The iPad now contains a mini, draggable, floating keyboard as an alternative to the full screen keyboard. This was released in iOS 13 / iPadOS 13 in September 2019.
This mini keyboard is roughly the size of an iPhone keyboard, but floating on your iPad's screen.
From the iPadOS release notes:
QuickType
New floating keyboard leaving more room for your content—drag it anywhere you like
and Features:
Floating keyboard
Pinch to shrink the QuickType keyboard and move it wherever you want so there’s more room for your apps.
How do you enable this iPad mini floating keyboard?