Investigating preservice teachers' TPACK competencies through the lenses of ICT skills: An experimental study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service teachers' TPACK competencies with respect to variables of ICT usage level, ICT usage phase and gender. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with no control group has been implemented. The study has covered 61 pre-service teachers attending education faculty of a state university between 2011-2012 academic year. TPACK-deep Scale, ICT Usage Level and ICT Usage Phase surveys have been employed. TPACK competencies which were in medium level prior to taking TPACK-based activities increased to higher level at the end of the process. Furthermore, certain amount of progress was found in the TPACK-deep subdimensions namely design, exertion, ethics and proficiency. At the end of the intervention, it was also determined that ICT usage phase of pre-service teachers increased. Consequently the rise in ICT usage levels of pre-service teachers correspondingly elevated their TPACK competencies. However no significant difference was found between TPACK competencies and gender. Most of the correlations between ICT usage phases and TPACK competency subdimensions were at medium-level significance. Some suggestions were provided based on the results.