Exploring the Research Themes of Student Engagement in Higher Education Based on Co-word Analysis

Abstract

Student engagement has become an attracting field in higher education in past few decades. Although many literatures have carried out a wide range of research, the research did not provide a chronological picture of the themes. To address this issue, the co-word analysis method was employed to analyze the 538 articles from Web of Knowledge database in the period 2001-2016. The results identify six research themes in this field, including engagement connotation, students’ and teachers’ role, schools’ environmental improvement and advanced technical means, etc. This study gives a comprehensive picture of student engagement in higher education, and also suggests directions for further work.