A Bibliometric Analysis of Trending Mobile Teaching and Learning Research from the Social Sciences

Abstract

With the development of computer and information technology, mobile teaching has enjoyed pride of place among teaching mediums in the past two decades. To visually explore the mobile learning hotspots and trends present in international journals, this study adopted two science mapping tools (CiteSpace and VOSviewer) to first detect and then visualise emerging trends (i.e., hotspots) in the mobile learning literature. A total of 528 mobile learning articles published between 2003 and 2021 that appeared in 21 international educational technology journals indexed in the SSCI database were retrieved for bibliometric analysis. The results show (1) there was a remarkable increase in academic output in this field starting in 2008 that topped out in 2021; (2) co-authorship with academics from diverse countries/regions and institutions was evident; (3) three trending foci in the literature include defining mobile learning, designing learning systems, and exploring mobile learning effectiveness; and (4) the high-frequency co-cited publications focus on the effectiveness of mobile devices via different research methods. This study provides scholars with an accessible summary of the current trends in mobile learning, identifies the active researchers in this field, and reports on which outlets are most relevant for research produced on this topic. In addition, the findings have direct implications for the education and private sectors. Mobile devices are not widely adopted in classroom settings and are often considered a learning tool more suited for out-of-class assignments or practice. Therefore, it is necessary for information technology educators to invest in actively initiating the integration of mobile technology into the classroom. Those in the technology industry should aim to develop mobile devices and relevant educational applications/software that can be utilised not only within the confines of the classroom but also to bridge in-class and out-of-class learning.