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 Global Journal of Education and Allied  

Research (GJEAR) 
Volume.15, Number 3; March-2024; 

ISSN: 2837-3707 | Impact Factor: 7.80 

https://zapjournals.com/Journals/index.php/gjear  

Published By: Zendo Academic Publishing 

 

 

pg. 53 

DIGITAL RENAISSANCE: A COMPREHENSIVE EXPLORATION OF 

EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION - HOTSPOTS, MODELS, AND 

STRATEGIC APPROACHES 

 

 
1Somchai Chaiyakun and Jian Wei Liu Yang2 
1Faculty of Teacher Education, Guangxi Modern Polytechnic College, Hechi, 547000, China 
2Faculty of Education, Dhonburi Rajabhat University, Bangkok, 10700, Thailand 

 

Article Info  Abstract 

Keywords: Digital 

transformation, Education 

modernization, Artificial 

intelligence, Teachers' digital 

literacy, Educational 

governance, Research 

background 

 

DOI 

10.5281/zenodo.11121142 

 The digital transformation of education represents a contemporary shift 

towards leveraging modern information technology to revolutionize 

teaching methodologies, management systems, operational 

mechanisms, and security systems. This transformation is underpinned 

by the innovative integration of artificial intelligence virtual simulation 

technology and multi-modal data, fostering educational evolution, and 

ultimately enabling comprehensive, personalized, and accessible 

learning experiences. In alignment with this trajectory, China's 

educational modernization agenda, as outlined in 2019, underscores the 

imperative to accelerate educational reforms in the information age. 

Central to this mission is the creation of intelligent campuses and the 

development of integrated platforms that encompass smart teaching, 

efficient management, and seamless services. 

This digital transformation of education exhibits distinctive 

characteristics, such as the transition from a two-dimensional 

educational landscape to a multi-dimensional one and a shift in 

teaching evaluation from broad assessments to precise measurements. 

In essence, it encompasses a transformation of educational paradigms, 

pedagogical methods, cognitive approaches, and technological 

innovations. The 2022 Ministry of Education directive on Teachers' 

Digital Literacy serves as a critical milestone, providing a structured 

framework encompassing digital awareness, technological proficiency, 

digital application, digital social responsibility, and professional 

expertise. This framework significantly propels the digital 

transformation and development of education, highlighting the 

establishment of vocational education digital campuses, information 

benchmarks, resource-rich teaching repositories, exemplary online 

courses, and virtual simulation training facilities. By grounding itself 

in addressing societal challenges, adhering to developmental trends, 

and aligning with the broader national modernization agenda, the 

digital transformation of education promises to enhance the efficiency 

and precision of educational governance. 
 

 

https://zapjournals.com/Journals/index.php/gjear


Global Research Journal of Management and Social Sciences (GRJMSS) Vol. 15 (3) 

 

pg. 54 
 

 

Introduction 

Digital transformation of education refers to the use of modern information technology to promote the innovative 

development of teaching mode, management system, operation mechanism and security system, deepen the 

innovative application of artificial intelligence virtual simulation technology, integrate multi-modal data with 

virtual simulation technology, promote the integration and innovation of education, and finally realize the 

comprehensive, free and personalized development of education. In 2019, China Education Modernization 

mentioned: "Accelerate the educational reform in the information age, build an intelligent campus, and make 

overall plans to build an integrated intelligent teaching, management and service platform [1]. The transformation 

of education digitalization mainly embodies the following characteristics: the educational ecology is from plane 

to three-dimensional; teaching evaluation is from extensive to accurate. In a word, the digital transformation of 

education involves the transformation of educational mode, educational method, educational thinking and 

educational technology [2]. In 2022, the Ministry of Education issued a notice on the education industry standard 

of Teachers' Digital Literacy, which sorts out the framework of teachers' digital literacy, including digital 

awareness, digital technology knowledge and skills, digital application, digital social responsibility and other 

professional fields, and effectively promotes the digital transformation and development of education. In the 

digital transformation of education, vocational education digital campus, information benchmark, professional 

teaching resource pool, excellent online open courses, virtual simulation training base and other information 

projects will be established. The digital transformation of education should reflect the solution of major social 

problems, conform to the trend of the times, stand at the high point of social development strategy, help realize 

the modernization of China, and the digital transformation of education will promote the efficiency and accuracy 

of education governance.  

1. Research hotspots and research trends  

The literature data of this paper comes from WOS (Web of science) database, with the theme of "digital 

transformation of education" and the deadline of publication from January 1, 2015 to July 16, 2023, a total of 

1381 articles were retrieved. In this paper, citespace6.1R6 is used for visual analysis, and the running time of the 

software is set as "2015-2023", K=25, and the pruning method is Pathfinder, annual pruning and overall network 

pruning. After running, the following graphs are obtained.  

1.1 Network of research institutions  

The cooperative network map of research institutions explains the spatial distribution of research forces in this 

field. In order to find the institutions that promote research development, this study uses the cooperative network 

analysis function in CiteSpace software tools to mine the network relations of research institutions in the research 

field. This network relationship can directly reflect the cooperation between institutions and provide reference for 

scientific evaluation of the influence of institutions within the academic scope. Using CiteSpace software to 

visually analyze the data, the Time Slicing of the software is set to "2015—2023", the yearsperslice is set to "1", 

k = 25, the node types panel selects "Institution", the pruning method is Pathfinder, and the other options are the 

default options of the system.  

The cooperative institutions are analyzed from the perspective of time series by using tiomezone function. 

Running can get the network map of the distribution of educational digital transformation research institutions, 

as shown in Figure 1, in which the node size indicates the number of periodical papers published by the research 

institution, the connection line between nodes indicates the cooperation intensity between different institutions, 

and the color of the connection line represents the cooperation relationship in different time periods. Aalborg 

Univ, Gdansk Univ Technol and other institutions appeared earlier, distributed in 2016, and high-yield institutions 

were roughly distributed in 2017-2021, indicating that research institutions have a long time span and long 

research duration. And the color of most research institutions is mostly yellow, which shows that the research is 

high and the time is short, and the related research has a drastic change trend in this period, which is consistent 

with the trend of the number of papers published (the main conference policy documents in this period). Recent 

research  



Global Research Journal of Management and Social Sciences (GRJMSS) Vol. 15 (3) 

 

pg. 55 
 

 
Figure 1: Time Zone Map of Institutions  

1.2 Keyword clustering  

Research hotspot is the focus of scholars in a specific academic field, and it is also the embodiment of the main 

problems discussed in this field in a certain period. As an important part of academic papers, keywords condense 

the essence of papers and are often used to study and discuss hot issues in a certain field. Based on this, this paper 

uses CiteSpace software for clustering analysis of keyword co-occurrence to intuitively reflect the research focus 

of digital transformation of education. The keyword clustering view presented by Citespace is shown in Figure 2, 

and the color blocks represent the clustering areas. Node N=389, number of connections E=516, and network 

density Density=0.0068. The module value Q is related to the density of nodes. The larger the Q value, the better 

the clustering effect, which can be used for scientific clustering analysis. The size of the average contour value S 

can be used to measure the homogeneity of the cluster. The larger the value S, the higher the homogeneity of the 

network, indicating that the cluster has high credibility. As can be seen from Figure 2, Q=0.8081 (greater than 

0.3), which shows that the clustering effect of the network structure is good; S=0.8748 (greater than 0.5), and the 

homogeneity is high, which shows that this cluster view is significant and reasonable, and different clusters are 

well divided. From the keyword clustering view, Formed #1primary education, #2digital health, #3educational 

innovation, #4industry 4, #5online learning, #6industry 4.0, #7big data, #8digital education, # 9higher education, 

#10digital transformation, #11virtual learning, #12media literacies, #13social media, a total of 13 clusters. The 

research on digital transformation of education mainly revolves around these clusters (see Figure 2). Among them, 

the figures show "primary education", "digital health" and "educational innovation". The average year of the top 

five clusters is from 2018 to 2021, which shows that the related research is mature in this period. Among them, 

the largest cluster is "primary education", and the year is 2019, which contains 38 keywords. To sum up, the 

research hotspots and research trends of digital transformation of education mainly include digital business, 

artificial  

 
Table 1: Keyword clustering map  

institutions include Univ Johannesburg, Norwegian Univ Sci & Technol, etc.   

  

intelligence, motivation, educational change and so on.   

  

Figure 2 :   Keyword Clustering Map   



Global Research Journal of Management and Social Sciences (GRJMSS) Vol. 15 (3) 

 

pg. 56 
 

Rank  cluster  Keywords  
Average 

year  

Keyword 

quantity  

1  
primary 

education  

primary education ; digitalbusiness; 

artificial intelligence; motivation ; 

educational change  

2019  38  

2  digital health  
digital health; internet of things ; stem 

; machine learning ; saudi arabia  
2021  34  

3  
educational  

innovation  

educational innovation ; 

entrepreneurship  

education ; digital library; 

collaborative learning ; digital gender 

gap  

2019  27  

4  industry 4  
industry 4 ; distance education ; digital 

learning ; digital literacy  
2019  26  

5  online learning  

online learning ; architectural 

education ;  

circular economy ; medical education ;  

knowledge  

2018  25  

1.3 Distribution of countries and regions  

In this paper, the node type of CiteSpace is set to Country, that is, the distribution of the research countries is 

analyzed, and the visual view spectrum of the cooperation network between countries/regions can be obtained as 

shown in Figure 3. Among them, the node size represents the number of papers published in this country, the 

connecting line between nodes represents the cooperative relationship between different countries, and the 

thickness of the connecting line represents the degree of cooperation. As shown in Figure 3, there are 112 nodes 

and 381 connections, and the overall network density is 0.0613, which shows that there are more countries 

studying the digital transformation of education and the cooperation between countries is closer. Among them, 

Russia is the largest research country, followed by Germany and Spain, and the cooperation network among 

countries is relatively close. Through the statistics of the number of papers published in different countries, the 

top ten high-yield countries in Table 1 can be obtained. From the perspective of centrality, there is a positive 

correlation between the number of articles published in most countries and the centrality, but the centrality of 

Russia, China and other countries is obviously not proportional, which shows that although the number of articles 

published is high, the centrality is low, and the cooperative relationship with other countries is not ideal. It is 

likely that there are problems in the citation of documents, which needs to be strengthened in the later period. To 

sum up, the cooperation networks among Russia, Germany and Spain are relatively close, and the  

 
Figure 3: Knowledge Map of Countries and Cooperation Networks  

Table 2: Top Ten High-yield Countries  

research on digital transformation of education is more frequent and numerous.   

  



Global Research Journal of Management and Social Sciences (GRJMSS) Vol. 15 (3) 

 

pg. 57 
 

Rank  country   

producing  

centrality  Start year  

1  RUSSIA  169  0  2015  

2  GERMANY  135  0.03  2016  

3  SPAIN  134  0.07  2015  

4  USA  100  0.13  2015  

5  PEOPLES R 

CHINA  

97  0  2015  

6  ENGLAND  75  0.03  2015  

7  PORTUGAL  68  0  2015  

8  ITALY  64  0.03  2016  

9  AUSTRALIA  53  0  2015  

10  ROMANIA  47  0.03  2016  

2. The ecological model  

The ecological model of educational digital transformation refers to a visual ecological model used to simulate 

the interaction between digital system and artificial intelligence technology. Digital transformation of education 

is to use information technology and digital technology to promote the upgrading and transformation of education 

and teaching, and to explain the relationship between digital technology and data conversion and data simulation. 

The digitalization of education mainly embodies the following three types of transformation:  

2.1 Technological transformation  

The core level of digital transformation of education is technological transformation, which is mainly to determine 

the goal, make the plan and implement the technological transformation. Technical transformation is an 

architecture system that coordinates the efficient and stable operation of the technical system of the whole model, 

and cooperates with artificial intelligence technology, virtual simulation technology, internet plus, online 

education, big data, blockchain, Internet of Things, infrared sensing, ChatGPT and emotional computing to jointly 

maintain the model. According to the technical transformation plan, we will gradually implement technological 

upgrading and innovation to ensure the smooth progress of the transformation process. After the technical 

transformation is completed, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of the transformation, ensure that the effect of 

the new technology or method meets expectations, and solve the problems existing in the original technology or 

method.  

2.2 Business transformation  

Business transformation refers to the transformation and upgrading of educational business processes, teachers or 

systems to adapt to the changes in the information environment and improve the core competitiveness of 

education. There are three types of business transformation: operational transformation, core transformation and 

strategic transformation. Operational transformation refers to changing the operation mode of education, and 

education pays special attention to using digitalization, intelligence and technology to change educational 

problems. The core transformation refers to the fundamentally different operation modes of education. Strategic 

transformation is to transform the essence of education into an innovative field.  

2.3 Literacy transformation  

Literacy transformation is a comprehensive quality from focusing on students' knowledge learning to innovative 

thinking, problem solving, scientific and technological literacy and humanistic literacy. Literacy transformation 

embodies the transformation of educational concept, curriculum setting, projectbased learning and strengthening 

the cultivation of scientific and technological literacy. The transformation of literacy is mainly embodied in the 

improvement of teachers' information teaching ability and the transformation of teachers' information thinking. 

In the field of education, literacy usually refers to the comprehensive literacy of knowledge, skills, attitudes and 

values acquired by students through study and practice in school. From the perspective of information-based 

teaching environment, both school education goals and classroom teaching goals need to reconstruct new 

information literacy, focusing on cultivating students' comprehensive literacy such as innovation literacy, 

humanistic literacy and scientific literacy.  



Global Research Journal of Management and Social Sciences (GRJMSS) Vol. 15 (3) 

 

pg. 58 
 

  
Figure 4: Ecological model of digital transformation of education  

3. The research strategy  

Digital transformation of education is a process of transforming traditional education methods by means of digital 

technology to improve education quality, promote education equity and realize the sustainable development of 

education. This process needs to comprehensively consider the policy environment, investment [3], infrastructure 

construction, digital educational resources, the quality of teachers and the reform of education and teaching. Here 

are some specific strategies:  

3.1 Building a new infrastructure for digital transformation of education and promoting the highquality 

development of education.  

The core level of education digital transformation is technology transformation, which is mainly to determine the 

goal of technology transformation, formulate technology transformation plan and implement technology 

transformation. Technology transformation is an architecture system that coordinates the efficient and stable 

operation of the entire model's technical system, and collaborates with artificial intelligence technology, virtual 

simulation technology, Internet +, online education, big data, blockchain, Internet of Things, infrared sensing, 

ChatGPT, emotional computing, etc., to maintain the model. After the technology transformation is completed, it 

is necessary to evaluate the effect of the transformation, ensure that the effect of the new technology or method 

meets the expectation, and solve the problems existing in the original technology or method.  

3.2 Improve teachers' digital literacy skills training and improve teachers' digital technology ability.  

Business transformation refers to the transformation and upgrading of education business processes, teachers or 

systems to adapt to the changes in the information environment and improve the core competitiveness of 

education. There are three types of business transformation: operational transformation, core transformation, and 

strategic transformation. Operation transformation refers to changing the mode of education operation, and 

education pays special attention to the use of digitalization, intelligence and technology to change education 

issues. Core transformation refers to the fundamentally different mode of operation of education. Strategic 

transformation is to transform the essence of education into an innovative field.  

3.3 Building a diversified evaluation mechanism for the digital transformation of education to improve the 

accuracy of evaluation.  

The transformation of literacy is from the focus on students' knowledge learning to the comprehensive quality of 

innovative thinking, problem-solving, scientific and technological literacy and humanistic literacy. Literacy 

transformation embodies the transformation of education concept, changes the curriculum, advocates project-

style learning, and strengthens the cultivation of scientific and technological literacy. The transformation of 

literacy is mainly embodied in the improvement of teachers' information-based teaching ability and the 

transformation of teachers' information-based thinking. In the field of education, literacy usually refers to the 

comprehensive literacy of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and other aspects acquired by students through 

learning and practice in school. In the vision of information-based teaching environment, both school education 

goals and classroom teaching goals need to reconstruct new information-based literacy, focusing on cultivating 

students' innovative literacy, humanistic literacy, scientific literacy and other comprehensive literacy.  

In short, the digital transformation of education needs to comprehensively consider the policy environment, 

investment, infrastructure construction, digital educational resources, the quality of teachers and the reform of 

education and teaching, so as to achieve the goal of digital transformation of education.  



Global Research Journal of Management and Social Sciences (GRJMSS) Vol. 15 (3) 

 

pg. 59 
 

4. Conclusion  

This study mainly explores the hot topics, ecological models and innovation strategies related to the digital 

transformation of education, and makes a visual analysis of the network of research institutions, keyword 

clustering, countries and regions in the digital transformation of education through citespace knowledge map 

software. The results show that the research hotspots and trends of digital transformation of education are Digital 

Business, Artificial Intelligence, Motivation, Educational Change, etc. The cooperation network among Russia, 

Germany and Spain is relatively close, and the research on digital transformation of education is more frequent 

and numerous. In the future research, we can use modern technology to evaluate the changing rules and innovative 

strategies of digital transformation of education, for example, big data and ChatGPT technology can accurately 

evaluate the mode of digital transformation of education.  

Acknowledgement  

Fund Project: 2022 Project of Improving the Basic Scientific Research Ability of Young and Middleaged 

Teachers in Guangxi Modern Polytechnic College (Project No.: 2022KY1440).  

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