Recommender systems in education: A literature review and bibliometric analysis

Abstract

This study aims to provide an overview regarding the use of recommender systems in education through a literature review and a bibliometric analysis. In total, 1,622 related documents from Scopus and WoS are examined from 2001 to 2022. The study goes over the literature, presents descriptive statistics about the document collection, and analyzes the thematic evolution of the topic throughout the years. Based on the results, the recency and significance of recommender systems and their potentials in the educational domain were evident. Their ability to take into account learners' unique traits, experiences, skills, and preferences was highlighted. Recommender systems emerged as a learning tool that can empower learners, improve education quality and learning outcomes, increase learners' motivation, engagement, achievements, and satisfaction, and enable learners to be in charge of their own learning. Finally, recommender systems arose as an effective educational tool that can promote and improve adaptive learning and personalized learning.