Abstract
This study reviewed research trends in online-, distance-, and blended learning over the past ten years through co-citation analysis. The related peer-reviewed research articles in the Web of Science were obtained, and the references in the articles were analyzed. The result showed that literature review and meta-analysis studies on distance education and studies on learners’ discourse in asynchronous discussion were frequently cited in the first half of the ten years. In the second phase, the focus moved to online learners' satisfaction and self-regulation, informal learning, and learning through MOOCs. The Community of Inquiry framework was continually researched. Overall, this study identified features and changes in research trends in online learning. As the first study to present a co-citation analysis of literature in the field, this paper provides a unique contribution to our understanding of publications, researchers, and research themes in online education.
Highlights
This study reviewed evolving research trends in online, distance, and blended learning over the past ten years through co-citation analysis
The six journals which appeared in the top rank in the whole ten years include Computers & Education, The Internet and Higher Education, Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Review of Educational Research, British Journal of Educational Technology, and Computers in Human Behavior
The Internet and Higher Education has been published since 1998 on teaching and learning using the Internet in the higher education context. This journal was cited more than two times as frequently between 2013 and 2017 than in the previous five years (The Internet and Higher Education, n.d.)
Summary
This study reviewed evolving research trends in online, distance, and blended learning over the past ten years through co-citation analysis. Researchers need to systematically investigate the development of the field as time passes to understand evolving research trends in this field (Bradea, Delcea, & Paun, 2015; Chen, 2006) In line with this need, the present study reviews highly cited and co-cited publications and research topics in online, distance, and blended learning (“online learning,” hereafter) from 2008 to 2017. Moving on to the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, the emergence of new technology and the Internet accessed through World Wide Web (Berners-Lee, Cailliau, & Groff, 1992) facilitated the two-way online communication between instructors and students via email, computer conferencing, and synchronous and asynchronous discussions (Holmberg, 2005). Learning on the Internet from a distance enhanced both independent learning of those who prefer learning individually as well as collaborative learning through group activities (Harasim, 2000; Holmberg, 2005), and blending online and face-to-face learning offered students more fruitful channels of getting linked with peers and instructors (Shea & Bidjerano, 2011)
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