Applying an Intelligent Learning Partner in Teacher Education for Improving CT-Related TPACK

TLDR: In this article, an intelligent learning partner was designed and developed under the guidance of the framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge and peer-assisted learning strategy to improve teachers' computational thinking-related teaching ability.

Abstract: Developing effective learning strategies and tools to improve teachers’ computational thinking-related teaching ability is becoming an increasingly important issue in the digital age. In this study, an intelligent learning partner was designed and developed under the guidance of the framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge and peer-assisted learning strategy. Moreover, a quasi-experiment has been conducted in a blended learning community to evaluate the effect of the intelligent learning partner on improving teachers’ computational thinking-related technological pedagogical content knowledge. The participants were 32 pre-service teachers, comprising an experimental group (n = 16) and a control group (n = 16). The experimental results showed that the intelligent learning partner enabled the teachers to apply more knowledge of computational thinking-related technological pedagogical content knowledge into their lesson plans. Besides, it was found that the intelligent learning partner not only facilitated the teachers to think about students’ learning process, but also helped the teachers recognize the advantages of specific technology and pedagogy. Besides, participants’ feedback on improving the design of intelligent learning partners indicated that emotional interaction and explanations were needed.