Examining preservice teachers' perceived knowledge of TPACK and cyberwellness through structural equation modeling

Abstract

This study examined outcomes from an information and communication technology (ICT) course designed on the basis of the meaningful learning framework and general cyberwellness issues. It also examined the relationships among Singaporean preservice teachers' perceptions of the constructs pertaining to technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and their perceived ability to integrate cyberwellness knowledge when designing web-related learning. Two questionnaires were administered to 668 and 628 preservice teachers before and after the ICT course to elicit the relationships. Five TPACK knowledge constructs (PK, CK, Web 2.0-related TK, TPK, TPACK) and the teachers' cyberwellness knowledge were identified from factor analysis results. The pre-post course surveys indicate that the preservice teachers perceived strong gain in 5 out 6 constructs measured. Additionally, the structural equation model analysis revealed that cyberwellness knowledge contributes significantly to TPK and TPACK, based on the preservice teachers' perception. As such, the study argues that the preservice teachers' confidence to integrate their cyberwellness knowledge into their teaching may play an important role in influencing how they plan and design web-based learning. Cyberwellness knowledge may be an important knowledge component to foster when considering the future development of teachers' TPACK for web-based learning.