The framing of educational digitalization: A scoping review of empirical studies

Abstract

The aim of this scoping review is to systematically investigate the framing of European empirical research on digitalization for teaching and learning in the classroom within primary and secondary school (K‐12/K‐13). We believe it is crucial to gain insight in the framing of the knowledge production taking place in the fast‐evolving field of educational digitalization. The framing will influence the research results and conclusions published as well as potentially impact on how policy and practices of educational digitalization evolve. Our findings reveal that the studies of educational digitalization are spread relatively thin over a wide variety of academic journals and fields, where journals within the edtech field dominate in numbers. The dominant technological framing could indicate research driven by technological perspectives rather than pedagogical interests. The research is unevenly geographically distributed. There is a lack of European comparative studies as well as studies framing digitalization as something else than a tool for making learning more effective.