Impact of ICT on students with high abilities. Bibliographic review (2008–2018)

1 José María Fernández Batanero Miguel María Reyes Rebollo Marta Montenegro Rueda 2 Abstract The students with high abilities process information differently, as a high creativity and involvement in their tasks are found among their personal characteristics. This implies the need for conducting specific educational interventions, within which some theoretical models have shown the effectiveness of the ICT. The aim of this work was to analyze the scientific production in the shape of articles on the ICT as a support for the learning of students with high abilities, during the 2008-2018 period in five databases: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Google Scholar, Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) and PsycINFO. A descriptive and quantitative methodology was used to present the most significant bibliometric data (citation index and impact), as well as the analysis of co-words, and the visualization of the relationships between words or terms through bi-dimensional bibliometric maps. A total of 725 documents were analyzed, from which 92 KW+ were obtained. Among the conclusions, a medium-low impact index is underlined, as referring to the number of articles published in the five databases, as well as the citations received. With respect to the thematic network of interrelations of studies on ICT and high abilities, these are being thematically linked with the importance of the Technologies in the classroom, the curriculum, the family’s participation and the training of teachers. Keywords: ICT, high capacities, bibliometrics, scientific journals, databases 3 1. Introduction The education of persons with high abilities (gifted) is not a new field of study, as it began at the end of the 19th century in the Unites States, but it did not gain prominence until after the launching of the Russian satellite Sputnik in 1957 (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2011). At present, in that country there is a growing interest for the education of people with exceptional abilities. This is the case of the GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) program, directed towards young students who have shown to have an especially high intellectual ability. In Europe, something similar is presently occurring. The Europe 2020 program named «A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth», approved by the European Commission in 2010 includes the improvement in the detection and educational attention of gifted individuals, as a key resource for guaranteeing the future of the EU. It recommends that the European Commission and the Member States support the conducting of studies and research and adopt adequate measures to favor the potentials of gifted children and youth, with the objective of promoting the assessment of specialized knowledge. In this sense, technology not only allows the teachers to provide differential instruction for gifted students, but also serves as an educational and creative outlet for the most brilliant minds in the world. In this modern era, the existence of high-ability minds involved in the new technological advances of society is crucial. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can provide essential support for the learning of gifted individuals, when used for personalized educational interventions, where some theoretical models have shown their effectiveness, as related to their use as pedagogic tools that foment creativity (Tárraga, Sanz, & Pastor Fernández, 2014). In the last few years, this has become an emergent field of study. Thus, a fast search with the terms ICT and gifted in Google Scholar showed 409 results between 1988 and 1998, 4410 from 1998 to 2008 and an astounding 4 16900 results from 2008 to 2018. It is likely that not all of these documents were directly related with the use of the ICT and the gifted, however, these data suggested that there is a growing body of literature that has awoken the interest on this subject. Within this context, it is necessary to conduct a study to analyze the different variables from a bibliometric and thematic point of view in order to place the researchers in the current scenario and the possible challenges of the study. Meaning, in terms of understanding what we know, what we need to know and what we can do. 2. Conceptualizations The terminology used by every one of the countries, the classification criteria that are in agreement with them, as well as the aspects that are included vary considerably. The terms that frequently appear in the national definitions of most of the countries are «gifted» and «talented ». Normally, these terms are used interchangeably, although some countries give them different connotations (Mönks & Pflüger, 2017). The definition of «gifted» has a direct relationship with the intellectual quotient, according to the most recognized definition from the World Health Organization. Thus, the “gifted” are students who have an IQ of 130 or higher. Renzulli (1978) defined giftedness as a consistent interaction in three basic human features that characterize gifted individuals: a) general intelligence or ability that is above the mean; b) creativity and c) involvement with the task. In the last few years, Renzulli (2012) has complemented this initial theory with 3 new sub-theories: triad enrichment, social value and executional functions. However, at present, more than giftedness, there is also talk about high abilities, highlighting in this sense, the contributions by Pfeiffer (2015), where these are defined from three perspectives: high intelligence, excellent performance and high potential to excel or perform in an excellent 5 manner. Along this line, authors such as Olszewski-Kubilius, Subotnik & Worrell (2015) highlight the importance of education in the development of high abilities. 3. Research on ICT and High Abilities 3.1. What is known In the last 40 years, the ICT have evolved continuously and progressively. From the first phase, at the end of the 70s, characterized by the model of programmed instruction; essentially exercising and practice, followed by the appearance of multimedia and hypermedia interfaces, at the end of the 80s, which contributed to the enrichment of educational programs. The generalized use of the Internet in the 90s was another milestone in the design, and overall, in the distribution of educational applications (e-business, e-marketing, ecommerce...). In the first decade of the third millennium, the ICT also reached the educational terrain, with the coining of terms such as e-learning to refer to electronic or distance learning educational systems. Lastly, the surge of social software and the Web 2.0 environments can be underlined, which referred to the creation of content and social participation (Tourón & Santiago, 2013). Proof of this can be observed in the bibliometric analysis conducted by Martín, Díaz, Sancristobal, Gil, & Castro (2011), who identified social web technologies, games and mobile devices as the most important technologies for education. All of this evolution has been accompanied by research experiments, although they have not been very abundant in the field of special education needs due to high abilities. In despite of this, in the education area, models have been created to explain the use of the ICT in the education of gifted students. Examples of these are the CAITAC model by Pérez & Beltrán (2005), the Enable, Enhance & Transform model by Chen, Yun Dai and Zhou (2013), or the contributions by Goodhew (2009). 6 There are other contributions that have tried to argue for the benefits produced by the use of the ICT in the education of these students. Thus, Goodhew (2009) indicated that the educators should guide the talented students to become independent and competent learners on the use of technology, so that they may be able to take on the reins of their own learning. Authors such as Yong & Zhicheng (2009) conducted a more specialized proposal, and summarized the contributions that the educational work with ICT could provide to the treatment of information, in the following milestones: localization of information online; evaluation and validation of the information and interpretation. Despite the different theoretical models, in the international arena there is a scarcity of scientific studies conducted that provide bibliographic reviews on the support of the ICT to the learning of gifted individuals. An example of this is the one conducted by Periathiruvadi & Rinn (2013), where through a review of online databases (ERIC, Education Research Complete, Academic Research Complete and PsychArticles), they revealed the predominance of descriptive reports over empirical ones on the use of technology with gifted students. Likewise, in their study, they underlined that the main themes of the studies referred to the following subjects: technology for learning and development; evaluations, study plans and planning of instruction; programing with technological tools; technology in various learning environments and professional development using technology. Of all the themes studied, the resource that has been most utilized in the last few years has been instruction assisted by computers. Along this line, we can highlight the works by Dixon, Cassady & Cross (2005), who already examined if the use of computer tools helped to improve the abilities of critical thinking and the quality of writing of gifted adolescents. Grimes & Warschauer (2008) focused on the analysis of the results of a portable computer program used 7 with gifted students and normal students in a primary school. Also, evaluation assisted by computers for the identification of gifts and talents, as well as for the improvement of teaching of these students has also become a study alternative (Cope & Suppes, 2002). Another field of study that has focused the attention of the research community has been technology focused in learning environments, as well as works on the effectiveness and benefits of online courses for gifted students, and the positive perceptions on online learning (Wallace, 2009; Bohmova & Rostejnska, 2009). The «professional development of teachers» has occupied an important place in research, as no matter how good a technological tool is, its effectiveness in the student’s learning depends on how the teachers use and integrate the technology in the curriculum. Therefore, the teacher’s training should be the first and foremost step for the education in the ICT used with talented or gifted students (Lee & Jin, 2015). Along this line, research works have been conducted that show the lack of the teacher’s preparation for using technology as a support for gifted students (Bangel, Enersen, Capobianco & Moon, 2006; Shaunessy, 2007). In this sense and according to what has been presented in the previous paragraphs, which detailed the interest that the scientific community has had for the texts and studies on ICT and high abilities (giftedness) in the last few years, a bibliometric study was proposed for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of published scientific studies from 2008 to 2018. This type of bibliographic study is considered important, as the concept of «bibliography» has been acquiring a greater importance and relevance in scientific research in constant evolution (Friedlander & Bessette, 2003, 5-6). Likewise, scientific research could be measured very reliably by analyzing the number of publications (productivity) and their citation frequency (visibility) (De Moya, Chinchilla, Benavent, Corera, González & Vargas, 2010). The bibliometric indicators allow us to analyze 8 the scientific production in a quantitative and qualitative manner, meaning, the repercussion of this production (Velasco, Eiros, Pinilla, & San Román, 2012). Also, it allows us to precisely characterize the state of development of the research, and therefore to substantiate the making of decisions on scientific policy (Cunningham, 1997). 4. Purpose and research questions The present study had two objectives: 1. To bibliometrically quantify, in the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Google Scholar, ERIC and PsycINFO databases, the scientific production on ICT and high abilities in the shape of scientific articles, during the period ranging from January 2008 to November 2018. The following variables will be analyzed: total number of published articles; number of citations received; main citing journals; average citations per year; name of the country, and institutional affiliations of the most-cited authors and the methodological focus of the articles. 2. To examine keywords used in the scientific articles on the use of the ICT as learning support for students with high capacities in order to establish possible trends and aims of the research. This literature review explores the following research questions: Q1 What is the general state of research on the ICT as support for the learning of gifted students? Q2 What countries and journals have the most articles published? Q3 What are the main lines of research within this domain? Q4 What research designs predominate? Q5 What areas could be addressed by future research studies on education with gifted students? 9 The analysis of the literature review was focused on identifying «what we know». The findings and recommendations of the present study will inform about «what we need to know» and the implications «what we can do». 5. Method 5.1. Characterization of the research This research is characterized for being a systematic review of the literature, taking into account the principles established within the educational context for bibliometric studies (Fernández & Bueno, 1998), through the use of the descriptive, quantitative, correlational and the application of semantic techniques, or the analysis of social networks for the study of keywords (Knoke & Yang, 2008), through their graphical and visual representation with the VOSviewer software. The most common method for measuring the impact of any term or trend is through the comparison of different databases (Levine-Clark & Gil, 2009). 5.2. Procedure for finding, identifying and selecting of articles For the extraction of data, a bibliographical search (computer-assisted direct consultation) in the following electronic databases: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Google Scholar, Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) and PsycINFO. The search for the scientific articles took into account the following articles: a) published between January 2008 to November 2018; b) the search descriptors appeared on the title, keywords or abstract; c) published in English or Spanish; d) published in in peer-reviewed periodic journals; e) included within the area of education; and f) addressed the subject of the ICT with high-ability students in any stage in the educational system. As for the exclusion criteria, the following were not studied: a) publications whose texts were not complete; b) nonoriginal scientific articles (abstracts, theses, dissertations, books, conference proceedings or 16 belonging to WoS and Scopus, as well as Google Scholar, ERIC and PsycINFO is still not significant as compared to other emergent subjects and areas of research. This is because in order to efficiently integrate the ICT in teaching and learning, emerging lines of research are needed that can be added to the study plans, in initial as well as permanent training. Also, this could have an influence on the lack of preparation of the teachers, as already mentioned by previous studies (Bangel, Enersen, Capobianco & Moon, 2006; Shaunessy, 2007). (Q2) Among the universities and countries that in the last ten years have had a greater scientific impact, European, North American and Australian ones were found. The most notable journals were from Germany, Korea, Australia and English, with the «International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning» excelling in this aspect. The main research lines within the domain of the ICT and high abilities (Q3), through the visualization of the tagged bibliometric map, allowed us to extract a series of conclusions. Firstly that the studies on ICT and high abilities were thematically linked with the importance and use of the ICT. Secondly, an emergent thematic cluster was observed related to educational inclusion and accessibility of the students. Thirdly, the high percentage of the studies related to high abilities and E-learning were notable. And fourthly, a gradual interest in the research related to the knowledge and training of the teachers was detected in this period. The density map allowed us to obtain the focus of the areas where the co-occurrence of the KW+ with greater weight concentrated more frequently, solidifying into the following: student, technology, gifted, learning and education. It was also notable on the upper edge: ICT, interest, creativity, teaching and web; and on the lower edge: teacher, e-learning and program. As for the research designs (Q4), the qualitative methodology articles predominated, followed by the theoretical ones of reflection and trial. This coincided with the study by 17 Periathiruvadi & Rinn (2013). Thus, the methodological focus of the articles published in the five databases mainly utilized a quantitative focus, followed by those that were more theoreticalreflective for the practice of education. As for (Q5), the empirical research on emergent technologies of the Web 2.0 and its effectiveness needs more attention. The ICT should not only be oriented towards satisfying the learning needs of the students, but also their social and emotional ones. Thus, they should contribute to the development of their cognitive, affective and social abilities. In future works, the construction and comparison of bi-dimensional bibliometric maps corresponding to various time periods could show where the trends and research fronts on the ICT and high abilities are evolving towards. As for the limitations of the study, it should be mentioned that this review did not compare or contrast the effectiveness of specific technological tools for gifted students. This limitation was brought on by the scarcity of research studies and the scarce dissemination of empirical studies in the last decade of research in the area. 8. 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Canadian Social Science, 5(1), 112-118. 23 Table 1 Number of articles published in the different databases Number of articles Year of publication Scopus WoS PsycINFO ERIC Google Scholar 2008 2 3 9 9 21 2009 0 2 5 5 38 2010 1 4 12 12 34 2011 3 0 13 13 40 2012 2 2 12 12 44 2013 2 5 20 20 50 2014 10 2 14 14 36 2015 2 3 12 12 49 2016 2 1 13 13 34 2017 2 5 13 13 38 2018 2 3 7 7 23 Total 28 30 130 130 407 24 Table 2 Number of articles cited per year Databases 2008-2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Citations 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 0 4 10 7 7 26 3 1 2 2 10 1 1 3 3 18 2 1 5 5 12 1 4 7 7 18 1 3 7 7 18 1 0 1 4 4 29 3 0 1 1 7 1 0 1 1 5 0 0 4 4 3 1 1 4 4 6 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 17 0 1 2 2 2 0 1 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 1 11 0 0 1 1 6 0 0 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 2 2 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 4 4 12 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 10 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 4 4 3 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 1 4 4 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 9 2 1 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 2 1 2 2 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 >10 1 1 35 35 95 0 0 4 4 8 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Total 10 16 71 71 227 10 2 14 14 36 2 3 12 12 49 2 1 13 13 34 2 5 13 13 38 2 3 7 7 23 Note: 1=Scopus; 2=WoS; 3=PsycINFO; 4=ERIC; 5=Google Scholar 25 Table 3 Most-cited articles on ICT and high abilities (giftedness) Title of the article Authors Journal Year Citations 1 2 3 4 5 The Juggling Act: A Phenomenological Study of Gifted and Talented Girls’ Experiences With Facebook Eunice, P., Wardman, J., Bruce, T., Millward, P. Roeper Review 2016 0 0 2 2 2 Didactic strategies and competencies of gifted students in the digital era Gojkov, G., Stojanovic, A., Gojkov-Rajic, A. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal 2015 0 0 0 0 1 To learn programming 'apps' as curriculum enrichment on gifted students González, M.M. Bordón 2014 6 0 0 0 16 Designing instruction and learning for cognitively gifted pupils in preschool and primary school Mooij, T. International Journal of Inclusive Education 2013 10 9 4 4 18 What makes giftedness? reexamining a definition Renzulli, J. Phi Delta Kappan 2011 10 0 581 581 27 Listening for voices of self: Digital journaling among gifted young adolescents Dillon, L. Qualitative Research Journal 2010 7 0 0 0 16 Education and selfregulation of learning gifted pupils: Systemic design and development Mooji, T. Research Papers in Education 2008 9 8 14 14 27