Research Trends in Technology-based Learning from 2000 to 2009: A content Analysis of Publications in Selected Journals

This paper provides a content analysis of studies in technology-based learning (TBL) that were published in five Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) journals (i.e. the British Journal of Educational Technology, Computers & Education, Educational Technology Research & Development, Educational Technology & Society, the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning) from 2000 to 2009. A total of 2,976 articles were cross-analyzed by three categories including research topic, research sample group, and learning domain. It was found that “Pedagogical design and theories” was the most popular research topic, “Higher Education” was the most utilized sample group, and “Non-specified” and “Engineering/Computer sciences” were the most selected learning domains in the last decade. However, topics in “Motivation, Perceptions and Attitudes” drew more attention in the latest five years, while the number of articles in “Digital game and intelligent toy enhanced learning” and “Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning” grew significantly between 2005 and 2009. Furthermore, the Chi-square analysis results showed that there were significant associations among these three categories. The results of the analysis provide insights for educators and researchers into research trends and patterns of technology-based learning.