Peer-reviewed article
Trends in digital technologies to address children's online safety education: A systematic scoping review
Maryam Esfandiari, Beatrice Sciacca, Sandra Feijóo, Derek A. Laffan, Tijana Milošević et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic scoping review examined 34 studies on how digital technologies are being used to teach children about online safety. Game-based learning was found to be the most common approach used in these educational interventions. Most studies focused on children aged 11–14 years and used intervention-based research designs. The review maps trends in this field over the past decade to identify future research directions.
Key points
- Game-based learning emerged as the most popular digital technology method for children's online safety education
- The majority of studies targeted children aged 11–14 years old
- Sample sizes in the identified studies ranged from 6 to 976 child participants
- Intervention-based research designs were the most frequently employed methodology
- A growing number of educational technologies for Internet safety education have been developed over the past decade
Limitations
This scoping review maps the literature landscape and trends but does not evaluate the effectiveness of specific interventions or digital technologies. It does not provide evidence about which approaches actually work best for improving children's online safety outcomes.
Abstract
This scoping review aims to identify trends in studies related to children's online safety education facilitated by digital technologies. The review is guided by the five-stage framework developed by Arksey and O'Malley. We searched in four electronic databases: ERIC,Web of Science, Scopus, and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The studies identified in the search were independently reviewed by two authors using the PRISMA checklist for scoping reviews and the Rayyan software. Following the study's inclusion and exclusion criteria, we incorporated 34 papers into the scoping review. Our analysis revealed a growing number of educational technologies designed for children's Internet safety education over the years. Among various approaches, game-based learning emerged as the most popular method for delivering educational content within the broader domain of online safety education for children. The majority of the studies focused on children aged 11–14 years old, with sample sizes ranging from 6 to 976 child participants. Additionally, intervention-based research designs were the most frequently employed methodology. Our study advances the knowledge base on technology-based education in online safety training of children by mapping the literature of this field and unveiling the trends over the past decade. These insights can shape future research directions in online safety education and inform the educational technology industry.