Abstract
The authors discuss the design of e-TPCK, a self-paced adaptive electronic learning environment that was integrated in a second-year educational technology course to engage pre-service teachers' in rich learning experiences in order to develop their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) in a personalized way. The system deploys a technological solution that promotes teachers' ongoing TPCK development by engaging them in rich and valuable personalized learning experiences through the use of technology-infused design scenarios, while taking into account teachers' diverse needs, information processing constraints, and preferences. Results from an experimental research design study revealed statistically significant differences between the control group and the experimental group in favor of the experimental group, signifying that students in the experimental group who learned with e-TPCK outperformed the students in the control group in terms of developing TPCK competencies.
TopBackground
Existing research evidence indicates that a critical factor influencing future teachers’ adoption and successful integration of technology is the quantity and quality of technology experiences included in their teacher preparation programs (Agyei & Voogt, 2012; Chien, Chang, Yeh, & Chang, 2012; Tondeur, van Braak, Sang, Voogt, Fisser, & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2012). Conventional teacher preparation programs have been criticized for their inadequacy and failure in training teachers how to define the relationship between the affordances of technology and their teaching practices (Koehler, Mishra, & Yahya, 2007; Lim & Chai, 2008). Student teachers need to be sufficiently prepared to develop a clear, adequate and robust reasoning for infusing technologies in their future classroom, otherwise technology will never affect the teaching and learning process (Angeli, 2005). To foster sufficient training and preparation, student teachers should be engaged in rich technology-infused learning experiences that unveil the added value of instructional technologies. Teacher educators are, therefore, confronted with the challenge to reexamine and redesign their programs in order to aid the development of the mindset and skillset that pre-service teachers need to acquire to integrate technology in their practice (Angeli, 2005; Jang & Chen, 2010; Mishra & Koehler, 2006).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Self-Regulated Learning (SRL): Learning that is guided by metacognition, strategic action and motivation to learn.
Adaptive E-Learning: An umbrella term used to describe the techniques used in computer-based learning environments for imitating a teacher’s actions in learning situations where students have different learning needs.
Feeling of Knowing (FOK): People’s predicted recognition for non-recalled items.
Communities of Practice: Communities of Practice are groups of people who share interests and work together to solve common problems through regular interaction.
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK): A body of knowledge describing the competencies that teachers need to develop to be able to teach with technology in ways that signify its added value.
Cognitive Load: The mental effort a learner invests in completing a cognitive task.
Judgment of Learning (JOL): People's estimates of how well they learned something.