Concepts, innovative technologies, learning approaches and trend topics in education 4.0: A scoping literature review

Abstract

Education 4.0 uses digital technologies, innovative methodologies, and learning spaces to improve the quality of education. It reflects the changes brought about by the fourth industrial revolution and aims to develop skills relevant to current and future technology scenarios. The transformation of education to Education 4.0 presents challenges and opportunities, and requires the collaborative participation of industry, governments, universities, and society. This work aims to synthesize concepts of Education 4.0, and identify the innovative technologies, key competencies, learning approaches, trend topics, and how it is being applied in engineering education. A scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA statement. The Scopus and Web of Science databases were used in the review. Bibliometric tools in R Studio and VOSviewer software were employed to summarize the bibliometric data and analyze the results. Bibliometric analysis of the 528 selected documents revealed a significant growth in publications from 2017 to September 2023. Nearly half of the selected literature originated from conference proceedings, and 42.6% of the selected papers have not yet been cited. Moreover, five research clusters were identified from the select publications related to studying Education 4.0 in higher education, specifically engineering education: concept, competency-based learning, specific technologies applied to education, learning system, and competency-based learning. The use of Industry 4.0 technology, such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Virtual Labs, combined with active learning teaching methodologies, such as gamification and blended learning, has been identified as points of convergence and trending research topics within Education 4.0.