Transforming Learning Spaces in the digitalization era: a bibliometric exploration of emerging trends

Learning Space is the physical and psychological place of acquiring knowledge, which has evolved significantly, influenced by technological advancements, pedagogical shifts, and changing student needs. The transformation of learning spaces is crucial for fulfilling the needs of the 21st generation learners and improving the learner’s overall outcome. This study aims to explore the available literature on learning spaces to analyse the past, current and future trends of study themes, in learning spaces, through a bibliometric analysis approach. Vos viewer software is used to determine the author, countries, and publications, which have made the greatest contribution to learning spaces research, as well as the key themes and emerging trends of study. The findings of the study show that most of the learning space research is focused on the user experience in traditional and digitally equipped learning spaces, the impact of learning spaces on users’ cognition, attitude, engagement, performance and well-being, and the design of innovative learning spaces. Still, there is a lack of research on the design and utilization of spaces to satisfy the needs of the 21st-century digital generation, for the well-being of the learner, and improvement of learning outcomes. The emerging theme of research is focused on the learner’s mental, physical and social well-being. This study will help the researchers to understand the research gap in the field of learning space research.