilco SZ, Yang Y, Zhang Z(2022) Student engagement in online learning in Latin American higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review. Br J Educ Technol 53(3):593–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13190

Selwyn N(2009) The digital native-myth and reality In Aslib proceedings 61(4):364–379. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012530910973776

Selwyn N(2012) Making sense of young people, education and digital technology: the role of sociological theory Oxford Review of Education 38:81–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2011.577949

Selwyn N, Facer K(2014) The sociology of education and digital technology: past, present and future Oxford Rev Educ 40:482–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2014.933005

Selwyn N, Banaji S, Hadjithoma-Garstka C, Clark W(2011) Providing a platform for parents? Exploring the nature of parental engagement with school Learning Platforms J Comput Assist Learn 27:314–323. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00428.x

Selwyn N, Aagaard J (2020) Banning mobile phones from classrooms-an opportunity to advance understandings of technology addiction, distraction and cyberbullying. Br J Educ Technol 52. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12943

Selwyn N, O’Neill C, Smith G, Andrejevic M, Gu X (2021) A necessary evil? The rise of online exam proctoring in Australian universities. Media Int Austr 1329878X2110058. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x211005862

Selwyn N, Pangrazio L, Nemorin S, Perrotta C (2019) What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction. Learn, Media Technol 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2020.1694944

Selwyn, N (2016) What works and why?* Understanding successful technology enabled learning within institutional contexts 2016 Final report Appendices (Part B). Monash University Griffith University

Sjöberg D, Holmgren R (2021) Informal workplace learning in swedish police education-a teacher perspective. Vocations and Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-021-09267-3

Strotmann A, Zhao D (2012) Author name disambiguation: what difference does it make in author-based citation analysis? J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol 63:1820–1833

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Sutherland R, Facer K, Furlong R, Furlong J(2000) A new environment for education? The computer in the home. Comput Educ 34:195–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0360-1315(99)00045-7

Szeto E, Cheng AY-N, Hong J-C(2015) Learning with social media: how do preservice teachers integrate YouTube and Social Media in teaching? Asia-Pac Educ Res 25:35–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-015-0230-9

Tang E, Lam C(2014) Building an effective online learning community (OLC) in blog-based teaching portfolios Int High Educ 20:79–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2012.12.002

Taskin Z, Al U(2019) Natural language processing applications in library and information science Online Inf Rev 43:676–690. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir-07-2018-0217

Tegtmeyer K, Ibsen L, Goldstein B(2001) Computer-assisted learning in critical care: from ENIAC to HAL Crit Care Med 29:N177–N182. https://doi.org/10.1097/00003246-200108001-00006

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Timotheou S, Miliou O, Dimitriadis Y, Sobrino SV, Giannoutsou N, Cachia R, Moné AM, Ioannou A(2023) Impacts of digital technologies on education and factors influencing schools' digital capacity and transformation: a literature review. Educ Inf Technol 28(6):6695–6726. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11431-8

Trujillo Maza EM, Gómez Lozano MT, Cardozo Alarcón AC, Moreno Zuluaga L, Gamba Fadul M (2016) Blended learning supported by digital technology and competency-based medical education: a case study of the social medicine course at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-016-0027-9

Turin O, Friesem Y(2020) Is that media literacy?: Israeli and US media scholars’ perceptions of the field J Media Lit Educ 12:132–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3

Van Eck NJ, Waltman L (2019) VOSviewer manual. Universiteit Leiden

Vratulis V, Clarke T, Hoban G, Erickson G(2011) Additive and disruptive pedagogies: the use of slowmation as an example of digital technology implementation Teach Teach Educ 27:1179–1188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.06.004

Wang CL, Dai J, Xu LJ (2022) Big data and data mining in education: a bibliometrics study from 2010 to 2022. In 2022 7th International Conference on Cloud Computing and Big Data Analytics ( ICCCBDA ) (pp. 507-512). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/icccbda55098.2022.9778874

Wang CL, Dai J, Zhu KK, Yu T, Gu XQ (2023) Understanding the continuance intention of college students toward new E-learning spaces based on an integrated model of the TAM and TTF. Int J Hum-Comput Int 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2023.2291609

Wong L-H, Boticki I, Sun J, Looi C-K(2011) Improving the scaffolds of a mobile-assisted Chinese character forming game via a design-based research cycle Comput Hum Behav 27:1783–1793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.03.005

Wu R, Yu Z (2023) Do AI chatbots improve students learning outcomes? Evidence from a meta-analysis. Br J Educ Technol. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13334

Yang D, Zhou J, Shi D, Pan Q, Wang D, Chen X, Liu J (2022) Research status, hotspots, and evolutionary trends of global digital education via knowledge graph analysis. Sustainability 14:15157–15157. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215157

Yu T, Dai J, Wang CL (2023) Adoption of blended learning: Chinese university students’ perspectives. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10:390. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215157

Yu Z (2022) Sustaining student roles, digital literacy, learning achievements, and motivation in online learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability 14:4388. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084388

Za S, Spagnoletti P, North-Samardzic A(2014) Organisational learning as an emerging process: the generative role of digital tools in informal learning practices Br J Educ Technol 45:1023–1035. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12211

Zhang X, Chen Y, Hu L, Wang Y (2022) The metaverse in education: definition, framework, features, potential applications, challenges, and future research topics. Front Psychol 13:1016300. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1016300

Zhou M, Dzingirai C, Hove K, Chitata T, Mugandani R (2022) Adoption, use and enhancement of virtual learning during COVID-19. Education and Information Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-10985-x

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Social Science Planning Project, “Mechanisms and Pathways for Empowering Classroom Teaching through Learning Spaces under the Strategy of High-Quality Education Development”, the 2022 National Social Science Foundation Education Youth Project “Research on the Strategy of Creating Learning Space Value and Empowering Classroom Teaching under the background of ‘Double Reduction’” (Grant No. CCA220319) and the National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of China (Grant No. 202310337023).

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

College of Educational Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhejiang, China

Chengliang Wang, Xiaojiao Chen, Yidan Liu & Yuhui Jing

Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Malaysia

Department of Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beihang University, Beijing, China

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization: Y.J., C.W.; methodology, C.W.; software, C.W., Y.L.; writing-original draft preparation, C.W., Y.L.; writing-review and editing, T.Y., Y.L., C.W.; supervision, X.C., T.Y.; project administration, Y.J.; funding acquisition, X.C., Y.L. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors have read and approved the re-submission of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuhui Jing .

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval.

Ethical approval was not required as the study did not involve human participants.

Informed consent

Informed consent was not required as the study did not involve human participants.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Wang, C., Chen, X., Yu, T. et al. Education reform and change driven by digital technology: a bibliometric study from a global perspective. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 256 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02717-y

Download citation

Received : 11 July 2023

Accepted : 17 January 2024

Published : 12 February 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02717-y

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

This article is cited by

A meta-analysis of learners’ continuance intention toward online education platforms.

• Chengliang Wang

Education and Information Technologies (2024)

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

A Scandinavian View on the Aesthetics as a Learning Media

Journal of Modern Education Review (ISSN 2155-7993), Volume 2, No. 2, pp. 90–101, February 2012, Academic Star Publishing Company, USA

12 Pages Posted: 5 Feb 2020

Bennyé Austring

Department of Research and Innovation, University College Zealand, Denmark

Merete Sørensen

Department of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark

Date Written: 2012

As the aesthetic learning process is always relational and developed in interaction with the surrounding culture, the participants in the aesthetic activities can develop cultural identity and social skills. Add to this that the individual can share its inner world with others through aesthetic activities in the potential space and in this way create balance between its inner and outer world, realize itself and develop individual and collective identity. Last but not least aesthetic activities strengthen the joy of life, and they are an arena for development of imagination and creativity — society’s most important resources. The two Danish authors argue for this point of view based on a triangle of psychological, philosophical and social scientifically approaches provided through the last two decades of Scandinavian research in particular. First and foremost they refer to the Norwegian social scientist Hansjörg Hohr’s three learning methods, among these the Aesthetic Learning Method, but also to the English psychologist Donald W. Winnicott’s theory of the Potential Space and the Danish philosopher Mogens Pahuus’ concept of “being in tune”. On this background the authors sum up the potentials of art education and finally offer a new definition of an aesthetic learning process.

Keywords: Aesthetics, art based education, learning processes

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Bennyé Austring (Contact Author)

Department of research and innovation, university college zealand, denmark ( email ).

Slagelsevej 7 Soroe, DK-4180 Denmark

Department of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark ( email )

Universitets Parken Denmark

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics, related ejournals, social sciences education ejournal.

Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic

Cognition & the Arts eJournal

Aesthetics & philosophy of art ejournal.

Subscribe to this free journal for more curated articles on this topic

Innovation Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching eJournal

Art history ejournal.

• DOI: 10.15341/jmer(2155-7993)/05.09.2019/004
• Corpus ID: 235980601

Language and Culture in Eugene Nida’s Work the Dynamic Equivalence. Critics and Defenders

• Published in Journal of Modern Education… 20 May 2019
• Linguistics

36 References

Fascinated by languages, sociolinguistics as a crucial factor in translating and interpreting, leo tolstoy's translation of gospels in light of 20 th century translation studies, toward a science of translating, figurative language, from one language to another: functional equivalence in bible translating, the theory and practice of translation, context in translation, my linguistic odyssey, related papers.

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers

• Computer Science and Engineering
• Information Science
• Informatics

Journal of Modern Education Review Subscription Information

• Covenant University Ota Ogun State, Nigeria
• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations

• Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
• Jan van den Akker
• Robert Maribe Branch
• Kent L. Gustafson

• W.H.O. Bockting
• I. Amadiume
• Kate Bornstein
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

MECS Press Journal

• Latest News & Events
• Editorial Board
• Publishing Policies
• Aims and Scope
• Author Guidelines
• Peer Review Process
• Become a member
• Special Issues
• Article Processing Charge
• Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

International Journal of Modern Education and Computer Science (IJMECS)

ISSN: 2075-0161 (Print)

ISSN: 2075-017X (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs

Website: https://www.mecs-press.org/ijmecs

Published By: MECS Press

Frequency: 6 issues per year

Number(s) Available: 131

Submission RSS

(IJMECS) in Google Scholar Citations / h5-index

IJMECS is committed to bridge the theory and practice of modern education and computer science. From innovative ideas to specific algorithms and full system implementations, IJMECS publishes original, peer-reviewed, and high quality articles in the areas of modern education and computer science. IJMECS is a well-indexed scholarly journal and is indispensable reading and references for people working at the cutting edge of computer science, modern education and applications.

IJMECS has been abstracted or indexed by several world class databases:  Scopus , SCImago , Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic Search, CrossRef, Baidu Wenku, IndexCopernicus, IET Inspec, EBSCO, JournalSeek, ULRICH's Periodicals Directory, WorldCat, Scirus, Academic Journals Database, Stanford University Libraries, Cornell University Library, UniSA Library, CNKI Scholar, ProQuest, J-Gate, ZDB, BASE, OhioLINK, iThenticate, Open Access Articles, Open Science Directory, National Science Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences, The HKU Scholars Hub, etc..

IJMECS Vol. 16, No. 4, Aug. 2024

REGULAR PAPERS

A Hybrid Method based on Rules and Deep Learning for Enhancing Single-Word and Multi-Word Aspects Extraction from French Reviews

By Hammi Sarsabene Hammami M. Souha Belguith H. Lamia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.01, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

In recent years, Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) has gained significant importance, particularly for enterprises operating in the commercial domain. These enterprises tend to analyze the customers’ opinions concerning the different aspects of their products. The primary objective of ABSA is to first identify the aspects (such as battery) associated with a given product (such as a smartphone) and then assign a sentiment polarity to each aspect. In this paper, we focus on the Aspects Extraction (AE) task, specifically for the French language. Previous research studies have mainly focused on the extraction of single-word aspects without giving significant attention to the multi-word aspects. To address this issue, we propose a hybrid method that combines linguistic knowledge-based methods with deep learning-based methods to identify both single-word aspects and multi-word aspects. Firstly, we combined a set of rules with a deep learning-based model to extract the candidate aspects. Subsequently, we introduced a new filtering algorithm to detect the single-word aspect terms. Finally, we created a set of 52 patterns to extract the multi-word aspect terms. To evaluate the performance of the proposed hybrid method, we collected a dataset of 2400 French mobile phone comments from the Amazon website. The final outcome proves the encouraging results of the proposed hybrid method for both mobile phones (F-measure value: 87.27% for single-word aspects and 82.38% for multi-word aspects) and restaurants (F-measure value: 78.79% for single-word aspects and 76.04% for multi-word aspects) domains. By highlighting the practical implications of these results, our hybrid method offers a promising outlook for Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis task, opening new avenues for businesses and future research.

Students’ Results Prediction Using Machine Learning Algorithms and Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Najat Messaoudi Jaafar K. Naciri Bahloul Bensassi

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.02, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

Machine learning-based prediction models are valuable prediction tools for assessing university performance as well as decision support tools for university governance and higher education system design. The prediction of student outcomes to enhance learning and teaching quality is one subject that has attracted considerable attention for different purposes. The first objective of this study is to develop and validate a prediction model using Machine Learning algorithms that predict students' outcomes in the case of Moroccan universities based only on the outcomes of courses taken in the previous semesters of university studies. This prediction model can be used as a basis for many subsequent studies on different aspects of higher education such as governance, pedagogy, etc. As a first application, we explore the responses of this prediction tool to analyze the outputs of the online learning experience that took place during the Covid-19 pandemic period. To achieve this, four machine learning algorithms are tested such as J48 decision tree, Random Forest, Multilayer Perceptron, and Naïve Bayes. The experimentations are developed by using Weka and the two metrics “accuracy” and “ROC Area” enable to assess the predictive performance of the models. The obtained results show that the Random Forest-based model provides superior results, as evidenced by its accuracy-ROC area, which reached an accuracy of 90% with a ROC Area of 95%. The use of this model to explore the outcomes of the distance learning experience taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, reveals a failure in the prediction performance of the model during the Covid-19 pandemic period, which indicates a change in the system's behavior during this period when teaching moved to the full online version in the year 2019/2020 and returned fully face-to-face in the 2021/2022 year. The failure in the machine learning algorithms' performance when the system changes its behavior can be a limitation of using prediction models based on machine learning in this context. On the other hand, these models can be used if they are properly designed to identify changes in the behavior of a system as shown in this study. Therefore, the proposed Random Forest-based model has the capability to forecast student outcomes accurately and can be applied for diverse analyses within the Moroccan education system. These analyses include but are not limited to identifying students at risks, guiding student orientation, assessing the influence of teaching approaches on student achievement, and evaluating training effectiveness, among others.

Enhancing Algorithm and Programming Education through Collaborative Blended Learning: A Problem-Based Approach for First-Year Students

By Ajcharee Pimpimool

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.03, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

This research study aims to compare the learning achievements of first-year students in an algorithm and programming course before and after participating in cooperative blended learning activities focused on variables, expressions, and control commands. By utilizing problem-based learning methods, the researchers sought to meticulously analyze the profound impact of these activities on students’ academic advancement. The research tools deployed encompassed satisfaction questionnaires and achievement tests. The research cohort encompassed seven experienced specialists within higher education institutions, each endowed with a minimum of ten years of pedagogical experience, along with twenty-five participating students. Employing rigorous statistical analysis via T-tests, the study conclusively revealed a statistically noteworthy enhancement in student achievement post the program, underscoring the affirmative influence of cooperative blended learning activities. Moreover, the overall satisfaction level among learners engaging in the proposed learning activities was remarkably elevated, evident through an average satisfaction rating of 4.54 and a standard deviation of 0.73. These empirical insights succinctly underscore the demonstrable effectiveness of assimilating cooperative blended learning methods within algorithm and programming education, thereby accentuating the pivotal role of these pedagogical approaches in shaping contemporary educational practices.

Communicative Tasks as a Means of Developing the Emotional Intelligence of Students

By Olena Semenog Nataliia Hrona Tetiana Khomych Tetyana Stasiuk Artem Yurchenko Olena Semenikhina

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.04, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

Emotional intelligence (EI), the ability to manage emotions, empathize, and regulate one's behavior, is essential for every member of society nowadays. Various social institutions, including these at the educational institutions, influence its development. The paper examines the relationship between solving communicative tasks and developing students' emotional intelligence and describes the features of students' native language training. Here, we are providing examples of analytical, associative, and research communicative tasks. The tasks involve communicative activities, emotional and sensory perception of the text, and the involvement of analytical and creative abilities. A pedagogical experiment was conducted to confirm the development of EI in the process of solving communicative tasks. Hall's methodology determined the level of EI formation. The total number of respondents was 156 (control group – 77 people, experimental group – 79 people). Three control surveys were conducted in March (at the beginning of the experiment), June (in the middle of the experiment), and December (at the end of the experiment) of 2022 to track changes in the development of EI. The empirical results were subjected to statistical analysis. Pearson's criterion confirmed the normality of the distributions, and Student's criterion showed the statistical significance of changes at the end of the experiment for all indicators and for the indicators "emotional awareness," "managing one's emotions," and "empathy" in the middle of the experiment. The study confirmed a new method of developing EI - the use of   communicative tasks in teaching the native language, which extends the existing research results on the development of EI in learning foreign languages. The study lays grounds for several conclusions, including that solving communicative tasks may model "life situations" and indirectly form models of the future behavior of young people. It also identifies an urgent need for special courses for teachers on developing skills to create communicative tasks; it is essential to modernize teacher training programs, which should include the development of skills to model situational emotionally colored tasks that do not have an unambiguous answer and require analysis, comparisons, and evaluations.

Document Summarization Based on Information Retrieval Using Query Search Ranking Method

By Surya S. Sumitra P.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.05, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

This work proposes a Query Searching Based Ranking Summarization Data Retrieval (QS-RSDR) method for document summarization based on information retrieval. QS-RSDR ranks query-based retrieval of important information, enabling the creation of a detailed report of information requirements using generated sections of sample documents. Relating Keyword Query Search Summarization (RKQSS) generates the main summary from the most relevant document in the query and then the summary from the other documents. The method resolves similarity terms related to the query using the Word Frequency (WF) method. Sentence ranking weights and sentence frequency improve the accuracy of the retrieved documents. Simulation results show improved accuracy in information retrieval. The proposed method can help address unclear and short queries and understand the nature of the required information behind the query. The paper concludes that QS-RSDR is an effective solution for document summarization based on information retrieval using the query search ranking method. 

Review the Prospects and Obstacles of AI-Enhanced Learning Environments: The Role of ChatGPT in Education

By Khalid Alshahrani M. Rizwan Jameel Qureshi

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.06, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

This paper delves into the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly focusing on ChatGPT, within educational realms. By conducting an exhaustive review across various scholarly publications and case studies, this research unveils ChatGPT’s multifaceted role in redefining educational landscapes–ranging from enhancing programming proficiency and fostering creativity in writing, to augmenting student engagement. Our findings illuminate the dual-edged influence of ChatGPT in education, showcasing not only its ability to tailor learning experiences and facilitate programming and creative writing but also its capacity to fortify student-teacher interactions. However, the study does not shy away from highlighting the intricate challenges that accompany the integration of AI in education, including concerns over academic integrity, ethical considerations, and the need for a balanced amalgamation with traditional pedagogical methods. Innovatively, this research proposes a forward-thinking, ethical framework for AI integration in educational settings, advocating for a harmonious blend of ChatGPT’s capabilities with human educators' insights to foster a more engaging, effective, and equitable learning environment. By introducing groundbreaking strategies for integrating interactive learning technologies with ChatGPT, and emphasizing the development of personalized educational trajectories, our study sets a new benchmark for future AI applications in education. The paper’s exploration into the innovative integration of ChatGPT with Virtual Reality (VR) offers a glimpse into the future of immersive learning experiences, opening new avenues for engaging and experiential learning. Through empirical validation and a nuanced discussion on the ethical deployment of AI tools in education, this study marks a significant contribution to the discourse on AI’s role in education, providing valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and technologists alike.

Modeling and Development of a Computer Simulator with the Formation of Working Scenarios for Training Operator Personnel in the Search for Objects

By Taras Basyuk Andrii Vasyliuk Yuriy Ushenko Dmytro Uhryn Zhengbing Hu Mariia Talakh

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.04.07, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2024

The article is dedicated to solving the problem of modeling and developing a computer simulator with the creation of working scenarios for training operating personnel in object detection. The analysis of the features of human operator activity is carried out, the model of his behavior is described, and it is shown that for the presented task, the following three levels must be taken into account: behavior based on abilities (skills), behavior based on rules, behavior based on knowledge. User models that are used in man-machine systems were created, and their use in the process of modeling operator activity from the point of view of regular and irregular exposure was shown. This made it possible to create a prototype of a graphical window using a user-friendly interface. A system model of human-machine interface for processing and recognition of visual information is mathematically described and a model of image representation based on three possible scenarios of their formation is formed. The result of the study was the software implementation of an effective educational tool prototype that accurately replicates real-world conditions for the formation of working scenarios. The conducted experimental research showed the possibility of general image recognition tests, selection of different test modes, and support for arbitrary sets of image test tasks. Further research will be aimed at expanding the   functionality of the created prototype, developing additional modules, automatically generating scenarios and verifying work.

Predicting College Students’ Placements Based on Academic Performance Using Machine Learning Approaches

By Mukesh Kumar Nidhi Walia Sushil Bansal Girish Kumar Korhan Cengiz

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.06.01, Pub. Date: 8 Dec. 2023

Predicting College placements based on academic performance is critical to supporting educational institutions and students in making informed decisions about future career paths. The present research investigates the use of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to predict college students' placements using academic performance data. The study makes use of a dataset that includes a variety of academic markers, such as grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities, obtained from a varied sample of college students. To create predictive models, the study analyses numerous ML algorithms, including Logistic Regression, Gaussian Naive Bayes, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and K-Nearest Neighbour. The predictive models are evaluated using performance criteria such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. The most effective machine learning method for forecasting students' placements based on academic achievement is identified through a comparative study. The findings show that Random Forest approaches have the potential to effectively forecast college student placements. The findings show that academic factors such as grades and test scores have a considerable impact on prediction accuracy. The findings of this study could be beneficial to educational institutions, students, and career counsellors.

LLMs Performance on Vietnamese High School Biology Examination

By Xuan-Quy Dao Ngoc-Bich Le

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.06.02, Pub. Date: 8 Dec. 2023

Large Language Models (LLMs) have received significant attention due to their potential to transform the field of education and assessment through the provision of automated responses to a diverse range of inquiries. The objective of this research is to examine the efficacy of three LLMs - ChatGPT, BingChat, and Bard - in relation to their performance on the Vietnamese High School Biology Examination dataset. This dataset consists of a wide range of biology questions that vary in difficulty and context. By conducting a thorough analysis, we are able to reveal the merits and drawbacks of each LLM, thereby providing valuable insights for their successful incorporation into educational platforms. This study examines the proficiency of LLMs in various levels of questioning, namely Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, and High Application. The findings of the study reveal complex and subtle patterns in performance. The versatility of ChatGPT is evident as it showcases potential across multiple levels. Nevertheless, it encounters difficulties in maintaining consistency and effectively addressing complex application queries. BingChat and Bard demonstrate strong performance in tasks related to factual recall, comprehension, and interpretation, indicating their effectiveness in facilitating fundamental learning. Additional investigation encompasses educational environments. The analysis indicates that the utilization of BingChat and Bard has the potential to augment factual and comprehension learning experiences. However, it is crucial to acknowledge the indispensable significance of human expertise in tackling complex application inquiries. The research conducted emphasizes the importance of adopting a well-rounded approach to the integration of LLMs, taking into account their capabilities while also recognizing their limitations. The refinement of LLM capabilities and the resolution of challenges in addressing advanced application scenarios can be achieved through collaboration among educators, developers, and AI researchers.

Project-Based Learning with Gallery Walk: The Association with the Learning Motivation and Achievement

By Zamree Che-aron Wannisa Matcha

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.05.01, Pub. Date: 8 Oct. 2023

With the rapid and constant changes in computer and information technology, the content and learning methods in Computer Science related courses need to be continuously adapted and consistently aligned with the latest developments in the field. This paper proposes a learning approach called the Gallery-walk integrated Project-Based Learning (G-PBL) which can develop students’ lifelong learning skills that are extremely crucial for Computer Science students. The G-PBL was designed by incorporating the advantages of Project-Based Learning (PBL) and gallery walk learning strategy. In contrast to traditional PBL where students may present their project work to instructors only, students have to present their project work to their classmates as part of the G-PBL approach. All students are required to evaluate their peers’ project work and then give feedback and suggestions. For the research experiments, the G-PBL was implemented as an instructional approach in two Computer Science related courses. This study focuses on exploring the differences in knowledge gain, learning motivation, and perceived usefulness when learning by using the teacher-centered and G-PBL approach. Moreover, the impact of gender differences on learning outcomes is also investigated. The results reveal that using the G-PBL approach helps students to gain more knowledge significantly, for both male and female students. In terms of motivation, female students are more favorable toward the G-PBL approach. On the contrary, male students prefer learning via a teacher-centered approach. Regarding the perceived usefulness, female students strongly view the G-PBL as a highly effective learning approach, whereas male students are more prone to concur that the teacher-centered approach is a more effective learning method.

House Price Prediction using a Machine Learning Model: A Survey of Literature

By Nor Hamizah Zulkifley Shuzlina Abdul Rahman Nor Hasbiah Ubaidullah Ismail Ibrahim

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2020.06.04, Pub. Date: 8 Dec. 2020

Data mining is now commonly applied in the real estate market. Data mining's ability to extract relevant knowledge from raw data makes it very useful to predict house prices, key housing attributes, and many more. Research has stated that the fluctuations in house prices are often a concern for house owners and the real estate market. A survey of literature is carried out to analyze the relevant attributes and the most efficient models to forecast the house prices. The findings of this analysis verified the use of the Artificial Neural Network, Support Vector Regression and XGBoost as the most efficient models compared to others. Moreover, our findings also suggest that locational attributes and structural attributes are prominent factors in predicting house prices. This study will be of tremendous benefit, especially to housing developers and researchers, to ascertain the most significant attributes to determine house prices and to acknowledge the best machine learning model to be used to conduct a study in this field.

Analyzing Students’ Performance Using Fuzzy Logic and Hierarchical Linear Regression

By Dao Thi Thanh Loan Nguyen Duy Tho Nguyen Huu Nghia Vu Dinh Chien Tran Anh Tuan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2024.01.01, Pub. Date: 8 Feb. 2024

Due to the COVID-19 situation, all activities, including education, were shifted to online platforms. Consequently, instructors encountered increased challenges in evaluating students. In traditional assessment methods, instructors often face ambiguous cases when evaluating students’ competencies. Recent research has focused on the effectiveness of fuzzy logic in assessing students’ competencies, considering the presence of uncertain factors or multiple variables. Additionally, demographic characteristics, which can potentially influence students’ performance, are not typically utilized as inputs in the fuzzy logic method. Therefore, analyzing students’ performance by incorporating these factors is crucial in suggesting adjustments to teaching and learning strategies. In this study, we employ a combination of fuzzy logic and hierarchical linear regression to analyze students’ performance. The experiment involved 318 students from various programs and showed that the hybrid approach assessed students’ performance with greater nuance and adaptability when compared to a traditional method. Moreover, the findings in this study revealed the following: 1) There are differences in students’ performance between traditional and fuzzy evaluation methods; 2) The learning method is an impact on students’ fuzzy grades; 3) Students studying online do not perform better than those studying onsite. These findings suggest that instructors and educators should explore effective strategies being fair and suitable in assessment and learning.

Teachers’ Use of Technology and Constructivism

By Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani Lai-Mei Leong Hairul Nizam Ismail

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2013.04.07, Pub. Date: 8 Apr. 2013

Technology has changed the way we teach and the way we learn. Many learning theories can be used to apply and integrate this technology more effectively. There is a close relationship between technology and constructivism, the implementation of each one benefiting the other. Constructivism states that learning takes place in contexts, while technology refers to the designs and environments that engage learners. Recent efforts to integrate technology in the classroom have been within the context of a constructivist framework. The purpose of this paper is to examine the definition of constructivism, incorporating technology into the classroom, successful technology integration into the classroom, factors contributing to teachers’ use of technology, role of technology in a constructivist classroom, teacher’s use of learning theories to enable more effective use of technology, learning with technology: constructivist perspective, and constructivism as a framework for educational technology. This paper explains whether technology by itself can make the education process more effective or if technology needs an appropriate instructional theory to indicate its positive effect on the learner.

A Match or Mismatch Between Learning Styles of the Learners and Teaching Styles of the Teachers

By Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2012.11.05, Pub. Date: 8 Nov. 2012

It is important to study learning styles because recent studies have shown that a match between teaching and learning styles helps to motivate students´ process of learning. That is why teachers should identify their own teaching styles as well as their learning styles to obtain better results in the classroom. The aim is to have a balanced teaching style and to adapt activities to meet students´ style and to involve teachers in this type of research to assure the results found in this research study. Over 100 students complete a questionnaire to determine if their learning styles are auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. Discovering these learning styles will allow the students to determine their own personal strengths and weaknesses and learn from them. Teachers can incorporate learning styles into their classroom by identifying the learning styles of each of their students, matching teaching styles to learning styles for difficult tasks, strengthening weaker learning styles. The purpose of this study is to explain learning styles, teaching styles match or mismatch between learning and teaching styles, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles among Iranian learners, and pedagogical implications for the EFL/ESL classroom. A review of the literature along with analysis of the data will determine how learning styles match the teaching styles.

The Significant Role of Multimedia in Motivating EFL Learners’ Interest in English Language Learning

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2012.04.08, Pub. Date: 8 Apr. 2012

The use of multimedia in teaching and learning leads to higher learning. Multimedia refers to any computer-mediated software or interactive application that integrates text, color, graphical images, animation, audio sound, and full motion video in a single application. Multimedia learning systems offer a potentially venue for improving student understanding about language. Teachers try to find the most effective way to create a better foreign language teaching and learning environment through multimedia technologies. In this paper, the researcher defines multimedia, elaborates the rationale for using multimedia, identifies multimedia learning, mentions principles of multimedia, explains theoretical basis of multimedia English teaching, reviews roles of teachers and learners in multimedia environment, discusses the relationship between multimedia and learning, and states the strength of multimedia English teaching. The review of literature shows that teachers need to make full use of multimedia to create an authentic language teaching and learning environment where students can easily acquire a language naturally and effectively.

Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Motivation and Intention of University Students in Hanoi, Vietnam

By Do Thi Minh Hue Tran Phuong Thao Pham Canh Toan Hoang Dinh Luong Phan Thi Hao Do Thi Huyen Nguyen Thi Hoa

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2022.02.01, Pub. Date: 8 Apr. 2022

Entrepreneurship is the key driver of economic progress in many countries; thus, many countries have introduced policies to promote a more entrepreneurial environment. This study assesses the impact of factors affecting entrepreneurial intention of university students. The data was collected through a survey of 341 students at 09 leading universities in Hanoi, Vietnam and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS and Amos software. The research results show that entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial environment and subjective norms either directly or indirectly affect business motivation and entrepreneurial intention of university students. Thus, it is suggested that university and other educational institutions should provide more activities and taught courses that help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for entrepreneurship.

Extended Reality Model for Accessibility in Learning for Deaf and Hearing Students (Programming Logic Case)

By Martha Segura Ramiro Osorio Adriana Zavala

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.04.01, Pub. Date: 8 Aug. 2023

A group of researchers and developers from Colombia and Mexico have recognised that the development of state-of-the-art Extended Reality software, a key technology for the Metaverse, has great potential to improve teaching-learning processes in educational institutions. However, the development process does not take into account accessibility, universal design and inclusion, especially for the deaf student community. An extended reality model is proposed for the creation of this type of software as a tool to support access to knowledge, based on information gathering, requirements analysis, user-centred design and video game programming, including the ludic and didactic. The aim is to minimise the barriers that limit the learning of programming logic by students with hearing disabilities through the use of new technologies, creating spaces in virtual worlds that are understandable, usable and practical in conditions of safety, comfort and as much autonomy as possible. To validate the model, a mixed reality software prototype was designed and programmed to train students in programming logic, both deaf and hearing. User and heuristic tests were carried out, showing how immersion can improve knowledge acquisition processes and develop skills in higher education students.

Analysis of Student’s Academic Performance based on their Time Spent on Extra-Curricular Activities using Machine Learning Techniques

By Neeta Sharma Shanmuganathan Appukutti Umang Garg Jayati Mukherjee Sneha Mishra

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.01.04, Pub. Date: 8 Feb. 2023

The foundational tenet of any nation's prosperity, character, and progress is education. Thus, a lot of emphasis is laid on quality of education and education delivery system in India with current financial year (2022-23) education budget outlay of Rs. 1,04,277.72 crores. This research contributes in analyzing how students perform in academics depending upon the time spent on their extracurricular activities with the help of three Machine Learning prediction algorithms namely Decision Tree, Random Forest and KNN. Additionally, in order to comprehend the underlying causes of the shortcomings in each machine learning technique, comparisons of the prediction outcomes obtained by these various techniques are made. On our dataset, the Decision Tree outscored all other algorithms, achieving F1 84 and an accuracy of 85%. The research, which is at an introductory level, is meant to open the door for more complexes, specialised, and in-depth studies in the area of predicting the performance in academics.

Comparison of Simple Additive Weighting Method and Weighted Performance Indicator Method for Lecturer Performance Assessment

By Terttiaavini Yusuf Hartono Ermatita Dian Palupi Rini

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.02.01, Pub. Date: 8 Apr. 2023

The development of methods for assessing lecturers' performance is needed to motivate lecturers to achieve institutional targets. Currently, lecturers are required to be able to adapt to the rapid development of technology. Lecturer performance assessment must be done periodically. Competence is measured as a basis for planning resource development activities. The method that is often used for assessing lecturer performance is the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. However, the SAW method has drawbacks, namely 1) the process of determining criteria is only carried out by the leadership (subjective); 2) The SAW method can only be applied to multi-criteria data ; 3) Data ranking problems. Based on this deficiency, a new method was built, namely, the Weighted Performance Indicator (WPI) method using respondents’ opinion to determine the criteria. This study aims to compare the performance of the two methods. Testing criteria using SPPS application dan WPI method, while testing methods utilized the SAW method and the WPI method. The results of the criterion test show the Percentage of Similarity of data validity = 96.7 % witht the minimum percentage limit (MPL) = 40%. While the results of the SAW method and WPI method testing resulted in the highest score in the 13th alternative, namely SAW score (v13) = 793.76 and WP score (WP13) = 0.928, and the lowest value in the 30th alternative, SAW score (v30) = 18.60 and WP score (WP30) = 0.140. the ranking positions in these two methods show similarities. However, for other alternatives, the rating value can be different.  The WPI method is a scientific development in the field of decision support systems that can be applied to other performance assessments, such other human resources, system performance assesment etc.  The results of this study prove that the WPI method can be used as a performance assessment method with different characteristics from the SAW method.

Optimised MLP Neural Network Model for Optimum Prognostic Learning of out of School Children Trend in Africa: Implication for Guidance and Counselling

By Edith Edimo Joseph Joseph Isabona Odaro Osayande Ikechi Irisi

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.01.01, Pub. Date: 8 Feb. 2023

One crucial and intricate problem in the education sector that must be dealt with is children who initially enrolled in schools but later dropped out before finishing mandatory primary education. These children are generally referred to as out-of-school children. To contribute to the discuss, this paper presents the development of a robust Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) based Neural Network Model (NN) for optimal prognostic learning of out-of-school children trends in Africa. First, the Bayesian optimization algorithm has been engaged to determine the best MLP hyperparameters and their specific training values. Secondly, MLP-tuned hyperparameters were employed for optimal prognostic learning of different out-of-school children data trends in Africa. Thirdly, to assess the proposed MLP-NN model's prognostic performance, two error metrics were utilized, which are the Correlation coefficient (R) and Normalized root means square error (NRMSE). Among other things, a higher R and lower NRMSE values indicate a better MLP-NN precision performance. The all-inclusive results of the developed MLP-NN model indicate a satisfactory prediction capacity, attaining low NRMSE values between 0.017 - 0.310 during training and 0.034 - 0.233 during testing, respectively. In terms of correlation fits, the out-of-school children's data and the ones obtained with the developed MLP-NN model recorded high correlation precision training/testing performance values of 0.9968/0.9974, 0.9801/0.9373, 0.9977/0.9948 and 0.9957/0.9970, respectively. Thus, the MLP-NN model has made it possible to reliably predict the different patterns and trends rate of out-of-school children in Africa. One of the implications for counselling, among others, is that if every African government is seriously committed to funding education at the foundation level, there would be a reduction in the number of out-of-school children as observed in the out-of-school children data.

Adoption of Blended Learning in Ghanaian Senior High Schools: A Case Study in a Less Endowed School

By Ebenezer Eghan Najim Ussiph ObedAppiah

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.05.06, Pub. Date: 8 Oct. 2023

During COVID-19 pandemic, most tertiary institutions in Ghana were compelled to continue delivering of lectures online using internet technologies as was in the case of other countries. Senior high schools in Ghana were, however, not asked to do same, currently, the setting of most literature on blended or online learning in Ghana is focused on tertiary education. This paper situates the blended learning model in a less endowed senior high school to unearth the prospect of its implementation. The research provides an alternative to the traditional face-to-face learning, which is faced with the challenge of inadequate infrastructure, high number of students to class ratio, less compatibility with 21st learning skills and long-life learning in Ghana. A customed Moodle application as web application tool, hosted students online in both synchronous and asynchronous interactions. Purposive quota sampling size technique was used to select an appreciable sample size to fully go through the traditional face-face model for a term and then study through the blended learning model for another term. Students’ examination performances for both were analyzed with a paired t test statistical model. Interviews with participants were conducted to ascertain their evaluation of the blended learning model and questionnaires were also administered to discover the institutional, technological, and human resource readiness for blended learning in senior high schools. The analysis of the data gathered, proved that blended learning in senior high schools has high prospect and is better alternative to face-to-face learning in Ghana.

A Systematic Review of 3D Metaphoric Information Visualization

By A.S.K. Wijayawardena Ruvan Abeysekera M.W.P Maduranga

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2023.01.06, Pub. Date: 8 Feb. 2023

Today, large volumes of complex data are collected in many application domains such as health, finance and business. However, using traditional data visualization techniques, it is challenging to visualize abstract information to gain valuable insights into complex multidimensional datasets. One major challenge is the higher cognitive load in interpreting information. In this context, 3D metaphor-based information visualization has become a key research area in helping to gain useful insight into abstract data. Therefore, it has become critical to investigate the evolution of 3D metaphors with HCI techniques to minimize the cognitive load on the human brain. However, there are only a few recent reviews can be found for 3D metaphor-based data visualization. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive review of multidimensional data visualization by investigating the evolution of 3D metaphoric data visualization and interaction techniques to minimize the cognitive load on the human brain. Complying with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines this paper performs a systematic review of 3D metaphor-based data visualizations. This paper contributes to advancing the present state of knowledge in 3D metaphoric data visualization by critically analyzing the evolution of interactive 3D metaphors for information visualization. Further, this review identifies six main 3D metaphor categories and ten cognitive load minimizing techniques used in modern data visualization. In addition, this paper contributes three taxonomies by synthesizing the literature with a critical review of the strengths and weaknesses of metaphors. Finally, the paper discusses potential exploration paths for future research improvements.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MECS Press journals

Reference management. Clean and simple.

Journal abbreviation: Journal of modern education review

The abbreviation of the journal title " Journal of modern education review " is " J. Mod. Educ. Rev. ". It is the recommended abbreviation to be used for abstracting, indexing and referencing purposes and meets all criteria of the ISO 4 standard for abbreviating names of scientific journals.

Abbreviation rules

The table below outlines in detail the ISO 4 rules and matches to the ISSN maintained list of title word abbreviations ( TWA ) to derive the abbreviation.

Abbreviation systems

The International Organization for Standardization has established the ISO 4 abbreviation system as a uniform method for abbreviating journal titles. By providing a consistent means of referencing journals, this system simplifies the process of citation and enhances the clarity of communication in academic research.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization), NLM (National Library of Medicine), and CASSI (CAS Source Index) represent three distinct journal title abbreviation systems, with ISO being universal, NLM specific to biomedical fields, and CASSI focusing on chemistry-related subjects.

About the journal

Other journal abbreviations

• Travel research bulletin
• American research journal of physics
• Australian journal of management