The Emergence of Technology in Physical Education: A General Bibliometric Analysis with a Focus on Virtual and Augmented Reality

Comparing the Use and Effectiveness of In-Person and Remote Physical Education Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

Physical Education is a key component to improve youth health, but there is limited information on Physical Education delivery in different formats.

PURPOSE

We compared PE formats (in-person versus remote) across evaluation aspects: weekly minutes; perceived effectiveness; and student-to-teacher ratio.

METHODS

We distributed questionnaires (2020-2021 school year) to school contacts who represented NFL Play 60 FitnessGram® Project (n=216) schools in multiple US cities. Questionnaires entailed learning format, weekly PE minutes, perceived effectiveness, and student-to-teacher ratio. We used linear mixed models to compare PE formats across evaluation variables.

RESULTS

Among 165 schools, 10% (n=17) offered in-person instruction, 31% (n=51) offered remote instruction, and 59% offered both (n=97). Results revealed higher in-person PE minutes (77.2±7.3) compared to remote minutes (67.1±14.6), but results were not significantly different (p=0.19). School contacts reported significantly more effective in-person PE (4.0) than remote PE (2.8, p<0.001). In-person PE also had significantly smaller reported student-to-teacher ratio (16.7) compared to remote PE (23.7, p<0.001).

DISCUSSION

Findings indicate PE was offered during the pandemic, but remote learning appeared less effective than in-person PE.

TRANSLATION to HEALTH EDUCATION PRACTICE

Efforts are needed to improve remote PE to reinforce high-quality PE in the future.

The Bibliometric Analysis of Studies on Physical Literacy for a Healthy Life

This article empirically provides a global overview of physical literacy, which allows for the understanding of the structure of the epistemic community studying literacy for healthy living. Publications registered in the Web of Science are analyzed using bibliometrics (spatial, productive, and relational) based on data from 391 records, published between 2007 and April 2022, applying five bibliometric laws and using VOSviewer software for data and metadata processing and visualization. In terms of results, we observe an exponential increase in scientific production in the last decade, with a concentration of scientific discussion on physical literacy in seven journals; a production distributed in 46 countries situated on the five continents, but concentrated in Canada and the United States; co-authored research networks composed of 1256 researchers but with a production concentrated of around 2% of these, and an even smaller number of authors with high production and high impact. Finally, there are four thematic blocks that, although interacting, constitute three specific knowledge production communities that have been delineated over time in relation to health and quality of life, fitness and physical competence, education, and fundamental movement skills.

Global trends and hotspots in research on extended reality in sports: A bibliometric analysis from 2000 to 2021

Objective

Extended reality technologies (e.g. virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR)) are gaining popularity in sports owing to their unique advantages. This study aims to analyse the progress of the application of extended reality technology in sports and reveal its cooperative features, research hotspots and development trends.

Methods

We searched the literature in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database within the period 2000 to 2021 and conducted a bibliometric analysis. The analysis methods included statistical, co-occurrence, hierarchical clustering and social network analyses.

Results

A total of 340 articles were gathered. The literature related to its research showed an increasing trend over time. The paper collaboration rate was 90.88% (309/340 papers), and the degree of author collaboration was 3.96 (1345/340). VR was found to be the most productive journal, and Queen's University Belfast was the most productive institution. The United States, China and the United Kingdom were the three main contributors to the field. The foundational themes in sports extended reality research were (i) sports games and extended reality systems, (ii) virtual simulation devices and artificial intelligence, (iii) sports training and performance and (iv) age-appropriate physical activity, sports rehabilitation and physical education.

Conclusion

The level of author collaboration was low, but the degree of author collaboration is largely on the rise. The closeness of the collaboration between institutions and countries was also low. In addition, the subject of sport extended reality is relatively fragmented. Therefore, more research is needed to strengthen it in the future.

Systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis on virtual reality and education

The objective of this study is to identify and analyze the scientific literature with a bibliometric analysis to find the main topics, authors, sources, most cited articles, and countries in the literature on virtual reality in education. Another aim is to understand the conceptual, intellectual, and social structure of the literature on the subject and identify the knowledge base of the use of VR in education and whether it is commonly used and integrated into teaching-learning processes. To do this, articles indexed in the Main Collections of the Web of Science, Scopus and Lens were analyzed for the period 2010 to 2021. The research results are presented in two parts: the first is a quantitative analysis that provides an overview of virtual reality (VR) technology used in the educational field, with tables, graphs, and maps, highlighting the main performance indicators for the production of articles and their citation. The results obtained found a total of 718 articles of which the following were analyzed 273 published articles. The second stage consisted of an inductive type of analysis that found six major groups in the cited articles, which are instruction and learning using VR, VR learning environments, use of VR in different fields of knowledge, learning processes using VR applications or games, learning processes employing simulation, and topics published during the Covid-19 pandemic. Another important aspect to mention is that VR is used in many different areas of education, but until the beginning of the pandemic the use of this so-called "disruptive process" came mainly from students, Institutions were reluctant and slow to accept and include VR in the teaching-learning processes.

Gamification as a Promoting Tool of Motivation for Creating Sustainable Higher Education Institutions

Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are responsible for creating healthy and sustainable environments for students and teachers through diverse educational paradigms such as gamification. In this sense, the Healthy People 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals indicated the imperative to provide inclusive and equitable quality education to promote a healthy environment and life. The principal objective was to analyse the impact of gamification on health development in HEIs, highlighting their positive and negative effects. To achieve such an objective, a bibliometric analysis was carried out. The 257 documents showed no significant increasing trend in the last decade (p > 0.05) related to the pandemic. Most of the publications were conferences (45%), and the few published articles were the documents with more citations (p < 0.001). According to their index in Journal Citation Reports, there were significant differences between the citations of articles published in journals (p < 0.001). The analysis of journal co-citations showed that the leading journals (such as Computers in Human Behavior) had a significant part in the clusters formed (p < 0.001), conditioning also the keywords, especially the term “motivation”. These findings were discussed, concluding that the experimental studies focused on the teachers’ adverse effects are yet to come.

Global research trends in augmented reality: scientometric mapping based on Scopus database

Purpose

This study aims to present a scientometric analysis of publications related to “Augmented Reality.” In today’s Information Technology-driven era, augmented reality (A.R.) has evolved as a new immersive data source for developing knowledge combining authentic and digital images. Consequently, extensive research is going on “Augmented Reality” to discover its potential in knowledge development.

Methodology

The paper analyses and emphasizes the bibliographic data of Scopus articles with a suitable search query. The study was done concerning the chronological growth of research publications, highly cited publications, productive countries, prominent journals, prolific authors and institutions, author and country co-authorship network analysis and keywords analysis. The analysis was conducted by using open-source tools such as VOSViewer, Biblioshiny and Gephi.

Findings

The study reveals that a maximum number of publications on research in “Augmented Reality” are in the form of conference proceedings and articles. A.R., Virtual reality and A.R. application are the keywords with maximum number of occurrences. A significant number of publications are done in the USA, followed by Germany in the year 2020.

Originality/value

This study provides a precise idea of work done in different countries, a network of co-authorship between authors and countries, publication and citation impact of authors, journals, institutions and countries, year-wise progression and trending “augmented reality” topics research. This investigation will be advantageous for researchers and stakeholders to obtain rigorous bibliographic knowledge on literature related to the topic and work accordingly for R&D activities.

Virtual Reality in Health Care: Bibliometric Analysis

BACKGROUND

Research into the application of virtual reality technology in the health care sector has rapidly increased, resulting in a large body of research that is difficult to keep up with.

OBJECTIVE

We will provide an overview of the annual publication numbers in this field and the most productive and influential countries, journals, and authors, as well as the most used, most co-occurring, and most recent keywords.

METHODS

Based on a data set of 356 publications and 20,363 citations derived from Web of Science, we conducted a bibliometric analysis using BibExcel, HistCite, and VOSviewer.

RESULTS

The strongest growth in publications occurred in 2020, accounting for 29.49% of all publications so far. The most productive countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain; the most influential countries are the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The most productive journals are the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), JMIR Serious Games, and the Games for Health Journal; the most influential journals are Patient Education and Counselling, Medical Education, and Quality of Life Research. The most productive authors are Riva, del Piccolo, and Schwebel; the most influential authors are Finset, del Piccolo, and Eide. The most frequently occurring keywords other than "virtual" and "reality" are "training," "trial," and "patients." The most relevant research themes are communication, education, and novel treatments; the most recent research trends are fitness and exergames.

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis shows that the field has left its infant state and its specialization is advancing, with a clear focus on patient usability.

Extended Reality in Higher Education, a Responsible Innovation Approach for Generation Y and Generation Z

This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the XR challenges, opportunities, and future trends that will impact higher educational institutions. The article discusses (using observation, participatory observation and as well as document analysis) the potential for augmented reality to be used in higher education, having in mind characteristics of Millennials (Generation Y) and Post-Millennials (Generation Z) and raises issues about responsible innovation, the future of work, and formal education. Additionally, survey research was completed among students in Serbia and Romania (103 respondents) within selected generations regarding their knowledge of extended reality and their attitudes towards opportunities and challenges of extended reality in Higher Education Institutions, and thus this paper also utilises quantitative analysis. A correlation matrix, composite reliability, and regression model were used to code the data and extract knowledge. A thorough review of the existing literature on one hand and primary research as well, using the chosen scientific methods, the planned purpose of the research will be obtained: to gain a better-understanding of the education needs of Generation Y and Generation Z and the potential use of XR as a response to the needs observed. The results of the quantitative analysis confirmed our starting assumptions: XR is an excellent technology facilitating the teaching processes allowing learners to more actively control their learning strategies and supporting the interactivity and connectivity that students and faculties experience. Furthermore, Generation Z students are more applicative for stating XR’s opportunities (instead of challenges) in higher education institutions.

The Higher Education Sustainability before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Spanish and Ecuadorian Case

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are key to create sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs). Most researchers focused on the students’ perspective, especially during the online teaching caused by COVID-19; however, university teachers are often forgotten, having their opinion missing. This study’s objective was to determine the factors that contribute to the inclusion of ICTs. The research based on a comparative study through an online qualitative survey focused on the inclusion and use of ICTs in two HEIs and two different moments (pre-and post-lockdowns). There were differences regarding country and working experience (p < 0.001), being linked to the ICTs use, evaluation of obstacles, and the role given to ICTs (p < 0.05). The COVID-19 caused modifications of the teachers’ perspectives, including an improvement of the opinion of older teachers regarding the essentialness of ICTs in the teaching process (p < 0.001) and worsening their perception about their ICTs skill (p < 0.05). Additionally, an initial model focused only on the university teachers and their use of ICTs has been proposed. In conclusion, the less experienced university teachers used more ICTs, identified more greatly the problematic factors, and considered more important the ICTs, with the perception of all teachers modified by COVID-19.

Design and Implementation of a Virtual Laboratory for Physics Subjects in Moroccan Universities

Laboratory experimentation has a vital role in science education. With the potential offered by information and communication technologies for the educational domain, virtual laboratories have emerged as a valuable alternative to face-to-face, hands-on laboratories. Moreover, the possibility of virtual laboratories opens new perspectives for higher education sustainability. They are a perfect approach for training learners to understand scientific principles in many fields of science by offering them the possibility to illustrate the scientific phenomena through automated and virtual practical activities that employ computer simulation. In this work, we present the use of computer simulation combined with the JavaScript programming language for the development of a low-cost virtual laboratory integrated into an interactive learning environment based on the Moodle platform. The methodology was based on the instructional design model ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation), which structures the development planning of online teaching resources in different stages (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation). The virtual laboratory was developed by Moroccan universities, with the help of European partners, and it was implemented in the 12 science faculties in Morocco. It presents a great choice for supporting laboratory activities for learners in the first year of their bachelor’s degree program. This virtual laboratory includes 12 virtual practical activities mapped to the physics curriculum, and they can be operated via the Internet on computers. The proposed virtual learning environment was evaluated by teachers and learners from the science faculties. The obtained results, together with similar findings from other studies, indicate the positive impact of the use of a virtual laboratory on learning outcomes, and support the adoption of the proposed learning environment in laboratory educational procedures as an alternative to physical laboratories.

Quality Education as a Sustainable Development Goal in the Context of 2030 Agenda: Bibliometric Approach

Quality education is understood as one of the most powerful and proven drivers for ensuring sustainable development, which can be applied in various educational contexts, formal and non-formal, and which can generate multiple benefits for the general public. Given its relevance, this article presents a bibliometric approach of the scientific production generated around Sustainable Development Goal (SPG) 4 that seeks to “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning” as a priority objective of 2030 Agenda. To develop this research, a literature search was conducted in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The final sample was 240 publications. The data were analyzed around ten variables: year of publication, type of document, area of indexation, periodical publications, most productive authors, institutions, countries, languages, most cited articles, and key words. The findings of this study indicate that quality education, within the Sustainable Development Goals, is gaining relevance, with 2019 being the year with the highest scientific production. This is a growing theme that is transmitted mainly through articles and papers in English, and there are no institutions, research groups or authors with a broad scientific background and production. The conclusion is that this bibliometric approach is important and necessary to know the reality of scientific production on this subject and to be able to make proposals and lines of research for its development.