Bibliometric Analysis to Reveal Research Evolution and Educational Technology Trends in Civil Engineering Education

Abstract

Civil engineering education is a discipline that endeavors to find the best way through various pedagogical methods to teach civil engineering to prospective civil engineers. Civil engineering education is in the spotlight along with developments in construction technology and its application in learning. Thus, civil engineering education offers a broad field of research in the context of education and construction sciences. Therefore, investigating the evolution of educational research and technology trends in civil engineering education is of interest. In this context, we performed a bibliometric analysis of 545 Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) global publications in the field of civil engineering education published during the period 1967 to 2022. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted using the R language-based software Biblioshiny. The research results show that, first, research trends in civil engineering education in the 55-year period were divided into 6 themes, namely: engineering education, civil engineering education or construction education, fields of civil engineering, technology in engineering education, global and social aspects, and other. Second, the United States is a leader in civil engineering education research, as most authors and journals are from this country. Third, the evolution of educational technology in civil engineering education can be described in five eras: 1) simple software era (1976–1990); 2) geographic information systems (GIS) and virtual reality (VR) era (1991–2000); 3) multimedia and e-learning era (2001–2010); 4) building information modeling (BIM) era (2011–2022); and 5) the forthcoming era (2023−future). Using computers as analysis and visualization tools became increasingly accurate and real, such as the integration of VR technology and incorporation of BIM technology. These findings might help researchers regarding the future direction of research and educational technology in civil engineering.