The nature and building blocks of educational technology research

Abstract

Supporting teaching and learning with different technologies has a long and broad history. The theories of learning have changed in recent decades, and new technologies have been invented that provide possibilities for supporting learning processes based on different learning theories. Recently, this field has been studied using bibliometric methods with large datasets to gain an overview of this research area. This paper continues this approach by targeting and analyzing the most relevant journals in the field, covering 30,632 articles. The aim was to deepen the results gained from previous bibliometric studies by focusing on the journals within the educational technology field, the keywords used, the most-cited papers, and especially by outlining the theoretical backgrounds of the analyzed articles. Results show new journals with increasing numbers of articles published. By analyzing the publications used as the articles' backgrounds, we can identify the large entities within the field. Articles targeted how technology can support learning processes based on different learning theories. Along with building an understanding of technology-related learning processes, the second large area of research targets the integration and factors affecting the use of technology for teaching and learning practices. The third large perspective focuses on learners’ characteristics, especially their learning skills, motivation, and self-efficacy. The results show that new technologies by themselves do not cause fast changes in research goals and topics; rather, significant changes in the research field evolve slowly.