Informing the Design of Teacher Education Programs: The Need for Developing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This paper challenges the assumptions that have informed the design of teacher education programs which have focused on the development of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. It remains elusive to convince some teacher educators and teacher education authorities that teacher education programs designed using pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is no longer adequate in the 21st Century. The authors argue that the conceptualisation of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) and now referred to as TPACK (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, 2008: AACTE, 2008) is both appropriate and essential to inform teacher education. Through a summary of a 2009 TPACK audit of final year teacher education students, this paper demonstrates the need for a stronger emphasis in programs to develop the TPACK confidence of future teachers. Introduction – TPACK: Beyond PCK This paper argues that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Shulman, 1986: 1987) is no longer adequate for teaching in the 21 Century. Few, including Shulman who conceptualised PCK well before the transformational impact of the Internet, could have imagined the technologies now available for use in teaching and learning. The authors argue that technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) (Koehler & Mishra, 2007; Koehler, Mishra & Yahya, 2008; Mishra & Koehler, 2006; 2008: AACTE, 2008) needs to be drawn upon in the development of professional standards for teachers, and the design of teacher education programs to ensure that graduates have the essential TPACK confidence and capabilities needed in a digital age. It should be noted that ‘Technology’ is appropriately defined more comprehensively than Mishra and Koehler’s reference to ‘technology’ referring to information and communication technologies (ICT), which is often the case in the United States. Therefore, for this study and the purpose of this paper, technological knowledge (TK) refers to knowledge relating to ICT which includes digital technologies such as computers, software, iPods, digital cameras, handheld mobile devices, interactive whiteboards, and the Internet. This paper outlines TPCK, now more commonly referred to as TPACK, which refers to ‘the total package’ for teaching in the 21 Century, and proceeds to propose a conceptualisation relevant to teacher preparation and professional standards in Queensland, Australia. That conceptualisation acknowledges the context of professional standards (Queensland College of Teachers, 2009), continuing professional development, and the Smart Classrooms Professional Development framework (DET, 2010). Subsequently, a summary of the development and administration of a TPACK Confidence Survey is outlined. The TPACK Confidence Survey was administered to final year preservice teachers in a range of programs at a Metropolitan University in Queensland, Australia. The findings of that survey are discussed, and implications drawn from those findings are presented. The Aim of the Study The study investigated the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of teacher education students in their final year of study in their respective programs. Data were collected through the administration of an online survey using LimeSurvey to gather information that would: a) identify the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of students who are in their final semester/year of the preservice teacher education programs; and b) inform the future design of the teacher education programs to enhance TPACK of the teacher education students. PCK, TPACK and the QCT Professional Standards Shulman made a significant contribution to teacher education by proposing that discipline knowledge by itself was insufficient for teaching. To illustrate, according to Shulman, teachers need to understand the learner, and have deep understandings of theories of learning, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. According to more recent work by Chick and Harris (2007) there are instances where the act of teaching can be seen as content knowledge being taught in a pedagogical context, and there are examples of pedagogical knowledge in a content context. PCK provides the conceptual guidance that teaching involves transforming content knowledge so that it is accessible by the learner. Since 1986, PCK (Shulman, 1986) has been acknowledged as important for informing the design of teacher education programs, and PCK and is evident in Professional Standards for teachers throughout the various Australian States and Territories. For example, in Queensland, the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT, 2009) explicitly state ten standards for graduates to be able to demonstrate. For Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) to obtain program approval (QCT, 2009), HEI’s must demonstrate how the program of study will develop and assess those standards. Those standards emphasise the importance of future teachers having appropriate discipline content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge to enable the teaching of the various curriculum learning areas. Closer analysis of those standards, which are organised according to Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice, and Professional Values, also reveals that they have inherent in them the expectation of teachers using ICT for teaching and learning. It is implicit in the standards and their supporting information, that a graduate must demonstrate Professional Knowledge and Professional Practice appropriate for the digital age. To illustrate with some examples, in relation to Professional Knowledge and Professional Practice, graduates are expected to know: Professional Knowledge Standard One K1.8 ways of identifying, evaluating and selecting teaching, learning and assessment strategies, resources and technology K1.9 effective teaching, learning and assessment strategies and resources where ICT is embedded Standard Two K2.11 how ICT supports, enhances, enables and transforms language, literacy and numeracy expectations and development Professional Practice Standard One P1.5 identify and use teaching, learning and assessment strategies and resources in which ICT is embedded Standard Two P2.4 identify, select and use teaching and learning strategies and resources that build on and support the development of students’ language, literacy and numeracy skills. (QCT, 2009) In the international literature, we believe that Mishra and Koehler (2006; 2008) have made a significant contribution by articulating and conceptualising TPCK (now commonly referred to as TPACK). Their work has subsequently been built upon through research studies (see, for example, Jamieson-Proctor et al., 2010, Finger et al., 2010, Finger & Jamieson-Proctor, 2010, Archambault, & Crippen, 2009, Sahin et al., 2009, Terpstra, 2009). We propose that some of QCT professional standards can be identified as TPACK capabilities, and the QCT contextualises TPACK within the professional standards, and DET does similarly with the Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework. Design of the Study For Koehler and Mishra (2005), TPACK involves an understanding of the interrelationships between complexity of relationships between content knowledge (curriculum learning areas), technological knowledge (such as computers, Web 2.0 technologies, interactive whiteboards, software applications, etc), and pedagogical knowledge (such as teaching strategies informed by theories of learning). This addresses the limitations of those who see ICT merely as a values neutral learning tool ‘to be integrated’ into existing practices and curriculum. We know that ICT is more than this, and TPACK acknowledges that new and emerging ICT transforms ‘traditional’ information age models of teaching. Archambault and Crippen (2009) make the point strongly, in examining how teachers should be prepared to teach in online environments, by suggesting that: TPACK addresses each of the three major components needed to ensure high quality instruction. This lens offers a way for teacher education programs to begin looking at how these elements are currently covered and how they would need to be altered to specifically meet the needs of teachers entering online classrooms. (Archambault & Crippen, 2009, p. 1) However, Archambault and Crippen (2009) caution that, while creating the concept of TPACK by adding the element of technology to Shulman’s notion of PCK “makes sense on the surface, it remains to be determined if knowledge in each of these domains truly exists and, if so, how these elements can be accurately measured” (p. 1). Therefore, this study also sought to make a contribution by developing a TPACK Confidence Survey which attempted to obtain information about final year teacher education students’ Technological Knowledge (TK) levels of confidence and their TPACK levels of confidence. TPACK Confidence Survey More extensive description of the TPACK Confidence Survey instrument can be found elsewhere (see Jamieson-Proctor et al., 2010), and included items from the Learning with ICT: Measuring ICT Use in the Curriculum instrument (Jamieson-Proctor, et al., 2007), which measures two statistically validated dimensions of TPACK, namely enhancing and transforming the curriculum through ICT use. Items measuring pre-service teachers’ technology knowledge (TK) were updated from the earlier work undertaken by Watson et al. (2004). Items were also included which incorporated the ICT Certificate expectations (DET, 2010) which are being encouraged to be achieved by teacher education graduates in Queensland. For undertaking the data analysis, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to calculate descriptive statistics, and to undertake further analysis, as discussed in the following sections, which presents a summary of the findings. Demographic Information – Gender, Age, Program and Confidence The participant in this study were final year teacher education students at a Metropolitan University in Queensland, Australia., and responses were obtained from 199 final year preservice teacher education students. The following summary of findings is drawn from their responses. Table 1 provides demographic information about the sample studied, in relation to gender, age, program studied, and confidence in using ICT with school students for teaching and learning. Table 1: Demographic information (N=199) No % Gender: Male Female 40 159 20.1 79.9 Age: <29 30-39 40-49 50+ 114 50 28 7 57.3 25.1 14.1 3.5 Program Type: Metropolitan -Bachelor of Education (Primary) (includes early childhood) Metropolitan -Bachelor of Education (Secondary) Metropolitan -Bachelor of Education (Special Education) Metropolitan -Graduate Diploma of f Education (Primary) Metropolitan -Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Metropolitan -Double Degree 65 18 14 36 63 3 18.9 5.2 4.1 10.4 18.3 .9 Confidence to use ICT with school students for teaching and learning: Very Little Confidence Some Confident Very Confident 10 69 85 35 5.0 34.7 42.4 17.6 The demographics of this group indicate that the majority were female (79.9%) with a range of ages from under 29 (57.3%) to 50+ years (3.5%). Despite being in their final year, almost 2 out of every 5 students indicated that they had either ‘very little confidence’ (5%) or only ‘some’ confidence (34.7%) in using ICT for teaching and learning. Summary of the Findings and Discussion Computer Ownership and Internet Access Students were asked to indicate their perceived technological knowledge (TK), and they showed a high level of familiarity with basic ICT and the Internet with 197 (99%) reporting that they owned a computer and had regular broadband access, but only 81 (40.7%) reporting access to mobile computing devices. There was also a relatively high reported interest in and positive attitude toward the use of ICT with 77.9% reporting interest to a Great or Very Great Extent in using ICT for personal purposes, with only 1 (0.5%) respondent expressing no interest. This interest extended to their view of the role of ICT in education with 106 (53.3%) reporting the use of ICT for teaching and learning to a Great or Very Great Extent. An even stronger response of 177 (89.0%) was gained with regard to the perception of the belief that ICT could improve student learning outcomes with ranking. Perceived ICT Competencies The survey also asked the respondents about their perceived ICT competencies. Students rated their perceived competencies with a range of digital technologies (see Table 2), providing a picture of a diversity of capability with these various applications and technologies. The average level of competency for each item was between 2 and 3, thus between “Some Competency” and “Competent”. Table 2: Perceived technological knowledge (TK) of digital technologies (N=193) Scale: 1 to 4, where 4 is very confident