International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 14, No. 3 (2018)

Enhancing engineering education through technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK): A case study

Patrick Mutanga, Harare Institute of Technology, Zimbabwe
Jacob Nezandonyi, Harare Institute of Technology, Zimbabwe
Crispen Erinos Bhukuvhani, Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe

Abstract
This study analysed the status of TPACK knowledge and its impact on the quality of technical and engineering education. The research was a case study of 20 lecturers who were purposefully sampled from the School of Engineering and Technology at a university in Zimbabwe. Mixed research methods were employed. A questionnaire on Likert scale was used and descriptive statistics performed on the data to get frequencies and means. Follow-up interviews were done to triangulate questionnaire data in the determination of lecturers’ views on the use of TPACK to enhance understanding as effective strategies to use it in teaching engineering students. The study found out that most lecturers (70%) were confident of their pedagogical competencies. However, on the adoption and use of technology in their teaching, 60% agreed that they could adopt whilst 55% were still thinking about how technology could be used in teaching. The frequency of use of ICT technologies among lecturers is quite high (80%) besides the lack of technology use to support students with disabilities. The lecturers (70%) viewed TPACK as an enhancement to improved quality of technical and engineering education. ICT use has been perceived as to improving the quality of engineering teaching and learning. It can be concluded that engineering lecturers are competent in their knowledge about individual components of TPACK but not on the integration of these components for effective teaching besides them agreeing that it is important to have a balanced combination of knowledge with respect to content knowledge, methods, and technologies. The research recommends TPACK capacitation of lecturers through in-service training.

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