Active Learning in an Environment of Innovative Training and Sustainability. Mapping of the Conceptual Structure of Research Fronts through a Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The present study seeks to map and visualize up-to-date perspectives of the topic of active learning by analyzing and interpreting the different elements that make up learning ecosystems within the European Higher Education Area. With this aim, scientometric methods were employed to analyze a sample of 474 articles recovered from Web of Science (WoS) during the three-year period between 2018 and 2020. All articles examined the topic of active learning. Keywords (authors’ keywords and ‘keywords plus’) from the manuscripts were examined through co-occurrence analysis in order to establish the conceptual structure of active learning. Among the different trends and emerging topics identified, there is an important presence of topics related to technology applied to the field of education, where digital contexts acquire a preponderant role in current education. These innovative changes focused on the digital updating and exploitation of technology represent a methodological challenge that requires an involvement and commitment to this new space for educational practice by teachers and students.