Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Preparedness of Student-Teachers of the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education of University of Cape Coast

Abstract

The proliferation of digital technology in the 21^st century in teaching and learning requires that teachers and students constantly interact with instructional technologies. This places a herculean task on the door step of teacher educators to ensure that student-teachers graduate from their institutions of training with some knowledge domains that would help them to integrate technology, pedagogy and content in their teaching. This study assesses the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) preparedness of student-teachers in the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education (DASSE) of University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. It uses the descriptive survey design. The stratified simple random sampling technique was used to sample 370 student-teachers of DASSE for the study. Questionnaire was adapted for the data collection. Descriptive (frequencies and percentages, mean of means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (independent t-test) were used to analyse the data. The study reveals that the student-teachers in DASSE, UCC have Technological Knowledge. The study also found that the student-teachers of DASSE, UCC lack Technological Pedagogical Knowledge. In addition, the study has found that the student-teachers of DASSE, UCC lack Technological Content Knowledge. Moreover, the study establishes that the student-teachers of DASSE, UCC lacked Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Lastly, there is no statistically significant difference between the gender of the student-teachers of DASSE, UCC and their TPACK preparedness. Hence, this study recommends that lecturers should continue to model the use of technology so that student-teachers can increasingly update their technological knowledge through observation and learning. Again, the Academic Board of UCC should advice the teaching departments on the need to infuse technology in their courses they offer for student-teachers. Finally, the teacher education programme offered by DASSE, UCC should be reconceptualised to respond to the technological needs of student-teachers.

Keywords: Technological Knowledge, Content Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge