Self reflection and preservice teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge: Promoting earlier adoption of student-centred pedagogies
The purpose of this paper is to present the qualitative findings relating to fourteen preservice teachers’ development and translation of their technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) into their classroom practices throughout the first year of their teacher preparation program. It was found that all fourteen participants demonstrated a gain in both technological and pedagogical knowledge, and registered positive changes both in their pedagogical beliefs and their beliefs in using information and communication technology (ICT) to engage their students in active meaning making after an ICT course and an intervention workshop on reflection. There was, however, great variation in the ways that they used ICT in their first field placements: from using ICT as a presentation tool to complement or support their teaching, to engaging their students in using ICT as a cognitive tool to extend their students’ learning and knowledge construction. This variation was largely related to whether the participants could synergise their constructivist-oriented beliefs, technological knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. It seems that only the preservice teachers who demonstrated student-centric pedagogies and reflected on student learning showed more advanced development of TPK. Recommendations for engaging preservice teachers in reflection with a focus on student learning are discussed.
A four-year longitudinal study of the development of student teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching
This study followed a cohort of student teachers from the beginning of their teacher education program to the end of the third year of teaching, looking at their perceived changes in pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching in Singapore. The PKST survey comprising 37 items with six factors were used to collect data. In the cohort of over 1300 student teachers, 353 participated in all five survey data collections. The results showed that the participants’ overall pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching increased significantly. The largest increases were found in knowledge in lesson planning and skills in classroom management. The skills in showing care and concern did not show significant increases until the end of third year of teaching.
Beginning teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching: A three year study
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the beginning teachers’ perceptions of pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching in Singapore. Data was collected from the beginning teachers at three time points: the exit point of the teacher education programme, the end of their first year and third year of teaching. In this three year study, the focus is to examine the beginning teachers’ perceptions of their development in the following teaching related factors: lesson planning, classroom management and instructional strategies. The results showed that beginning teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills increased significantly, but at different rates, in all three factors at the end of their third year of teaching. It suggested that learning to teach is an on-going process that begins from the pre-service teacher education programme and continues into the initial three years of teaching.
A comparison of perceptions of knowledge and skills held by primary and secondary teachers: From the entry to exit of their preservice programme
The purpose of this study was to investigate if there were differences in the levels of pedagogical knowledge and skills as perceived by the student teachers who were enrolled in the Primary and the Secondary Post Graduate Diploma in Education programme at the National Institute of Education in Singapore. 170 Primary and 426 Secondary student teachers participated in the study. The results showed that there were no significant differences at the beginning of the programme between the two cohorts. However, there were significant differences between the two groups at the end of programme, with the Primary student teachers tending to perceive themselves as gaining more pedagogical knowledge and skills by the end of their initial teacher preparation programme than the Secondary student teachers.
Learning in the 21st century
This chapter discusses changes in perspectives about teaching and learning, as well as our state-of-the-art knowledge about ways to optimize learning in the 21st century. Researchers and educators suggested the need to change teaching and learning practices from those that cater to the Industrial Age to those that are aligned with the Knowledge Age. It involves changing roles, such as teachers acting as facilitators and co-learners and students taking more ownership in learning. This chapter will also discuss principles to optimise learning for 21st-century competencies using technologies.
Supporting self-directed learning and self-assessment using TeacherGAIA, a generative AI chatbot application: Learning approaches and prompt engineering
Self-directed learning and self-assessment require student responsibility over learning needs, goals, processes, and outcomes. However, this student-led learning can be challenging to achieve in a classroom limited by a one-to-many teacher-led instruction. We, thus, have designed and prototyped a generative artificial intelligence chatbot application (GAIA), named TeacherGAIA, that can be used to asynchronously support students in their self-directed learning and self-assessment outside the classroom. We first identified diverse constructivist learning approaches that align with, and promote, student-led learning. These included knowledge construction, inquiry-based learning, self-assessment, and peer teaching. The in-context learning abilities of large language model (LLM) from OpenAI were then leveraged via prompt engineering to steer interactions supporting these different learning approaches. These interactions contrasted with ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot which by default engaged in the traditional transmissionist mode of learning reminiscent of teacher-led instruction. Preliminary design, prompt engineering and prototyping suggested fidelity to the learning approaches, cognitive guidance, and social-emotional support, all of which were implemented in a generative AI manner without pre-specified rules or “hard-coding”. Other affordances of TeacherGAIA are discussed and future development outlined. We anticipate TeacherGAIA to be a useful application for teachers in facilitating self-directed learning and self-assessment among K-12 students.
Enhancing preservice teachers’ professional growth through reflections using videos
Premised on situated cognition, this study focused on developing preservice teachers’ understanding and performances in technology-based pedagogies during the formal coursework at NIE and during their field placements. A mixed-method research design was proposed. This study aimed to contribute to the field of technology-based pedagogy and preservice teachers’ education.
The first objective was to track if there were any changes in preservice teachers’ technology competency, perceptions and practice in the use of ICT for classroom teaching and learning. This was done by collecting quantitative survey data from a cohort of 300 preservice teachers in the Diploma in Education (Primary) programme at four different points throughout their initial teacher education programme. The research questions were:
What are the changes of the preservice teachers’ intentions to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their future teaching?
What are the changes of the preservice teachers’ practices to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their 5-week Teaching Assistantship and 10-week Teaching Practice?
The second objective was to investigate a small group of 14 preservice teachers’ process of constructing their understanding of technology-based pedagogy throughout their initial teacher education programme.
Comparison of primary four students’ perceptions towards self‑directed learning and collaborative learning with technology in their English writing lessons
The purpose of this study is to examine Primary school students’ perceptions towards self-directed learning (SDL) and Collaborative learning (CL) with and without the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in English writing lessons in Singapore. There were 408 students participated in this study voluntarily. The results showed that the participants’ perceptions for SDL and CL were positive in both control and ICT-enhanced experimental groups, with means ranged from 3.73 to 3.90 out of a 5-point Likert scale. Both groups’ perceptions for SDL with technology and CL with technology were consistent lower than without technology, ranged from 2.98 to 3.72. MANCOVA was used to compare the difference in perceptions between the control and the experimental groups. The results showed that there were significant differences between the two groups in the perceptions of SDL with technology and CL with technology. The experimental group used a variety of technology tools, such as tablets, online writing assistant tools and online notice boards to facilitate their narrative writings during the 5-week intervention. They have opportunities to develop self-direct learning skills through the online writing assistant tool, they practiced collaborative learning skills through sharing their narratives and providing constructive peer feedback on online notice boards. The results indicated that students in the ICT-enhanced experimental group perceived significantly more positive perceptions towards both SDL with technology and CL with technology. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to sweep across the world, learning activities conducted in this study could be applicable to blended or online English lessons to facilitate the development of students’ Self-directed learning and Collaborative learning skills through the ICT-enhanced learning activities. Some recommendations will be discussed in the paper.
Beginning teachers’ pedagogical skills and knowledge towards positive pedagogic teacher-student relationships
This study investigated beginning teachers’ self-perceived pedagogical knowledge and skills in engaging and managing their students. More specifically, it discussed the development of positive pedagogic teacher-student relationships across three time points: at the exit of their pre-service program, at the end of the first year of teaching, and at the end of the third year of teaching. Four factors were extracted: (a) student learning; (b) accommodating diversity; (c) classroom management; and (d) showing care and concern. A sample of 358 beginning teachers participated in the study. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results showed that there were significant increases in all four factors across the three time points. The results are useful in informing teacher education programs as well as teacher induction programs to facilitate support for beginning teachers during their beginning years of teaching.