Where Are We in Online Project-Based Learning? Evidence From a Visualized Bibliometric Review (2013–2023)

As an effective teaching methodology, online project-based learning (PBL) has been widely used in many countries and has experienced explosive growth. To evaluate the effectiveness of online PBL over the last decade, we conducted a bibliometric review using qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze research papers on online PBL during 2013–2023. Sources, organizations, and countries were examined using VOSviewer, a citation network was created using CitNetExplorer's clustering technique, and a short thematic analysis revealed the differences between online and traditional PBL, pedagogical designs, team organization, and instructors' roles. PBL applied to online classrooms was satisfactory for both students and instructors, and it promoted students' participation in classroom interactions. Key elements of online PBL included the instructor's guiding role, teamwork and management methods, and the use of artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies. Technology was critical in promoting collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Multi-channel digital teaching methods could improve the quality of distance education. Our findings encourage future practice to promote teacher digital literacy, student subjective factors, and technological factors to improve the effectiveness of online PBL.