The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) framework has been adopted by many educational technologists and teacher educators for the research and development of knowledge about the pedagogical uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in classrooms. While the framework is potentially very important, efforts to survey teachers' TPCK efficacy has yet to identify all seven factors postulated by the framework. This study attempted to validate a TPCK efficacy survey by implementing it on an Asian group of 550 preservice teachers from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The seven factors underlying the TPCK framework were identified which suggested the research instrument to be valid and reliable. The structural equation model proposed based on the TPCK framework supported eight out of 12 hypotheses about the relationships between TPCK constructs. The results indicate that the positive effects of the basic knowledge factors of CK, PK, and TK were indirect, occurring through the second layer of knowledge factors (TPK, TCK, and PCK). Implications for preservice teacher professional developments are discussed.
IntroductionInformation and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been viewed by many educators as an enabling factor for constructivist-oriented teaching and learning (Collins & Halverson, 2010;Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2012). These educators highlighted many affordances of ICT that would enable learners to construct deeper understanding about the subject matter they are learning through active and collaborative learning that is anchored around real-world authentic problems. Howland et al. (2012) characterized such learning as meaningful learning with ICT. However, the actualization of the pedagogical affordances are very much dependent upon teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards technology (Ertmer, 2005), the knowledge they possess (Mishra & Koehler, 2006), and their capacity to design technology-integrated lessons (Chai, Koh & Tsai, 2011a). In short, integrating technology into classroom teaching and learning is highly demanding on teachers' beliefs, knowledge and adaptive expertise (Darling-Hammond, Bransford, LePage, Hammerness, & Duffy, 2005;Hong & Sullivan, 2009;Kramarski & Michalsky, 2010;Mishra, Koehler, & Kereluik, 2009). This could perhaps explain the slow progress in the schools and teachers' pervasive use of ICT for students' constructivist-oriented learning (Harris, Mishra, & Koehler, 2009). Mishra and Koehler (2006) and Graham (2011) have also pointed out that the lack of a theoretical framework is partly responsible for the lack of progress in school-based ICT integration. Drawing upon Shulman's (1986) idea of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), Mishra and Koehler (2006), together with several other researchers (Niess, 2005;Angeli & Valanides, 2005), put forth the theoretical framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). Since then, the TPCK framework has served as a guide to unpack ICT-integrated lessons; to develop ICT competencies among teac...