ICT tools use in the scope of education in Engineering: a systematic review

Abstract

Information and communications technology (ICT) has an enormous impact on defining what the classroom and the learning process are in the 21st century. It became necessary to include these resources in the educational environment to improve and make the educational process more efficient. The objective of this article is to identify the ICT educational tools developed, associated, and applied in the field of higher engineering education (EE). Therefore, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is performed to consider the different tools present in interactive learning environments and the context in which they are applied. The research questions developed through the PICO method are: What ICTs (interactive tools) have been developed or found to enrich the different smart learning environments and engage active learning in engineering in the past three years? This is then deconstructed in sub-research investigation questions: Q1: How many ICT tools with application in Higher Education for Engineering have been developed or applied in the last three years? Q2: Which are the areas of application or subjects in which its use is appropriate? Q3: What role do the ICT tools perform in the educational process or in the different teaching-learning environments? The SLR allowed to identify the areas for further exploration, grouping them together and explaining the purpose of the different tools and their application. VOSviewer was used to visually analyse network maps of co-occurrence of authors Keywords, as well as others that prove to be decisive in characterizing the methodological approach to teaching and in the categorization of tools. Active learning classrooms are now and, in the future, the key point to the evolution of teaching and learning. Its determinant to understand what is currently being developed in this domain for more efficient and fastest adaptation of these valuable resources.