Designing a pedagogical framework for mobile-assisted language learning.

With the high penetration of mobile devices and wide coverage of wireless networks, mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) has been widely utilized to enhance language teaching and learning. However, the integration of MALL into language pedagogy has been hampered by a lack of a cohesive and unified framework for MALL pedagogy. Most of the existing frameworks were not specifically designed for language pedagogy and failed to balance the technological and pedagogical dimensions of MALL pedagogy. This study sought to promote the incorporation of MALL and tertiary EFL pedagogy by designing a pedagogical framework for MALL (PF4M) using design-based research (DBR) as the overarching research methodology. The DBR investigation adopted a mixed research approach, incorporating systematic review, expert survey, thematic analysis, and expert review. The resulting PF4M is anticipated to aid in the integration of MALL into language pedagogy by offering practical and theoretical guidance for effective teaching and learning. The findings may also suggest future directions for pedagogical innovations in MALL.

Metacognitive scaffolding for preservice teachers' self-regulated design of higher order thinking tasks.

This study compared two professional training courses targeting self-regulated learning (SRL) amongst preservice secondary science teachers in the context of didactic content knowledge for teaching higher-order thinking (HOT-PCK), either with metacognitive scaffolding (Meta group) or without (Control group). Measures included trainees' comprehension and design of HOT-PCK learning tasks, online SRL reflections about learning-teaching events, and self-reported SRL aptitude. Results indicated skill improvement in both groups, but the metacognitive support provided by the IMPROVE self-questioning technique better enhanced the preservice teachers' (PSTs) development of HOT-PCK, both as students (comprehension skills) and as future teachers (design skills), additionally as their ability to reflect on and control their studying. Findings also revealed significant correlations between SRL assessments (self-reports, event-based reflections) and between SRL and HOT-PCK indices. Consequences for teacher education combining SRL and HOT-PCK contexts are discussed.

Findings from the expert-novice paradigm on differential response behavior among multiple-choice items of a pedagogical content knowledge test - implications for test development.

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is one core dimension of teachers' professional knowledge and comprises knowledge about conceptual ideas of learners and appropriate instructions. However, several challenges regarding the assessment of PCK are discussed in the literature: For example, PCK is a topic-specific construct and contains differentiable subdomains, which must be considered during test development. In addition, the choice of test type needs to be considered. While open-ended instruments can capture a broader range of cognitions, they often require a high level of interpretation; in contrast, multiple-choice instruments have advantages in terms of objectivity and test economy. Some challenges of assessing PCK are particularly related to multiple-choice instruments, such as an insufficient focus on specific components or the accidental assessment of teachers' beliefs instead of PCK. To better understand and explain these challenges in developing multiple-choice PCK instruments, we exemparly used an instrument to assess PCK about scientific reasoning and considered the assumptions of the expert-novice paradigm to analyze differential response behavior between n = 10 researchers in the field of biology education (experts) and n = 10 undergraduate pre-service biology teachers (novices). As expected, experts scored significantly higher than novices. At the same time, experts answered the items more consistently than novices, i.e., showed less variance. However, the difference found was statistically insignificant. Regarding the explanations for choosing a response option, experts more often correctly identified the quintessence of the items, which means that they more often understand the items as intended and argued based on their PCK. On the other hand, novices focused more on surface characteristics, i.e., they argued rather with surface knowledge like intuition or personal experience, than choosing the response option based on their PCK. These crucial differences in how experts and novices understand the items of the used PCK instrument and how they respond based on their understanding affect different test characteristics. In conclusion, we recommend ensuring that instruments address only a few, specific PCK aspects, considering the target group of a test, and take into account that target groups with larger variability among their responses require a higher number of items to achieve satisfactory discrimination and reliability indices.

Empirical Research on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework in Health Professions Education: A Literature Review.

In the context of twenty-first-century information and communication technologies, the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is a new way of conceptualizing categories of knowledge required by teachers to achieve technology integration in educational practice. The main purpose of this review is to identify research on the TPACK framework in the field of health professions education. Journal empirical studies from 4 databases are included in this review. Of the 76 selected articles, nine met the selection criteria. The findings in the examined papers highlighted four themes: TPACK level measurement, TPACK relationship with other variables, TPACK application, and professional development. Research on the TPACK framework in the health professions education area is still lacking; however, the finding indicates that the TPACK as a theoretical foundation generated positive outcomes that can guide practitioners and researchers' future practice and investigations.

Delving into EFL teachers' digital literacy and professional identity in the pandemic era: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework.

The recent decades have witnessed an accelerated pace of educational development due to the advancement of digital technology. The recent inclusive spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced this development, resulting in the emergence of an educational revolution that extensively uses online courses. These changes entail figuring out how teachers' digital literacy has expanded along with this phenomenon. In addition, given the new technological advances in recent years, an upheaval has taken place in teachers' understanding of their dynamic roles, which is known as professional identity. Professional identity influences teaching practices with special consideration devoted to English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is considered an effective framework whereby the incorporation of technology into different theoretical situations such as EFL classes is understood. This initiative was introduced as an academic structure to improve the knowledge base, which helps the teachers to efficiently teach using technology. This yields important insight for teachers, particularly, English teachers, who can use them to improve three aspects of education, namely, technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. Along the same lines, this paper aims to consider the relevant literature on the contribution of teacher identity and literacy to teaching practices, using the TPACK framework. Accordingly, some implications are presented to educational stakeholders such as teachers, learners, and material developers.

A Conceptual Framework (2D-ME) for Explaining Self-first and Self-third Person Views of Prototyping Dynamics in Serious Games Design: Experimental Case Study.

BACKGROUND: Design dynamics that evolve during a designer's prototyping process encapsulate important insights about the way the designer is using his or her knowledge, creativity, and reflective thinking. Nevertheless, the capturing of such dynamics is not always an easy task, as they are built through alternations between the self-first and self-third person views. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at introducing a conceptual framework, namely 2D-ME, to provide an explainable domain that could express the dynamics across the design timeline during a prototyping process of serious games. METHODS: Within the 2D-ME framework, the Technological-Pedagogical-Content Knowledge (TPACK), its adaptation to the serious games (TPACK-Game), and the activity theory frameworks were combined to produce dynamic constructs that incorporate self-first and self-third person extension of the TPACK-Game to Games TPACK, rules, division of labor, and object. The dynamic interplay between such constructs was used as an adaptation engine within an optimization prototype process, so each sequential version of the latter could converge to the designer's initial idea of the serious game. Moreover, higher-order thinking is scaffolded with the internal Activity Interview Script proposed in this paper. RESULTS: An experimental case study of the application of the 2D-ME conceptual framework in the design of a light reflection game was showcased, revealing all the designer's dynamics, both from internal (via a diary) and external (via the prototype version) views. The findings of this case study exemplified the convergence of the prototyping process to an optimized output, by minimizing the mean square error between the conceptual (initial and updated) idea of the prototype, following explainable and tangible constructs within the 2D-ME framework. CONCLUSIONS: The generic structure of the proposed 2D-ME framework allows its transferability to various levels of expertise in serious games mastering, and it is used both for the designer's process exploration and training of the novice ones.

Predicting Preservice Science Teachers' TPACK through ICT usage.

Designing effective and efficient learning environments by integrating recent educational technologies into the teaching process has become an important goal of education for nearly two decades. However, earlier studies showed that a higher level of technology knowledge does not guarantee the development of TPACK. At this point, studies guided by the transformative approach defining TPACK as a unique knowledge revealed encouraging results for a better understanding of technology-integrated instruction. This study aims to investigate to what extent ICT usage categories predict preservice science teachers' TPACK. Totally 326 preservice science teachers with a mean age of 21.62 (SD = 1.41) from seven different universities participated. For that purpose, a correlational study was conducted. The ICT-TPACK-Science Scale and the ICT Usage Questionnaire were used to collect data. Six separate multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict TPACK measures using ICT measures. Results indicated that approximately a third of the variability in total-TPACK scores can be accounted for by three ICT measures. The relative importance of individual predictors is arranged in the following order desktop software, emerging ICTs, and hardware. As for the dimensions of the ICT-TPACK-Science Scale, the overall effect of the ICT predictors decreased in the following order: Designing, implementing, planning, proficiency, and ethics. Emerging ICTs made the highest contribution to the designing and proficiency dimensions; while desktop software made the highest contribution to the implementing, planning, and ethics dimensions. To sum up, this study describes the association between ICT usage and TPACK in the view of the transformative ICT-TPACK-Science framework. The utilization and transformation of ICT tools as a cognitive partner for effective and efficient science teaching in different TPACK dimensions needs further investigation.

The factors of enhancing Graduate Teaching Assistants' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) performance in engineering curriculum teaching.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play important roles in engineering education at the undergraduate level. Since there are lots of technological content knowledge (TCK) in engineering curriculums, the improvements of GTAs' teaching skills on TCK will help the teaching effectiveness of the curriculums. As the instructor's knowledge about technology-infused instruction for TCK is the core of the teaching skill, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is taken as a framework to measure the extent to which instructor can teach with technology. In this study, an online questionnaires survey covering GTAs' program coordinator, teacher, graduate student and undergraduate student has done to explore the factors of enhancing GTAs' TPACK performance. The quantitative analyses through a structural equation modeling approach indicates that the roles of the GTAs should be clearly recognized by the teacher, program coordinators and GTAs themselves. An evaluating procedure for GTAs should be established; The attitude and self-efficacy of GTAs should be improved through the training courses and the field trips while the promising expectation from the undergraduate student on the roles of GTAs can improve the performance of GTAs' program. Our results will be helpful not only for engineering curriculum, but also for other curriculums.

Integrating teacher data literacy with TPACK: A self-report study based on a novel framework for teachers' professional development.

While teachers' knowledge is widely viewed as a key aspect of professional development in the new era, little research attention has been paid to one of its key components: teacher data literacy. Accordingly, this study aimed to combine teacher data literacy with TPACK (technological pedagogical content knowledge), a widely-used framework for understanding and assessing teachers' knowledge. We first used qualitative methods to develop this integrated framework, then distributed a quantitative self-report survey based on the framework to teachers, and analyzed the resulting data. The qualitative phase highlighted five types of teachers' knowledge required in an integrated core knowledge system incorporating data literacy and provided insights for reflecting on teaching and learning in smart learning environments. The quantitative analysis of data from the TDL-TPACK questionnaire indicated that most teachers were competent practitioners but had some areas for improvement. Experienced teachers in their 30s and 40s performed at higher levels, while some of those aged over 50 displayed incremental decreases in performance. Other factors such as the age, experience, academic qualifications, and role of teachers may affect different aspects of their knowledge, including their data literacy. The research findings provide useful insights for additional teacher training and development programs in the context of smart education.

Chinese University English Teachers' Professional Learning through Academic Reading on Social Media-A Mixed-Methods Approach.

Teachers' professional learning on social media has received growing attention recently, but research into teachers' academic engagement on social media remains limited. This study aimed to examine what factors motivated university English teachers to engage with academic reading on social media. The determinants of academic reading on social media were identified by semi-structured interviews, which were further validated by quantitative investigation. The results showed that participants' perception of values of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and students' participation in the classroom affected their intentions toward commitment to academic reading on social media. Additionally, the results revealed that perceived value of pedagogical content knowledge mediated the relationship between perceived value of content knowledge and participants' intentions toward academic reading on social media while also mediating the relationship between perceived value of students' participation in the classroom and the participants' intentions toward academic reading on social media. These findings yield implications for the professional development of university teachers and the development of pedagogical content knowledge.

Re-envisioning Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Online Teaching Readiness of English for Foreign Language Pre-service Teachers in Language Teacher Education.

The pandemic has brought online learning as the new norm in education, which invokes many issues, particularly in the quality of online education. The quality of teacher education is being questioned, particularly in imparting adequate Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), which seems to be lacking in preparing teachers for sudden online learning. Though many studies were clustered around TPACK, there is still an unfilled gap in identifying whether the pre-service teachers are ready to teach online classes alongside their TPACK. Hence, this paper aims to determine (1) the level of TPACK and readiness and (2) the relationship between TPACK and readiness for English for Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers in online learning during the pandemic. A survey was distributed to 197 EFL pre-service teachers with 35 items, in which the level of TPACK and readiness were analyzed descriptively with the mean score. The Pearson correlation examined the relationship between TPACK domains and readiness. The main findings showed that the level of TPACK and readiness of EFL pre-service teachers were high, particularly for Technological Knowledge (TK). However, the correlation results showed a weak positive correlation between TPACK domains and readiness. The highest correlation was between Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) and readiness, which is a new finding contributing to the body of knowledge. This paper implied that TPACK should also look into the online teaching readiness of pre-service teachers so that they are well equipped with the online pedagogical knowledge for effective teaching and learning.

The Role of English as a Foreign Language Teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge on English as a Foreign Language Students' Achievement.

Educators themselves and their knowledge are the most significant elements in learners' success and achievement; however, there is little information about the specialized knowledge held by educators. Recently, conceptualizing educator knowledge has become a complicated issue that involves that the comprehension of important basic phenomena, such as the procedure of educating and learning, the notion of knowledge, and the way educators' knowledge, has become practical within the class. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) was presented as a theoretical structure for the knowledge base because educators have to efficiently instruct with technology and it is regarded as a valuable framework for explaining and understanding technology integration into various academic environments, such as English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class. This paper is intended to review the related literature on the role of an English teacher using the TPACK framework for teaching English and their role in students' achievement. Based on the related literature, there is a significant and direct association between EFL teachers' TPACK and EFL students' achievement. Succinctly, some recommendations have been proposed for educational stakeholders.

Modeling Chinese Teachers' Efficacies for the Teaching of Integrated STEM With Interdisciplinary Communication and Epistemic Fluency.

Engineering design is a core activity in integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. During the design process, teachers should possess interdisciplinary communication capacities to collaborate with their peers who are teaching different subjects and have epistemic fluency to comprehend multiple ways of subject matter knowing for the collective design of high-quality integrated STEM (iSTEM) lessons. This is especially so for the online mode of instruction during and after the pandemic. Teachers' efficacies for interdisciplinary communication and epistemic fluency have rarely been explored. In this study, we aimed to examine primary school, junior high school, and high school STEM teachers' (N = 483) efficacies for daily instruction, student engagement, interdisciplinary communication, epistemic fluency, and technological pedagogical engineering knowledge (TPEK) and designing integrated STEM instruction. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n = 155) and a subsequent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n = 328) were used to validate the measurement and structural model. Next, a structural equation model (SEM) was employed to examine whether these variables were reliable predictors of teachers' integrated STEM instruction. The survey was validated with good reliabilities and the structural equation modeling supported most of the hypotheses. Statistically, the results also showed that teachers' general efficacies for daily teaching and students' engagement predicted their interdisciplinary communication, epistemic fluency, and TPEK. Teachers' interdisciplinary communication predicted their epistemic fluency, TPEK, and iSTEM. Teachers' epistemic fluency also predicted their TPEK and iSTEM. In addition, multi-group analyses were used to test the measurement invariance of the scale and to compare the latent means between the genders and subject matters. The results of the various analyses confirmed that the measurement model appeared to be equivalent across the genders and subject matters examined. Genders and subject matters did not significantly differ in any of the measured variables. The results from this study indicate that teachers' epistemic fluency and interdisciplinary communication play essential roles in advancing their TPEK and iSTEM. Hence, this study suggests that teacher professional development should focus on enhancing teacher epistemic fluency through interdisciplinary collaboration to support the development of TPEK and iSTEM instruction.

The Role of Intelligence and Self-Concept for Teachers' Competence.

Research on intelligence and competence has developed widely independent of each other. The present paper aims at relating these traditions and at integrating the dominant models to fill gaps in the respective theories. We test the structural models derived from this integration in a series of confirmatory factor analyses and a latent moderated structural equations approach using teachers as an example. The data reveal that both fluid intelligence (gf) and domain-specific knowledge affect teachers' ability to solve the domain-specific items. Teachers' academic self-concept related to mathematics explains individual differences beyond gf. An interaction effect between gf and self-concept exists for teachers' pedagogical content and general pedagogical knowledge, but not for their mathematics knowledge. This finding indicates that a positive self-concept cannot compensate for a lack of gf, but it supports the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge in case of high gf, probably because it facilitates overcoming challenges.

Understanding levels of technology integration: A TPACK scale for EFL teachers to promote 21st-century learning.

Education worldwide has emphasized 21st-century competencies, including language competence, computer competence, and thinking skills. Research on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), essential teacher knowledge, has attempted to address the need for technology integration to support thinking skills. However, existing TPACK assessments have not intended to help teachers understand the levels of technology integration in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Therefore, this study proposed a two-dimensional TPACK scale, allowing EFL teachers to assess their TPACK in integrating technology and thinking skills. In total, 525 EFL teachers responded to this survey online. Scores of this scale were collected to test and establish validity and reliability. The statistical evidence showed that this instrument has high reliability and validity and is helpful for understanding levels of technology integration. The results showed that the EFL teachers were less confident in their TPACK teaching higher-order thinking skills. The EFL teachers in different cultures reported different confidence levels in TPACK and thinking skills (F(6, 518) = 7.83, p < .001). The high-achieving EFL teachers reported high TPACK self-efficacy (r = .210, p < .05). This TPACK survey would be helpful for EFL teachers to understand their development of TPACK in integrating technology and thinking skills in teaching English.

Pre-service teachers' perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge in mainland China: A survey of teachers of Chinese as a second language.

There is an urgent need to address the critical demand for qualified Chinese language teachers against the background of China's seeking greater Sino-foreign cultural and educational cooperation. The literature on integrating technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in language teaching has been increasing in the last few years. However, most of these studies focus on English language teachers. The objective of this study was to examine pre-service teachers' understanding of TPACK for teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL). This study investigated the TPACK factor structure of 286 pre-service TCSL teachers via exploratory factor analysis, which yielded a six-factor structure. The results revealed that the teachers could not distinguish the boundaries between technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological content knowledge (TCK); and TPK and synthesized TPACK. Further, confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling substantiated the validity and reliability of the adapted 32-item TCSL-TPACK survey instrument. The study also found that the teachers were slightly satisfied with their overall TPACK but were least confident of their technological knowledge (TK), and the more experienced teachers exhibited higher confidence in all six factors. These findings not only remind educators and policymakers of the need to revise current teacher training programs but also persuade TCSL student teachers to explore methods that can help integrate technology into lesson designs.

Expanding the field: using digital to diversify learning in outdoor science.

This is an empirical study of teacher experiences with school learners (7-18 years) engaging in cross-curricular environmental science during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focuses on #FieldworkLive, a programme of live-streamed outdoor science lessons produced by the Field Studies Council and Encounter Edu during the UK lockdown (April - May 2020). The experiences of approximately 377,000 teachers and students from 32 countries were captured using an online survey and direct staff consultation. This delivery method allowed us to reach untapped audiences and to provide learners with a virtual fieldwork experience during the constraints of lockdown. Teachers were highly positive about the technology-enhanced learning which provided them with novel perspectives and approaches for the classroom. We propose a model for the affordances provided by this delivery approach based on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework. The Field Studies Council has developed a flexible package of multimedia resources for secondary schools as a route to enriching outdoor experience and learning despite the constraints imposed by the pandemic. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43031-022-00047-0.

The effect of the e-mentoring-based education program on professional development of preschool teachers.

The qualification of a preschool teacher is one of the important factors that determine the quality of preschool education. To increase the quality in education, teachers should be equipped with the necessary knowledge starting from pre-service training, and in-service training should support the upgrading of their knowledge. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an e-Mentoring-Based Education Program (e-MENTE:PT) for preschool teachers and to test its effectiveness on their professional development during the in-service support period. The study used a design-based research approach. First, focus group interviews were conducted with one-hundred-and-five preschool teachers to find out their needs. Then, an e-MENTE:PT Program was developed based on these needs and devised to be used on the Canvas learning management system (LMS), which involves all opportunities of e-learning and allows one-to-one e-mentoring. The e-MENTE:PT Program involved twelve modules related to the pedagogical content knowledge of the preschool education program. Each module included contents, goals, module materials, e-books, videos, pre- and post-module evaluation questions, discussion questions, live lessons and e-portfolios, all of which were integrated in the LMS. Next, eighteen full-time and nine substitute voluntary teachers from five different provinces were selected as mentees by means of criterion sampling. Nine academicians working in these provinces acted as mentors and implemented the application, each working with two mentees for two months. Qualitative data were analysed by means of descriptive analysis and quantitative data were analysed by means of the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The research concluded that the e-MENTE:PT program supported preschool teachers' professional knowledge, learning environments and classroom applications, and an e-mentoring based teaching management system was effective on professional development.

Perceived insufficient pedagogical content knowledge in teaching movement and physical activity. Experiences from an action-oriented study among educators in early childhood education and care.

Movement and physical activity (MoPA) are critical to children's health and development. Many children aged 1-5 years are enrolled in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Sweden, and high expectations are placed on educators to deliver education of sufficient quality to support children's development. The aim of the 18-month-long action-based study was to investigate how 88 ECEC educators in five preschools perceived and experienced the priority and teaching of MoPA. The educators planned and implemented MoPA sessions among children. They filmed sequences from the sessions, which were shown in the focus groups and were the starting point for the collegial discussions. Content analysis of the focus group discussions revealed three themes: Teaching aspects; Educational aspects; Structural aspects, with associated subthemes. During the project with the trial-and-error MoPA teaching, the educators detected insufficient PCK to teach MoPA and that teaching was often replaced with free play. Increased metacognition made the educators aware of children's different MoPA levels and that free play did not always increase all children's skills. The perceived insufficient pedagogical content knowledge to teach MoPA was perceived as a troublesome barrier for promoting MoPA. During the project, the educators' metacognition about MoPA increased, which made the educators aware of children's different MoPA levels and that free play did not always increase all children's skills. Despite of increased metacognition, most of the educators were not ready to leave their comfort zones and were not open to extra work or effort when it came to MoPA. However, the educators demonstrated the need for improved education in MoPA in early childhood teacher education, as well as the need for continuous education for working educators in ECEC to enhance the pedagogic content knowledge for adequate teaching in MoPA, which is important for children's present development and future health.

From pedagogical content knowledge toward technological pedagogical content knowledge frameworks and their effectiveness in teaching mathematics: A mapping review.

BACKGROUND: A study to reveal existing pedagogical content knowledge or technological pedagogical content knowledge frameworks and their effectiveness in teaching mathematics is crucial to inform the reader, teacher, and researcher. This review study intended to explore the trends of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) framework, how it has changed over time until the most recent version of technological and pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) was developed, and their effectiveness in teaching mathematics. METHODS: We initially downloaded 273 articles from the first 30 Google Scholar pages and analyzed 229 journal articles. We got 24 frameworks from 64 journal articles since Shulman's first model in 1986. About 52 out of 229 were mathematics studies. Among these studies, we found that 18 studies have extensively investigated the use of identified frameworks. RESULTS: The frameworks were presented and descriptively discussed in chronological order. The empirical studies that compared the role of pedagogical content knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge models among classrooms with teachers who possess and do not possess such skills were demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS: The gap in empirical studies was identified, and further studies about the intervention of PCK and TPACK models were suggested to gain more insight into the mathematics classroom.