Technological Convergence in African Higher Education: Insights from Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis

Abstract

The massive influx and proliferation of novel innovative technologies have characterised the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) era. These technologies have significantly revolutionised every sector, especially the education sphere in Africa. Prominent among these technologies, such as gamification, virtual reality, robotics, and augmented reality, are transforming the conventional teaching and learning approaches, promoting active learning experiences, and enhancing student engagement. Hence, this paper seeks to identify, analyse, visualise, and map emerging technology convergence research trends for T&L in the African higher education sector. A quantitative method (science mapping) was utilised to analyse the 217 bibliometric datasets (scholarly publication outputs) extracted from the Scopus database from the years 2010 to 2024. It was revealed that South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana are the top contributors to the research on emerging technology convergence for teaching and learning in the African higher education sectors. The results presented the annual publication trends, citations burst, keywords co-occurrence, document sources, cluster analysis, and scientific collaboration network. This study is a valuable addition to the growing educational technology body of knowledge, providing valuable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to leverage the use of ETs effectively. Conclusively, the study showed that adopting ETs can accelerate the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four by promoting equitable access to quality education and bridging the digital divide across diverse African communities and regions.