Science AI Journal
Social Sciences · Research topic

Open research questions in Digital literacy in education

751 gap statements mined from Digital literacy in education papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 4,608 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

Choosing where to publish on Digital literacy in education? See the ranked Social Science journals.

What the literature leaves open

  • The results support the usefulness of the instrument for exploring the factors associated with AI use by teachers, and at the same time reveal three structural differences relative to its student version, while delimiting what remains to be established.

    Validation of a Questionnaire to Explore Artificial Intelligence Use Among Upper-Secondary and Higher Education Teachers · 2026 · DOI

  • This serial mediation mechanism, where efficacy is associated with the primary indirect path, offers a more ecologically valid representation of how internal psychological dynamics may function, addressing a critical gap in the literature that has largely neglected the sequential interdependencies and varying magnitudes among these constructs.

    The structural pathways from AI attitude to AI literacy among university students: considering the serial mediators of AI self-efficacy and AI motivation · 2026 · DOI

  • Although alternative cluster solutions and cluster stability were evaluated, future studies could examine the reproducibility of the profiles using model-based approaches such as latent profile analysis and independent samples.

    Generative artificial intelligence literacy profiles differ in academic self-efficacy and subjective well-being among adolescents · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies could examine the model using more geographically and academically diverse samples and retain the baseline information needed to evaluate attrition-related differences. Although school ownership was included as a control variable, it does not account for potential dependence among students within the same college.

    AI literacy and vocational students’ complex problem-solving skills: a moderated mediation model of systematic thinking, cognitive load, and perceived school ICT support · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies should examine the revised scale in independent multicenter samples, assess item interpretation through cognitive interviewing, evaluate temporal stability and measurement invariance, and investigate relationships with performance-based assessments.

    Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of a Digital-Intelligence Literacy Self-Report Scale Among Students in Medical and Health-Related Programs · 2026 · DOI

  • The suggestive livingexpense interaction and tentative non-linear pattern warrant further investigation before being translated into targeted interventions.

    Digital literacy and positive psychological functioning among college students in the digital era: evidence from a multi-university sample in Henan Province, China · 2026 · DOI

  • The study highlights the need to address the digital skills underclass among young people.

    Toward a Nuanced Understanding of Digital Skills and Perceived Social Mobility: An Exploratory Study Among Chinese Youth · 2026 · DOI

  • The association between different types of digital skills and young people's socioeconomic outlook is unclear. The existing literature has focused on the first- and second-level digital divides, with limited attention to the third-level digital divide. The study aims to address this gap by examining the relationship between digital skills and perceived social mobility among Chinese youth.

    Toward a Nuanced Understanding of Digital Skills and Perceived Social Mobility: An Exploratory Study Among Chinese Youth · 2026 · DOI

  • In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic in particular has led to a number of developments in schools, but also in the continuing education sector, especially with regard to the topic of ICT, which need to be explored in more detail.

    Teachers’ Participation in Digitalization-Related Professional Development: An International Comparison · 2025 · DOI

  • There are very few studies on digital safety competence. The study aims to fill the gap by exploring the impact of digital safety competence on students' higher-order thinking and AI-related outcomes. The study highlights the importance of digital safety competence in higher education, which is a relatively unexplored area.

    The Impact of Digital Safety Competence on Cognitive Competence, AI Self-Efficacy, and Character · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on enhancing the self-assessment tool for AI competencies and exploring more effective integration of these competencies with existing digital skills frameworks.

    Artificial Intelligence Literacy Competencies for Teachers Through Self-Assessment Tools · 2024 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to address the problem of early school leaving and improve competitiveness in the labor market. The paper does not explicitly state other challenges.

    Digital Competencies as Predictors of Academic Self-Efficacy: Correlations and Implications for Educational Development · 2024 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to develop digital skills in students to improve their academic achievement.

    Digital Competencies as Predictors of Academic Self-Efficacy: Correlations and Implications for Educational Development · 2024 · DOI

  • It is necessary to report that the main limitations of the present study are related to the scarcity of articles on the information literacy of regular basic-education teachers; we also had limitations with articles in foreign languages, except Spanish and English, and with access to other commercial databases, as they are fee-based.

    Digital and Information Literacy in Basic-Education Teachers: A Systematic Literature Review · 2024 · DOI

  • This warrants further investigation into the causes and potential strategies to address these disparities, in line with research studying gender segregation in VET.

    Exploring Pedagogical and Digital Practices in Vocational Education and Training: Comparing Teacher and Student Perspectives · 2024 · DOI

  • Finally, future research should focus on strengthening Latin American production in high-impact journals through collaborative, multilingual studies, as well as on developing indicators to monitor the progress of digital literacy as a policy of institutional and social transformation.

    Digital Literacy Research for Teaching Excellence in Higher Education: A Bibliometric Perspective · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore the longitudinal impacts of professional development programs on faculty digital proficiency and student learning outcomes.

    From Formal to Operational: A Triangulated Analysis of Policy, Practice, and Perception Regarding Digital Competence Development in Mathematics and IT Teacher Education · 2026 · DOI

  • This pattern suggests that familiarity with digital health policies may foster favorable attitudes, but it is insufficient on its own to prepare students for informatics-related clinical tasks.

    Nursing Informatics Competence and Digital Health Readiness Among Chinese Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Convergent Mixed-Methods Study · 2026 · DOI

  • The substantial intercorrelations observed among the eight subscales indicate considerable overlap between dimensions in the present sample, and further psychometric validation in nursing and healthcare professional populations is warranted.

    Digital Competence Among Portuguese Nurses: Associations with Soft Skills · 2026 · DOI

  • This can be derived from their wish for better integration of digital skills in their curriculum: The majority of students think that digital skills are insufficiently covered in their study program and that those skills should play a bigger role in the general educational basics.

    Pre-Service Teachers’ Digital Competence: A Call for Action · 2025 · DOI

  • The first limitation of this study is that it covered only one university—Sofia University “St. Further investigation into these challenges is needed to better understand how they impact the preparation of pre-service digital competences for the digital transformation of education.

    Preparing Pre-Service Teachers for the Digital Transformation of Education: Exploring University Teacher Educators’ Views and Practical Strategies · 2025 · DOI

  • The results demonstrate that isolated interventions are insufficient; rather, a comprehensive, strategically designed approach is necessary to ensure that digital competencies are not only acquired but also effectively applied in teacher education.

    Promoting Digital Competencies in Pre-Service Teachers: The Impact of Integrative Learning Opportunities · 2025 · DOI

  • Previous research on gender differences remains inconclusive: most studies indicate that male teachers report higher self-perceived competence than female teachers, whereas others have found no significant gender differences24, 48.

    A digital competence model for college foreign language teachers and its associated factors · 2026 · DOI

  • From the above review, two lines of research are generated. On the one hand is the international comparison of the digital competences of teachers in higher education institutions with the same instrument, being able to make correlations according to different characteristics.

    A Systematic Review of Digital Competence Evaluation in Higher Education · 2024 · DOI

  • More research on incorporating ethical considerations into our understanding of student learning. Investigating the interrelationships among digital safety competence, cognitive competence, AI self-efficacy, and ethical outcomes.

    The Impact of Digital Safety Competence on Cognitive Competence, AI Self-Efficacy, and Character · 2025 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Digital literacy in education

Most recent work

Find a gap in your own Digital literacy in education sub-topic

This page shows what the Digital literacy in education literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, search the Research Gap Finder: the search is free with a free account and lists the papers closest to your topic first. Unlocking that topic (50 credits, charged once) fills the comparison table from our 7.9M-paper local library and writes the gaps from its rows.

Open the Research Gap Finder →

Related topics in Social Sciences

Legal Issues in Turkey
2,143 open questions
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
2,104 open questions
Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
2,009 open questions
Impact of Technology on Adolescents
1,855 open questions
Higher Education Research Studies
1,841 open questions
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
1,768 open questions
Global Educational Policies and Reforms
1,735 open questions
Urban Transport and Accessibility
1,724 open questions
Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Although alternative cluster solutions and cluster stability were evaluated, future studies could examine the reproducibility of the profiles using model-based approaches such as latent profile analysis and independent samples (“Generative artificial intelligence literacy profiles differ in academic…”, 2026); (2) Future studies could examine the model using more geographically and academically diverse samples and retain the baseline information needed to evaluate attrition-related differences (“AI literacy and vocational students’ complex problem-solving skills: a…”, 2026); (3) The association between different types of digital skills and young people's socioeconomic outlook is unclear (“Toward a Nuanced Understanding of Digital Skills and Perceived Social Mobility:…”, 2026); (4) Future research should explore the longitudinal impacts of professional development programs on faculty digital proficiency and student learning outcomes (“From Formal to Operational: A Triangulated Analysis of Policy, Practice, and…”, 2026); (5) Future research should focus on enhancing the self-assessment tool for AI competencies and exploring more effective integration of these competencies with existing digital skills frameworks (“Artificial Intelligence Literacy Competencies for Teachers Through…”, 2024). 751 gap statements have been mined from Digital literacy in education papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 4,608 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

Tools for your next paper

Gaps & Literature SearchFind open questions in any field — 1,100,000+ open gaps mined from our own library.Pre-CheckIs your paper ready? Acceptance odds for top, mid and open/emerging journals, in seconds.Journal FinderA ranked shortlist of target journals from a 17,500-venue index.Duplicate Publication CheckerCheck for prior publication across 7 sources and our local library.Citation GeneratorFreeA DOI or title → APA, MLA, Vancouver, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS. No signup.Graphical Abstract MakerFreeTurn your findings into a colorblind-safe graphical abstract.

How Pre-Check worksHow AI Review works

Compare the category — Honest roundups of the AI research tools, ours listed alongside the alternatives.

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.