COVID-19 and teachers’ digital competencies: a comprehensive bibliometric and topic modeling analysis

Abstract

Abstract With the escalating global emphasis on information and communication technologies, the imperative of bolstering and enhancing teachers’ digital proficiencies comes to the forefront. Against this backdrop, this study endeavors to discern the prevailing trends and principal themes in the scholarly landscape by conducting a comprehensive analysis of research pertaining to teachers’ digital competences. The methodological framework of the inquiry encompasses two pivotal phases: bibliometric analysis and topic modeling analysis focusing on teachers’ digital competencies. Drawing upon a corpus of 3352 documents spanning the years 1994 to 2024 sourced from eminent databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, these analyses serve as the cornerstone of the investigation. By subjecting the texts to descriptive content analysis and topic modeling analysis, the study seeks to pinpoint the focal points and unveil semantic patterns inherent within the literature. The primary revelations of the inquiry underscore the burgeoning interest in studies pertaining to teachers’ digital competences, particularly spurred by exigent circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Bibliometric analyses illuminate a marked quantitative and qualitative upsurge in research output in this domain, underscoring the pivotal role of teachers’ digital proficiencies in the realm of education. The thematic contours of the research encapsulate digital skills cultivation, teacher training, the assimilation of digital technologies into pedagogical strategies, and the role of technology in times of crises such as pandemics. The findings posit that teachers’ digital competences harbor the potential to augment student attainment and advocate for continued scholarly endeavors in this domain. It is advocated that forthcoming studies adopt diverse frameworks to elucidate the nexus between curricula and digital competences, thereby fostering the development of more efficacious strategies.