A Comparative Analysis of Research Trends in Educational Technology and Learning Sciences through Reviewing of ETR&D and JLS from 2003 to 2012

Educational technology (ET) and learning sciences (LS) are two related disciplines that have shared interests in studying technologies for advancing human learning. This study conducted a content analysis of articles published in authoritative academic journals, Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D) and Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) from 2003 to 2012. By selecting and examining 93 issues with 429 articles during this decade with three analytical frameworks, the purpose of this study is to determine research trends precisely and create a scientific communication and theoretical connections for these two disciplines. The illustrated results indicate the dialogue between these two communities has begun yet accompanied by some certain limitations, whereas, they still need be more cooperative and communicational to move towards further integration, so as to contribute to promoting progressive education, learning theory and practice.