A multimethod synthesis of Covid-19 education research: the tightrope between covidization and meaningfulness

Abstract

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 research in education. A multi-methods approach was used to capture the full breadth of educational research. As such, a bibliometric analysis, structural topic modeling, and qualitative synthesis of top papers were combined. A total of 4,201 articles were retrieved from Scopus, mostly published from 2019 to 2021. In this work special attention is paid to analyzing and synthesizing findings about: (i) status of research about COVID-19 regarding frequencies, venues, publishing countries, (ii) identification of main topics in the COVID-19 research, and (iii) identification of the major themes in most cited articles and their impact on the educational community. Structural topic modeling identified three main groups of topics that related to education in general, moving to online education, or diverse topics (e.g., perceptions, inclusion, medical education, engagement and motivation, well-being, and equality). A deeper analysis of the papers that received most attention revealed that problem understanding was the dominating theme of papers, followed by challenges, impact, guidance, online migration, and tools and resources. A vast number of papers were produced. However, thoughtful, well-planned, and meaningful research was hard to conceptualize or implement, and a sense of urgency led to a deluge of research with thin contributions in a time of dire need to genuine insights.

Sustainable development, usability and accessibility in educational strategies during the global pandemic

“…Saqr et al [18] offer a comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 research in education using a multi-methods approach. Four thousand two hundred one articles were retrieved from Scopus, mostly published in 2021.…”

Caso práctico de uso de la Analítica de Aprendizaje en contextos de clase invertida - [Learning Analytics in Flipped Class Contexts, a case study]

“…Las metodologías activas de aprendizaje, más allá del éxito derivado de su naturaleza y del cambio que suponen en el rol del estudiante o su compromiso en el proceso, se vuelven especialmente importantes durante la crisis debida a la pandemia del COVID-19 (García Peñalvo & Corell, 2020). La necesidad de motivar a los estudiantes en esa situación y de que no se dedicaran meramente a ver videos, leer documentos o realizar trabajos, hacen ese tipo de metodologías una solución adecuada son solamente en el contexto pandémico sino también tras él (Saqr et al, 2023). Sin embargo, esto va a producir un número muy elevado de interacciones por parte del usuario y es necesario que el docente sea capaz de evaluarlas.…”