Abstract
This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of major research themes and trends in e-learning research. A co-word analysis is applied for the analysis of the 21,656 keywords collected from 7214 articles published in 10 journals in the field of e-learning from the years 1999 to 2018. Specifically, a cluster analysis, social network analysis, strategic diagram, and graph theory were applied in the analysis for two time periods: 1999–2008 and 2009–2018. The study detects the bridging, popular, and core topics in e-learning research for the two periods. The research results indicate that e-learning research has undergone a health evolution over the past two decades. There is a temporal continuity of e-learning research because some research topics have kept their continuity over the studied 20 years. Meanwhile, the research traditions in the e-learning field are also continuously evolving with the development of new technologies. The results also offer useful hints on the future direction of how the field may evolve.
Highlights
Since the inception of personal computers, electronic learning (e-learning) has been a hot topic in research and practice for several decades
Callon et al (1986) stated that the co-word approach can help trace the evolution of research topics and distinguish them from those research topics that have quickly disappeared in a research domain; this approach helps uncover the links between the research topics in a network of a research domain
To detect the paradigm changes in the field of e-learning over the past 20 years, the sample data were split into two sub-datasets pertinent to the two studied periods: 1999–2008 and 2009–2018
Summary
Since the inception of personal computers, electronic learning (e-learning) has been a hot topic in research and practice for several decades. Scientometrics (2021) 126:1389–1414 for teaching and learning. Such endeavors, accompanied by a rapid advance of web, multimedia, and Internet technologies, have transformed e-learning, making it a highly dynamic and fast-evolving discipline. Over the past two decades, the number of studies on e-learning has been expanding greatly. Scholars have explained that e-learning is technology driven, delivery system oriented, and communication oriented in nature (Arkorful and Abaidoo 2015; Rodrigues et al 2019). Scholars from various backgrounds have added their own expertise to e-learning research, making it one of the most fruitful and dynamic disciplines of all the scientific communities
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