Professional Development in Higher Education: A Model for Meaningful Technology Integration

The University of Debrecen is a participant of the PETRA project (Promoting Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Azerbaijani Universities) with the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, University of Applied Sciences Vienna, Austria, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. The aim of the project is promoting of teaching and learning excellence in Azerbaijan Universities, by supporting the professional development in higher education and, in the academic community. For this reason, the program wants to enhance the usage of technology and innovative forms of teaching, to provide support for designing courses and for choosing and using diverse approaches in assessment. The purpose of this study is to identify the possibilities of promoting the professional development in higher education and to explore the theoretical landscape: the roles and implications of the professional development. This paper explores the connections between the reflective behaviour of the teachers and their assessment methods and wants to provide new approaches to assessment in the context of the institutional strategies of the higher education. This paper argues for innovative forms of assessment such as the portfolios in teacher preparation or the group-based assessment forms - as methods of promoting higher quality learning. The study investigates the ways towards the autonomous assessment in the higher education, using self-assessment and peer assessment.

This article focuses on the use of portfolios for learning and professional development in Higher Education (HE). Recent research findings related to learning and assessment help to contextualize the study. The use of portfolios for summative assessment and development of teaching and reflective practice dominates the literature. What is lacking is research that provides insights into how a portfolio for learning can be used in HE to develop understanding into one’s own learning, assessment and professional practices. The action research findings related to portfolio use for learning purposes identified in the three case studies include: the importance of establishing the purpose of the portfolio; the impact of portfolio use on the approach to learning, to teaching and to professional development; the changes to professional practice brought about as a result of the learning; and the need to consider issues related to ethics and confidentiality.

The purpose of this article is to review current empirical research on language teacher professional development in higher education from Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and ERIC adopting the PRISMA methodology. This revision led to 10 articles demonstrating that language professors opt for a more student-centered approach and highly communicative lessons demonstrating their openness to new educational paradigms. Second, when institutions offer professional development training programs, their content should be designed considering language educators’ experience, expectations, and necessities. Not following this will favor resistance and dissatisfaction among educators. Third, even though modern e-learning tools are beneficial, language educators do not use them actively due to insufficient IT support and training; they often rely on self-learning. Finally, it is also argued that continuous training, peer observation, senior mentoring, and teacher autonomy are necessary for language teacher professional development.

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) represents the essential knowledge that teachers must master. TPACK consists of seven dimensions: Technological Knowledge (TK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Content Knowledge (CK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and the integration of all these in Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). During the COVID-19 pandemic, lectures were shifted online, significantly impacting the TPACK development of pre-service math teachers. This research aims to contribute to the existing literature by examining how online lectures during a pandemic influence the TPACK of pre-service teachers. The study involves assessing the TPACK of 129 pre-service teachers who participated in both online lectures and offline Field Introduction of School activities. A sample of 39 students was selected using stratified random sampling. Data collection instruments included a self-assessment questionnaire, three open-ended questions answered by students, and performance assessments completed by tutors. Despite the challenges posed by online lectures during the pandemic, students demonstrated a good overall proficiency in TPACK, with Technological Knowledge (TK) exhibiting the highest achievement. However, other dimensions of TPACK showed weaker performance, likely due to obstacles encountered during online learning, such as difficulties in delivering material and engaging in online microteaching practices.

This research is aimed to find out TPACK of high school in-service Physics teachers in North Maluku by using TPACK survey instrument that consist of 7 components, namely Technological Knowledge (TK), Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) and TPACK in Likert scale. The data of TPACK perceptions were analysed using descriptive statistics, whereas teachers’ TPACK differences in gender and experience of teaching were analysed using Mann Whitney test by SPSS 20 because the samples were small samples. The result of data analysis shows that TPACK perception of senior high school in-service Physics teachers is still in the low category. The components are TK, TCK, TPK, and TPCK that related to technology. Based on gender data analysis, it is known that there is significant difference only on TCK component, whereas based on teachers’ experience of teaching, significant differences were found in components of PK, PCK, and TPCK. Based on these research result can be conclude that TPACK of teachers are still constrained on components related to technology so that the ability of teachers in integrating technology in learning is still not maximized.

Although widely acknowledged for their significance, contemporary Teacher Professional Development (TPD) initiatives have faced growing criticism due to their failure to effectively foster the seamless incorporation of technology into educators’ pedagogical practices. Educators depend on their informal Communities of Practice (CoPs) rather than TPD programmes to acquire the knowledge they need to both competently and meaningfully integrate technology into their pedagogical practices. This study investigates the innovative approaches educators employ in three (n=3) Western Cape public primary schools to create a hybrid CoP in their school to improve their collective technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). The criticism of TPD efforts extends beyond primary and secondary school contexts. This challenge substantially impacts teacher education and highlights the increasing necessity for developing digital literacy among the professoriate in this discipline. The theoretical basis for this study was Wenger’s (1998) CoP social learning theory and Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) TPACK model. The study employed a qualitative research approach involving a cohort of 12 educators who engaged in open-ended survey questionnaires, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and observational sessions. Additionally, the research incorporated one (n=1) school principal and two (n=2) deputy principals who actively contributed to all data collection modalities except for the survey questionnaires. Document analysis, specifically from WhatsApp group chat screenshots, was conducted across all three (n=3) schools as part of the research approach. While the data set used in this study originates from a study involving school educators, it aims to extend the findings to determine their significance for teacher education. The results revealed that the sampled educators had established an informal hybrid CoP at their respective schools through innovative approaches, such as joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. These educators gained TPACK from one another throughout this process. Universities and provincial governments might profit from the findings, the knowledge gained from which could assist in their structuring of TPD programmes in ways which would foster their organic development in educators’ particular employment contexts. Keywords: approaches, hybrid communities, communities of practice, educators, teacher professional development, technological pedagogical and content knowledge

The problem of continuing professional development (sometimes capitalised as CPD) of professionals in higher education is that it operates around a series of unresolved tensions: between higher education institutions as major providers for other professionals and as a relatively new provider in terms of its own professional development; between the prestige associated with continuing professional development in the service of research and that accorded to learning and teaching. These problems are compounded by a tendency to regard professional or staff development as comprising only those sorts of activities that are formally recognised. Rather than attempting to resolve these two tensions, the paper argues that problematising our conceptions of continuing professional development can open up space for debate. The paper re‐visits some of the recent history of CPD in order to pinpoint some of the contradictions. This allows new questions to emerge: for example about whether the multiple practices of continuing professional development constitute “domesticating” (Land, 2001) or more critical tendencies within the newly emerging regimes in higher education. The arguments have implications for practising educational developers in meeting the challenges of a broader mandate for CPD, and in recognising the importance of the non‐formal in development practice. The paper takes its examples mostly from an English context, but many of the contradictions highlighted are relevant to other state‐dependent higher education systems.

Teacher education is the very first step for preparing quality teachers and it is crucial to provide quality teacher training. This research aims to analyze and compare pre-service teacher education policies and programs in Myanmar, the Philippines, and Japan, focusing on secondary science teachers. A case study research design was employed by utilizing Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The result shows that TPACK components found in national education policies and programs in Myanmar were Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). On the other hand, TPACK found in the Philippines and Japan were CK, PK, Technological Knowledge (TK), PCK, Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK). In all three countries, limited provision of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) was found. It is interpreted that provision of a balanced and sufficient knowledge of TPACK is essential to well equip pre-service teachers with required knowledge and skills considering internationalization and transnational education. This research uncovered the general patterns and trends in pre-service teacher education for science in three Asian countries as well as their uniqueness and best practices.

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) plays a central role for teacher training and measuring teachers’ preparedness for technology-enhanced teaching. Hence, crafting a validity argument of the popular TPACK self-assessments is key to facilitating evidence-based practices in these areas. However, the existing body of validity evidence abounds in divergent findings, for instance on the factor structure of TPACK self-reports across pre- and in-service teacher samples. To synthesize this evidence and capture its heterogeneity, we conducted a systematic review with a meta-analysis. First, we examined the internal validity of TPACK by analyzing its factor structure using meta-analytic structural equation and network modeling. Second, we compared two theoretical models describing the relations among the TPACK dimension—the transformative and integrative models—against the data. Third, we assessed the external validity of self-reported TPCK by examining its correlation with actual technology use in teaching. Our findings revealed two distinguishable dimensions of TPACK for both pre- and in-service teacher samples, which represented the technological and non-technological dimensions. The integrative model provided an overall better fit to the data. Moreover, TPACK self-reports were moderately correlated with technology use (r ̅s = 0.23-0.49) and exhibited substantial heterogeneity. Our results underscore the importance of generating and considering both internal and external validity evidence when applying TPACK assessments to generate implications for educational research and practice.

The purpose of the research was carried out to analyze the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of Physics Teachers at MAN in Palu City during the Covid-19 pandemic. The type of research used is survey research with a descriptive quantitative approach. The sample of this research is a class X MAN physics teacher in the city of Palu. The instrument was developed from previous research which has high validity and reliability. Data collection using questionnaires and interviews. Data analysis used the descriptive statistics test. The results showed that the ability of the TPACK components: pedagogical knowledge (PK) was 79.83; content knowledge (CK) of 68.83; technological knowledge (TK) of 70.00; pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of 80.56; technological content knowledge (TCK) of 92.50; technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) of 94.83; and technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of 79.17. The average ability of the TPACK component of 80.82 is in the good category.

Research into faculty members’ instructional development has primarily focused on individual skills and knowledge. As collegial interactions may support or constrain faculty’s professional development in higher education, this study compared and contrasted the networks of faculty members in different stages of instructional development (novice, experienced non-expert, and experienced expert teachers). Faculty networks comprised the relations that teaching faculty members used to communicate about their teaching practice. To capture these networks, a total of 30 faculty members were interviewed. We used an egocentric network approach to examine the differences between the networks in network size, tie strength, and network diversity. Results based on analyses of variance and multilevel analyses suggested three key findings: (a) Faculty members in different stages of instructional development varied in the size of their network; (b) faculty members in different stages of development had access to different types of networks in terms of tie strength; and (c) faculty members in different stages of development varied in the diversity of teaching experience in their networks. Experienced expert teachers had larger, stronger, and more diverse networks compared with experienced non-experts. Novices also had larger networks, but they were characterized by lower tie strength and less diversity. These findings demonstrate that network development is not just a time–age effect, but suggests arrested development for experienced non-experts linked to limited network input. This provides important evidence for the role of collegial interactions throughout faculty’s development as a teacher. We further discuss the implications of this study in light of faculty members’ instructional development.

This study examined Indonesian pre-service language teachers’ use of information and communication technology (UICT) during teaching practices. We used technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework to predict the UICT. The objective of the study is to determine if the TPACK is a valid model to explain Indonesian pre-service language teachers’ UICT during teaching practices. 287 pre-service language teachers from three Indonesian universities completed a 38-item survey instruments based on the TPACK and UICT. The development of the survey instruments was done mainly through content validity index (CVI) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Findings of the study that were obtained through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) informed 13 hypotheses. Overall, the TPACK components are interconnected and also reported to be a valid model to help explain Indonesian pre-service language teachers’ UICT during teaching practices.

There have been calls to embed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into pre-service teacher courses in preference to technology only courses as a means to provide graduate pre-service teachers with the necessary skills to integrate ICT into their teaching practice. This chapter describes a case study of a pre-service science education curriculum course that was designed to embed ICT into its curriculum, assessment and delivery. The tutor modelled best teaching practice in the use of learning technologies. The theoretical framework is Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) viewed through a representation construction approach. This approach involved the students undertaking a series of representational challenges where they constructed and critiqued representations. The study found increased student engagement with learning technologies and an enhanced TPACK over the period of the course. Several factors that may have led to these findings are discussed.

Teacher preparation programs in the Philippines continue to struggle with developing pre-service teachers’ Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) and self-regulatory competencies. Current studies show low levels of both TPACK and technology-based self-regulated English learning strategies (SRL), revealing a critical gap in the prevailing context. Hence, this study was conducted with the primary aim of identifying the level of TPACK and the usage of SRL of the pre-service teachers. Moreover, this specifically sought to determine if there is a significant relationship between their usage of SRL and their TPACK level. In doing so, this study used a descriptive-correlational design with 139 respondents selected through stratified random sampling, and the data were gathered through a structured survey and analyzed using Pearson r correlation. This was guided by the TPACK and SRL frameworks, with TPACK used to measure the pre service teachers’ level of technological, pedagogical, and content competence, and SRL used to assess their usage of self-management strategies. Together, these frameworks support the study’s aim of evaluating both constructs and examining their relationship. The results revealed that their TPACK level is average, and they usually use the SRL strategies. A significant relationship was also found between TPACK level and technology-based English SRL strategies, indicating that effective technological integration depends on a holistic understanding of how tools align with pedagogy and content. This enables the pre-service teachers to make metacognitively informed decisions, monitor learning, and apply strategies effectively. The findings suggest that teacher education programs should strengthen TPACK and SRL skills to promote more effective, pedagogically sound technology use in English learning.

As the educational possibilities of AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) are getting more attention, understanding teachers’ readiness to integrate new technologies for instruction would help researchers and practitioners to plan how to support them. In this regard, the present study explores teachers’ willingness to integrate AR and VR technologies for teaching and learning practices. Employing an extended Technology Acceptance Model (eTAM), this study investigated whether technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK), social norm (SN), and motivational support (MS) for teachers influence teachers’ intention to use the technologies. Analysis from 292 in-service teacher responses supported all of the eight hypotheses formulated in the study. TPACK was found to have a significant influence on perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) while SN influenced PU. In addition, MS was found to have an influence on PEU, which ultimately affects attitudes toward technology use (ATU) and then behavioral intention (BI). The results imply the importance of providing technology professional development (PD) and support for teachers to promote the use of AR and VR in classrooms.