NETWORKED LEARNING APPROACH FOR TEACHERS' AUTHENTIC GROWTH: A DECADE OF RESEARCH ON TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION IN TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT Networked learning has arisen as a viable method for teacher professional development, highlighting collaboration and knowledge generation across institutional borders via technology facilitation. This paper analyses the evolution of networked learning research from 2014 to 2025, highlighting significant frameworks, prominent contributions, and essential gaps in the academic discourse. This study employed bibliometric analysis of 33 Scopus articles through VOSviewer network visualisation and systematic content analysis with predefined coding categories to investigate theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and contextual aspects. Results indicate that four essential trends have emerged: (1) Theoretical fragmentation publications decreased by 67% from a peak of six articles in 2018-2019 to one or two articles in 2022-2025; (2) Citation hierarchy technology-oriented studies (Kannan & Munday, 75 citations) garnered twice the recognition of critical analyses (Bali & Caines, 37 citations); (3) Global South exclusion four Western nations (US, UK, Australia, Spain) accounted for 73% of significant research, thereby marginalising viewpoints from Asia, Africa, and Latin America; (4) Conceptual blindness keyword networks focused on networked learning and connected learning, neglecting issues of power, inequality, resistance, and workload. These tendencies indicate that networked learning has been diminished to technical solutionism instead of genuine professional transformation, systematically marginalising frameworks that address institutional restrictions and cultural settings particularly pertinent to the educational realities of the Global South. The discipline necessitates a thorough reconceptualisation, shifting from Western-centric, technology optimistic paradigms to critical frameworks that recognise digital worlds as contested arenas. This approach offers essential guidance for formulating post-colonial theoretical frameworks, creating research collaborations between the Global South and North, and utilising participatory methodologies that regard teachers as co-researchers instead of subjects.