Pedagogical aspect of e-learning in higher education: A systematic literature review

Abstract

The pedagogy aspect of education has been the key factor influencing the effectiveness and quality of e-learning platforms. However, there is a lack of systematic review with an emphasis on the pedagogical aspect when it comes to e-learning in higher education. This research aims to systematically review seven major databases to identify the existing research studies of e-learning models and theoretical frameworks concerning their pedagogical dimension. Our findings reveal that despite the importance of pedagogical models, only a few articles have incorporated models in their e-learning, and theories are more favoured. Constructivism appeared to be the most important among other learning theories when it comes to the successful implementation of pedagogical aspects of e-learning higher education. Furthermore, we found that the objectives of most studies were audience analysis and instructional strategies. Regarding the factors influencing the student-teacher aspect of the pedagogical component of e-learning, we found several factors that are mainly related to the audience analysis and instructional strategies elements of the pedagogical aspects. Based on these findings, we believe that instructional strategies should be based on teaching and learning theories like constructivism, social constructivism or sociocultural. Finally, we list several existing challenges that can be used as future directions for the successful application of e-learning in higher education.