Pipe dreams or digital dreams

Technology, pedagogy and content knowledge in the vocational educational and training sector

Abstract

Regional Australia provides fertile ground for the integration of online technologies to support the vocational education and training (VET) sector. This paper examines teachers' beliefs about teaching with technology in a regional VET institute. VET teachers must demonstrate teaching expertise (pedagogical knowledge) and industry expertise (content knowledge) for diverse learners and contexts; however, the emergence of new digital technologies illustrates an increasing need for teachers to embrace 'technology' knowledge commensurate with industry practice. Recent surveys have revealed that teachers' use of online digital technology within the VET sector is not effectively incorporated nor has it been embraced in pedagogically defensible ways. This paper adopts a mixed methods approach to understand how the epistemic beliefs of VET teachers influence their teaching and how the TPACK is applied in practice. Finally, this paper illuminates the need for professional development programmes to focus on developing teacher knowledge across all TPACK domains.