Systematic literature review of Semantic Web for distance learning

The study intends to identify the emerging themes of e-learning through the Semantic Web. To highlight the key challenges and explore the core benefits of this mesmerizing technology was another goal of the study. To get the set goals researchers systematically reviewed the literature in five leading databases, out of which one specialized database of education; ERIC and four general databases i.e Scopus, J-store, Science Direct & Google Scholar. The preferred reporting items were used for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The selected 22 research studies identified eight emergent themes within the body of research. In answer to the second part of the research study, the review shows that Semantic Web technology has opened new horizons for e-learning. On the other hand, data analysis of selected studies reflects the technological, socio-cultural and other challenges which may cause the hurdle for the realization of these goals in true sense. The overall result shows, interoperability, data security & privacy, ontology's & crowd sourcing technology or automatic annotation as future research trends indicated by the identified studies to meet up these challenges. This SR may be beneficial for stakeholders to understand the e-learning scenario through Semantic Web technology.