Teacher educators’ use of mind mapping in the development of TPACK in a technology-rich learning environment

Abstract

Since 2020, teaching has gone through substantive transformation. Teacher educators have been compelled to reevaluate their instructional strategies and the use of technology to deliver effective training for pre-service teachers. The year 2020 escalated the use of teaching strategies that relied on technology as a crucial tool in all teaching processes. Moreover, from the year 2020 and onwards, teacher educators’ knowledge of teaching, curriculum, and technology has been transformed to align with the new teaching and learning requirements for creating and delivering instruction in teacher education. However, little is mentioned in studies on how teacher educators think about lesson activities, especially how they map out instructional pathways and technology integration in a technology-rich environment. It is against this backdrop that this study uses qualitative and interpretive paradigms to investigate teacher educators’ use of mind-mapping for instructional practices in a technology-rich environment. The objective was to understand how they develop or prioritize the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Six participants were purposively selected based on the criteria that the participants must use mind-mapping to plan lesson activities and integrate technology into the lesson, reflect on the instructional process, and allow the researchers to observe their classroom teaching engagements. Data was generated and collected using journal reflections, observations, and document analysis. The findings showed that the teacher educators made use of mind-mapping in the preparation of lesson activities and created rubrics using mind-mapping. They also used self-made video podcasts and integrated videos in lesson activities and mind-mapped assessment pathways with technology. From the narrations shared by the participants, the use of mind-mapping opened new strategies of planning, teaching, and assessing instruction with technology to develop technological pedagogical content knowledge.