Teaching Multimodal Literacies with Digital Technologies and Augmented Reality: A Cluster Analysis of Australian Teachers’ TPACK

Lynde Tan (), Russell Thomson, Joyce Hwee Ling Koh and Alice Chik
Additional contact information
Lynde Tan: School of Education, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Russell Thomson: School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Joyce Hwee Ling Koh: Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Alice Chik: School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: Despite the proliferation of augmented reality (AR) apps, Australian primary teachers have yet to use them widely for the teaching of multimodal literacies. Conceptualising teachers’ knowledge of using digital technologies to teach multimodal literacies as a form of technological pedagogical content knowledge or TPACK(ML), this study examined teacher differences through a cluster analysis of survey responses collected from a sample of 142 Australian primary school teachers. Two distinct clusters of teachers were derived. The first cluster with lower TPACK(ML) comprised teachers with lower self-reported confidence in facilitating new cultures of learning that are participatory and technology-driven in nature. In their open-ended survey responses, these teachers shared their unfamiliarity with AR, as well as concerns about their personal technical competency and how AR could be integrated into the curriculum. The second cluster of teachers rated themselves higher in TPACK(ML) and in how they used technology to support language learning pedagogies. They were able to propose different pedagogical strategies to engage students’ multimodal literacies meaningfully with AR in their open-ended survey responses. The implications of the study’s findings were discussed, and recommendations were proposed for designing and sustaining differentiated forms of teacher professional development for teaching multimodal literacies with emergent digital technologies.

Keywords: multimodal literacies; digital technologies; augmented reality (AR); technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK); cluster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10190/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10190/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10190-:d:1180586

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().