British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 50 No 2 2019 614–625

doi:10.1111/bjet.12613

Preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using

mobile devices and the quality of technology integration
in lesson plans

Pei-Shan Tsai and Chin-Chung Tsai

Pei-Shan Tsai is an assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of Technological and Vocational Education, and
Center for Teacher Education, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan. Her research interests have mainly
focused on the design of Internet-based learning environments, online argumentation and conceptions of learning and
teaching. Chin-Chung Tsai is a chair professor at the Program of Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal
University, Taiwan. His research interests deal largely with constructivism, epistemic beliefs and the role of
conceptions of learning in technology-enhanced environments. Address for correspondence: Pei-Shan Tsai, No. 1, Sec.
3, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Taipei 10608, Taiwan, Email: sandra.pstsai@gmail.com

Abstract
This study explored the relationships among preservice teachers’ conceptions of
teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans.
A total of 47 preservice teachers in Taiwan who had experienced designing their own
lesson plans and teaching materials (ie, eBooks and applications) for teaching using
mobile devices (ie, smart phones and tablet PCs) participated in this study. The results
showed that four qualitatively different conceptions of teaching using mobile devices
were identified, namely “technology support,” “knowledge transmission,” “learning
facilitation,” and “supporting students to learn.” This study also found that the teachers
who had more constructivist perceptions of teaching using mobile devices, such as
facilitating students’ understanding in a convenient way or supporting student learning
in a more active way, appeared to attain better quality technology integration in their
lesson plans than those teachers with traditional conceptions.

Introduction
Since teachers’ conceptions may play an important role in students’ learning, teachers’ concep-
tions have been investigated for decades (Gow & Kember, 1993). According to Kember (1997)
and Lee and Tsai (2011), conceptions of teaching are related to teachers’ ideas or their under-
standing of what they have experienced during the process of instruction. Kember (1997)
reviewed 13 studies on conceptions of teaching, and classified the findings into five major catego-
ries, consisting of “imparting information,” “transmitting structured knowledge,” “student-
teacher interaction,” “facilitating understanding” and “conceptual change/intellectual devel-
opment.” Furthermore, Kember (1997) utilized two broad orientations (ie, “teacher-centered/
content-oriented” conceptions and “student-centered/learning-oriented” conceptions) to further
classify these five categories of conceptions. In general, it is noted that individuals with teacher-
centered/content-oriented conceptions tend to focus on the transfer of knowledge and content,
whereas those with student-centered/learning-oriented conceptions are likely to place more
emphasis on students’ learning. As a result, Kember (1997) indicated that “imparting
information” conceptions are considered to be more teacher-centered or content-oriented, while
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Practitioner Notes
What is already known about this topic
• Since teachers’ conceptions may play an important role in students’ learning,
teachers’ conceptions have been investigated for decades.
• Lesson plans refers to the teachers’ knowledge, planning, design and implementa-
tion of their lesson activities. They provide a more direct way to assess the teach-
ers’ TPACK.
What this paper adds
• Four qualitatively different and hierarchically related conceptions, namely
“technology support,” “knowledge transmission,” “learning facilitation” and
“supporting students to learn” were revealed with the implementation of phe-
nomenographic analysis.
• The relationships among preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using
mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans were
investigated.
Implications for practice and/or policy
• Teachers’ “achieved” conceptions of teaching were more associated with their
teaching activities than with their “main” conceptions.
• In order to develop suitable mobile-based teaching activities, it is essential to
understand teachers’ “achieved” conceptions of teaching using mobile devices.

“conceptual change/intellectual development” conceptions are viewed as more student-centered

or learning-oriented.
On the basis of the conclusion revealed by Kember (1997), a number of scholars (eg, Lee & Tsai,
2011) have similarly implemented these two broad orientations. For example, Lee and Tsai
(2011) applied similar categories, namely “traditional” conceptions and “constructivist” concep-
tions, to understand teachers’ conceptions of teaching. Likewise, traditional conceptions refer to
teacher-centered conceptions focusing on the delivery of knowledge and content, while construc-
tivist conceptions suggest student-centered conceptions emphasizing the importance of helping
learners construct knowledge. In sum, the application of such broad orientations may hence be
seen as useful analytical tools for exploring instructors’ conceptions of teaching.
Besides, some studies have asserted that conceptions of teaching can be context-dependent
(Khan, 2015; Roberts, 2003). That is, perspectives on conceptions of teaching may vary within
different teaching contexts, such as subjects, curricula, levels of schooling and teaching environ-
ments. Some pioneer studies have probed individuals’ conceptions of technology-based learning
and teaching, including conceptions of using the Web for teaching (Roberts, 2003) and concep-
tions of information and communication technologies (ICT)-enhanced teaching (Khan, 2015).
One consistent result across those studies is the fact that teachers’ conceptions of teaching are
related to their instructional activities.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that a research methodology, named the phenomenographic
method, is often applied to explore teachers’ conceptions of and approaches to learning and
teaching in a variety of contexts (Khan, 2015; Stein, Shephard, & Harris, 2011). The phenom-
enographic method is a qualitative analytic method and also a thematic analysis method (Braun
& Clarke, 2006) for exploring people’s understandings of various phenomena, concepts and
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principles in qualitative ways (Marton, 1986). In general, individuals are required to respond to
open-ended questions in regard to their views on their experiences; then, based on the similarities
and differences of their responses, conceptual categories can hence be classified. For example,
Roberts (2003) used the phenomenographic method to examine university teachers’ conceptions
of teaching and conceptions of using the Web for teaching, and the difference and similarity of
teachers’ experiences of teaching both in general and using Web contexts were identified.
Through the phenomenographic method, researchers can identify qualitatively different catego-
ries of conceptions, which may be transformed into meaningful suggestions in order to advance
not only students’ learning but also instructors’ teaching.
Moreover, a framework, named technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), is often
applied, when teachers’ knowledge regarding the integration of ICT is probed (Mishra & Koehler,
2006). In general, TPACK identifies three main knowledge sources presented in the ICT-
integrated lesson, including pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge and technological knowl-
edge. Moreover, the interaction among these three main knowledge sources promotes the growth
of four advanced knowledge sources, involving pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technolog-
ical pedagogical knowledge (TPK), technological content knowledge (TCK) and TPACK. To be
specific, TPK is regarded as the knowledge of using technology to implement teaching methods;
TCK is considered to be the knowledge of subject matter representation with technology; TPACK
is seen as the knowledge of using technology to implement teaching methods for different types of
subject matter content. Many researchers have developed instruments to assess teachers’ TPACK
development, such as self-report surveys (Koh, Chai, Hong, & Tsai, 2015) and lesson plans
(Harris, Grandgenett, & Hofer, 2010; Koh, 2013). For example, Harris et al. (2010) developed
the technology integration assessment rubric (TIAR) for assessing preservice teachers’ TPACK,
inferred from the quality of technology integration in lesson plans during a teacher education
program. It was concluded that TIAR could be a useful instrument to explore preservice teachers’
emergence of TPK, TCK and TPACK over time and an evaluative tool for a wide variety of pur-
poses (Abbitt, 2011).
Moreover, the instruction with the aid of mobile devices has gradually played a part in stu-
dents’ learning (Hwang & Tsai, 2011; S anchez-Prieto, Olmos-Miguel ~ ez, & Garcıa-Pe~
an nalvo,
2017), which may be observed from a series of working papers published by United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) identifying strategies, initiatives
and projects for mobile learning (UNESCO, 2012). Recently, the Ministry of Education in Tai-
wan has promoted mobile learning programs in order to foster blended learning activities.
As a matter of fact, research has demonstrated the significance of technology integration in
mobile learning (Hwang, Chu, & Lai, 2017) and has explored in-service teachers’ concep-
tions of mobile learning (Hsieh & Tsai, 2017). However, relatively few studies have
investigated preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices. Since ICT has
been widely recognized as a useful tool for integrating mobile learning activities into the cur-
riculum, the professional development of mobile-enhanced instruction designs for teachers is
needed (Beyers, 2009). It has become important to probe individuals’ perceptions of the
implementation of instruction with mobile devices during the time that preservice teachers
are being trained. Therefore, the current research aimed to examine preservice teachers’
conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in
lesson plans. The research questions are shown as follows:
• What are the preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices?
• What are the preservice teachers’ quality of technology integration in lesson plans?
• What is the relationship between preservice teachers’ conceptions and the quality of tech-
nology integration in lesson plans?
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Method
Participants
A total of 47 preservice teachers (15 males and 32 females) with an average age of 22.38 partici-
pated in the present research. The course entitled “The Use of Instructional Media” was offered in
both Fall and Spring semesters with the same instructor for those who intended to become sec-
ondary school teachers after graduation. Twenty-four preservice teachers in Fall semester, while
23 preservice teachers in Spring semester took part in the current study. The course was elective
and was presented in a face-to-face context with 100-minute durations for 18 weeks. It was the
only course designed in the teacher education programs for the purpose of enhancing preservice
teachers’ instruction with the use of media; hence, it could be inferred that participants did not
take similar courses before. Moreover, the course also aimed to help the participants develop les-
son plans and teaching materials (ie, eBooks and applications) with the use of mobile devices (ie,
smart phones and tablet PCs).
At first, the participants’ experiences of teaching with mobile devices were investigated by inquir-
ing an open-ended question (ie, “did you have any teaching experiences with mobile devices?
Please describe your teaching experiences”), and none of them had reported relevant experiences.
Then, related theories on how to enhance teaching with the use of mobile devices and the soft-
wares (ie, MIT App Inventor 2) for developing teaching materials were presented. MIT App
Inventor 2 was a cloud-based tool, which provided users to set up apps for smartphones and tab-
lets in their web browsers. Finally, each participant was required to develop a lesson plan and
teaching materials in regard to the instruction with the use of mobile devices. Figure 1 shows the
screenshots that the participants have developed for teaching math and science in junior high
schools.
At the end of the course, participants had to present their lesson plans in regard to teaching with
the use of mobile devices in front of their classmates. In this way, participants may receive sugges-
tions from peers in order to facilitate their teaching performance. At last, each participant was
individually interviewed by a trained researcher in regard to his/her teaching experiences with
the use of mobile devices.

Data collection and analysis

The teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices
To explore preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices, each participant
was individually interviewed by a trained researcher. The interview questions, modified from Lee
and Tsai (2011) and Tsai (2002), are presented below:
• Based on your experiences, what is teaching using mobile devices?
• What makes the most successful teaching using mobile devices?
• Could you describe what ideal teaching using mobile devices would look like? Why?

The phenomenographic method was utilized to analyze the participants’ interview responses. At
first, the verbatim interview transcripts were reviewed by the researcher. Meaningful sentences
and main ideas indicating participants’ conceptions were examined, and similarities and differen-
ces were then scrutinized. In this way, the hierarchically related categories of teachers’
conceptions could be identified in the current study.
Similar to other studies investigating individuals’ conceptions in different contexts (Hsieh & Tsai,
2017; Yang & Tsai, 2010), the current research found that some participants had mixed views of
conceptions. To further clarify these conceptions, each participant’s conceptions were sorted into
two levels (ie, main level and achieved level) in order to represent his or her views on teaching
using mobile devices. That is, the most frequent ideas revealed by each teacher were identified as
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Figure 1: Examples of learning materials developed by the teachers [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonli-
nelibrary.com]

his or her main level of conceptions, while the views indicated at the highest hierarchical order
were seen as his or her achieved level of conceptions. For example, in Hsieh and Tsai’s (2017)
study, they found six hierarchically related categories of teachers’ conceptions of mobile learning,
from lower to higher, including meeting student preferences, conducting classes efficiently, invig-
orating/enhancing learning, focusing on student ownership and extending learning. If a teacher
had many utterances around “conducting classes efficiently,” but a few about “parting from
tradition” and “focusing on student ownership,” that he/she would be identified as holding the
“conducting classes efficiently” conception at the main level and having the “focusing on student
ownership” conception at the achieved level as the latter one, though not frequently mentioned,
is considered as a higher-level category than the former one.
To validate the findings, 22 interview manuscripts were randomly selected and classified by
another experienced scholar using the same coding scheme. The result showed 81% and 86%
agreement regarding main and achieved conceptions respectively. Finally, the remaining data
were discussed and classified by both researchers.

The quality of technology integration in lesson plans

The TIAR, which was developed by Harris et al. (2010), was utilized for assessing TPACK inferred
from the quality of technology integration in lesson plans. The TIAR consists of four criteria,
namely curriculum goals and technologies (TCK), instructional strategies and technologies
(TPK), technology selection (TPACK) and fit. The results of Harris et al.’s (2010) study also
revealed that the TIAR has high levels of reliability and validity. The quality of each teacher’s
technology integration in their lesson plans was scored 1–4 for each criterion, with the total score
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ranging from 4 to 16 by summing the scores in each criterion. The detailed descriptions are listed
below:
• Curriculum goals and technologies dimension assessed curriculum-based technology use.
This dimension was scored on a 4-point scale, from 1 (not aligned) to 4 (strongly aligned).
For example, if a teacher selects technologies for use in the instructional plans which are
strongly aligned with at least one curriculum goal, he/she will obtain 4 points in this
dimension.
• Instructional strategies and technologies dimension evaluated using technology in teach-
ing. This dimension was scored on a 4-point scale, from 1 (did not support) to 4 (opti-
mally support). For example, if a teacher only uses mobile devices to gain his/her
students’ immediate feedback in classrooms, he/she will obtain 2 points in this dimension.
• Technology selection dimension assessed compatibility with curriculum goals and instruc-
tional strategies. This dimension was scored on a 4-point scale, from 1 (inappropriate) to
4 (exemplary). For example, if a teacher uses mobile devices not only to represent his/her
supplementary teaching materials and assist his/her teaching process to achieve teaching
goals but also to encourage students’ learning motivation and interests, he/she will obtain
4 points in this dimension.
• Fit dimension evaluated content, pedagogy and technology together. This dimension was
scored on a 4-point scale, from 1 (did not fit together) to 4 (fit together strongly). For
example, if a teacher did not fit content, instructional strategies and technologies together
within the instructional plan, he/she will obtain 1 point in this dimension.
Moreover, two researchers individually scored each teacher’s technology integration in the lesson
plans. The final score was the average of the scores awarded by the two researchers. The correla-
tion coefficients (r) between the two researchers for curriculum goals and technologies,
instructional strategies and technologies, technology selection and fit were 0.83, 0.82, 0.86,
0.82 respectively.

Results
The teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices
Through phenomenographic analysis, four different conceptions of teaching using mobile devices,
“technology support,” “knowledge transmission,” “learning facilitation” and “supporting stu-
dents to learn,” were revealed. As shown in Table 1, the categories ranging from A (technology
support) to D (supporting students to learn) represented hierarchically different conceptions. Simi-
lar to the research conducted by Tsai (2002) and Lee and Tsai (2011), two orientations (ie,
traditional and constructivist) were further applied to classify teachers’ conceptions. As men-
tioned earlier, traditional orientation incorporated teacher-centered conceptions viewing
instruction using mobile devices as a way to transfer knowledge; on the contrary, constructivist
orientation involved student-centered conceptions seeing teaching using mobile devices as an
alternative to help students construct knowledge. As a consequence, it was suggested that
traditional-oriented conceptions include category A (technology support) and category B (knowl-
edge transmission), whereas constructivist-oriented conceptions consist of category C (learning
facilitation) and category D (supporting students to learn).
Table 2 illustrates the distribution of participants’ conceptions. As for the main level of concep-
tions, 81% (n 5 38) of the interview responses were classified as traditional and 19% (n 5 9) as
constructivist. In contrast, 43% (n 5 20) of the responses were classified as traditional and 57%
(n 5 27) as constructivist in the achieved level of conceptions. It should be noted that the concep-
tions in the main level represent participants’ dominant ideas. Thus, it may be inferred that most
preservice teachers have viewed teaching using mobile devices in a traditional way. In contrast,
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Table 1: The categories of teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices

Categories Description Examples

A. Technology The teacher-centered “It is a trend. Teaching using mobile

support conception considering
teaching with mobile devices
as a support to the present
teaching materials.
B. Knowledge The traditional-oriented
transmission conception viewing teaching
with mobile devices as a
way to transmit knowledge
everywhere and at any time.
C. Learning The student-centered
facilitation conception seeing teaching
with mobile devices as an
alternative to facilitate
students’ understanding.
D. Supporting The constructivist-oriented
students to learn conception regarding
teaching with mobile devices
as a method to help
students learn actively.
devices increases more teaching media
that traditional classrooms would not
have. We can receive students’ feedback
immediately.”
“Teachers can use the mobile devices to
develop more teaching methods to
attract students to learn so that teaching
and learning is not limited to the
classroom. It can be extended to anytime
and anywhere for learning activities. For
example, we can develop some apps for
students to practice the relative
knowledge we teach.”
“We can use the assistance of mobile
devices to represent some abstract or
difficult units or concepts so that the
students can better understand those
units or concepts.”
“through the mobile devices, we can help
students not only enhance their learning
motivations and interest, but also
promote their cognitive and meta-
cognitive activities via the learning
practices. For example, we can design
game-based learning activities to add
more information and deeper content in
the eBooks, and the students can select
those parts to learn or review again if
needed.”

the conceptions in the achieved level imply individuals’ potential ideas. Therefore, it may be
encouraging that preservice teachers still have the potential to improve their instruction in a
more constructivist way.

The descriptive statistics of the quality of technology integration in lesson plans

The average scores and standard deviations of the quality of technology integration in lesson
plans are shown in Table 3. The results revealed that the teachers scored highest on the
“curriculum goals & technologies” dimension, implying that the teachers selected technologies
for use which are aligned with the curriculum goals. In addition, the teachers have higher scores
on all of the dimensions (above 2 on a 1–4 point), implying that the teachers’ quality of technol-
ogy integration in lesson plans has a high potential of supporting their teaching using mobile
devices.

Differences between teachers’ quality of technology integration in lesson plans and different levels
of conceptions
As shown in Table 4, when “main” conceptions were compared, no significant difference was
found in the criteria of “instructional strategies & technologies” (t 5 22.07, p 5 .07, d 5 0.84),
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Table 2: Distributions of the teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices

Conceptions Category Main Achieved

Traditional A 17 (36%) 8 (17%)

B 21 (45%) 12 (26%)
Constructivist C 5 (11%) 13 (26%)
D 4 (9%) 14 (30%)
Total 47 (100%) 47 (100%)

“technology selection” (t 5 21.86, p 5 .09, d 5 0.78), and “fit” (t 5 22.15, p 5 .06, d 5 0.87)
between teachers holding traditional conceptions and those acquiring constructivist conceptions.
According to Cohen’s (1988) categorization, d 5 0.2 is considered to be a small effect size; d 5 0.5
is regarded as a medium effect size; and d 5 0.8 is referred to as a large effect size. Hence, the
Cohen’s d for the three criteria ranging from 0.78 to 0.87 represented a medium to large effect
size. The result has indicated that, for the “main” conceptions, both teachers equipped with con-
structivist conceptions and those with traditional conceptions had high scores in the criteria of
“instructional strategies & technologies,” “technology selection” and “fit.”
Furthermore, significant difference was found in the criterion of “curriculum goals & tech-
nologies” (t 5 22.34, p < .05, d 5 0.97) between teachers holding traditional conceptions and
those acquiring constructivist conceptions. The Cohen’s d was 0.97, representing a large effect
size. It can hence be suggested that, for the “main” conceptions, participants’ constructivist con-
ceptions had a positive impact on enhancing teachers’ criteria of technology integration in lesson
plans only in the “curriculum goals & technologies” category. This implies that the teachers with
constructivist conceptions at the main level were more likely to have higher scores than those
with traditional conceptions which are aligned with the curriculum goals in the lesson plans.
Likewise, comparing the teachers’ “achieved” conceptions, significant differences were found in
the criteria of “curriculum goals & technologies (t 5 25.24, p < 0.001, d 5 1.52),” “instructional
strategies & technologies (t 5 22.90, p < 0.01, d 5 0.83),” “technology selection (t 5 22.68,
p < 0.05, d 5 0.77)” and “fit (t 5 22.05, p < 0.05, d 5 0.59)” of the teachers who held tradi-
tional and constructivist conceptions. Values of d, including 1.52, 0.83, 0.77 and 0.59,
indicating large, large, nearly large and medium effects, were found for the criteria respectively. It
can be inferred that, for the teachers’ “achieved” conceptions, constructivist conceptions had a
clearly positive impact on increasing all of the teachers’ criteria of technology integration in les-
son plans. It is suggested that the teachers with constructivist conceptions at the achieved level
were more likely to have higher scores than those with traditional conceptions which are aligned
with the curriculum goals, support instructional strategies, are appropriate, given curriculum
goals and instructional strategies, and fit with the content, instructional strategies and technol-
ogy together in lesson plans. In addition, the difference between Cohen’s d values for the criteria
of “curriculum goals & technologies” at the main level (t 5 22.34, p < .05, d 5 0.97) and

Table 3: The average scores and standard deviations of the quality of technology integration in lesson plans

Dimensions Mean SD

Curriculum goals and technologies 2.99 0.76

Instructional strategies and technologies 2.46 0.83
Technology selection 2.52 0.79
Fit 2.40 0.81

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Table 4: Means and SD of quality scores in the four criteria of technology integration in lesson plans and
type of conceptions of teaching using mobile devices

Curriculum Instructional
goals and strategies and Technology
Conceptions Type technologies technologies selection Fit

Main Traditional (n 5 38) 2.87 (0.77) 2.32 (0.72) 2.39 (0.68) 2.26 (0.71)
Constructivist (n 59) 3.50 (0.50) 3.06 (1.01) 3.06 (1.01) 3.00 (0.97)
t 22.34* 22.07 21.86 22.15
Cohen’s d 0.97 0.84 0.78 0.87
Achieved Traditional (n 5 20) 2.45 (0.67) 2.10 (0.58) 2.20 (0.59) 2.15 (0.54)
Constructivist (n 5 27) 3.39 (0.56) 2.72 (0.89) 2.76 (0.84) 2.59 (0.93)
t 25.24*** 22.90** 22.68* 22.05*
Cohen’s d 1.52 0.83 0.77 0.59

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

achieved level (t 5 25.24, p < .001, d 5 1.52) revealed that through the analysis of the “main”
and “achieved” levels, it is clearer to see that the constructivist conceptions at the achieved level
had a more positive impact on increasing the teachers’ criteria of technology integration in lesson
plans in “curriculum goals & technologies” than those at the main level.
In sum, based on our results in Table 4, teachers’ “achieved” conceptions are more closely linked
with their instructional strategies and practices than their “main” conceptions. As “main” con-
ceptions refer to the teachers’ most frequent idea and the “achieved” conceptions represent the
teachers’ highest hierarchy idea, it is important to investigate the teachers’ conceptions of teach-
ing at the achieved level in order to best understand the possible impact on their instructional
activities.

Discussion and conclusion

This study was intended to explore preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile
devices. Four qualitatively different and hierarchically related conceptions, namely “technology
support,” “knowledge transmission,” “learning facilitation” and “supporting students to learn”
were revealed with the implementation of phenomenographic analysis. The results indicate that
more than half of the participants held traditional conceptions (ie, technology support or knowl-
edge transmission) at the main level. Meanwhile, it was found that more than half of the teachers
embraced constructivist conceptions (ie, learning facilitation or supporting students to learn) at
the achieved level. As a result, it may be proposed that although most preservice teachers see
mobile devices as technology gadgets to transmit knowledge, they are aware of the fact that
teaching using mobile devices can facilitate and support students’ understanding, and thus make
them become active learners. This finding is consistent with the claim asserted by constructivist
theory, suggesting that educational technology or Web-based learning activities may provide
opportunities for learners to construct knowledge by themselves (Tsai, 2001). It is indeed impor-
tant for teachers to form such conceptions of teaching, so that they can potentially enhance their
instruction and assist students to learn in a more active way with the use of educational
technology.
Moreover, the relationships between preservice teachers’ conceptions and the quality of technol-
ogy integration in lesson plans were also found in this study. The results showed that the
teachers who had more constructivist conceptions at the “main” level only appeared to acquire
better quality of using mobile devices to align with the curriculum goals in the lesson plans. Most
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importantly, the teachers who had more constructivist conceptions at the “achieved” level
appeared to acquire better quality of using mobile devices to align with the curriculum goals, sup-
port instructional strategies and fit content, instructional strategies and mobile devices together.
These findings are consistent with the suggestions of Yang and Tsai (2010), and Tsai and Tsai
(2013) that the difference between conceptions at the main and achieved levels can let educators
and researchers explore the possibility of the zone of proximal development.
Research has investigated the relationships among teachers’ conceptions of teaching, approaches
to teaching and students’ learning in different educational contexts, and has provided consistent
results suggesting that teachers’ conceptions of teaching could affect their approaches to teaching
(Lee & Tsai, 2011; Roberts, 2003), and could affect students’ conceptions of and approaches to
learning (Gow & Kember, 1993). In those studies, researchers often used teachers’ main ideas to
represent their conceptions of teaching; that is, teachers’ conceptions of teaching were only iden-
tified at the main level and play an important role in their approaches to teaching and students’
learning. However, there has been inconsistency in the results on the relationships between
teachers’ conceptions of teaching and teaching practices (Eley, 2006). In fact, various factors
enhance or obstruct the relationships of teachers’ belief and practice (Basturkmen, 2012). For
instance, in Deng, Chai, So, Qian, and Chen’s (2017) study, they revealed that per-service chem-
istry teachers’ beliefs did not have a significant direct influence on their lesson planning. The
relationships between teachers’ beliefs and practices were mediated through their TPACK. Simi-
larly, this study found that teachers’ conceptions of teaching at the main level was only related to
their criteria of using mobile devices to align with the curriculum goals in the lesson plans. It
could be inferred that conceptions of teaching using mobile devices might be implicit to the pre-
service teachers. Due to their lack of teaching experiences with the use of mobile devices, they
could merely reflect the quality of technology integration on their lesson plans. This implies the
limitations of only analyzing teachers’ conceptions of teaching simply at the “main” level.
Most importantly, this study found that the teachers’ conceptions of teaching at the “achieved”
level related to their criteria of technology integration in lesson plans which reflect their TPK,
TCK, TPACK, along with the “fit” of selected content, teaching strategies and technologies consid-
ered together. That is, teachers’ “achieved” conceptions of teaching were more associated with
their teaching activities than with their “main” conceptions. Indeed, teachers’ beliefs about teach-
ing and learning are complex, but play primarily influential roles in their teaching practices
(Basturkmen, 2012; Deng et al., 2017). Many studies point out that the development of teaching
activities using mobile technology have challenged educators as well as teachers (Hwang et al.,
2017). For instance, in a study presented by Hwang et al. (2017), it was stated that school teach-
ers had developed better teaching practices in the mobile learning environments. Nonetheless,
relatively little research has been carried out in the field of mobile-enhanced instruction in
teacher education programs. Without doubts, with the rapid development of technology, the
trend of instruction with the use of mobile devices may be inevitable (Hwang & Tsai, 2011;
Sanchez-Prieto et al., 2017). Therefore, it may be advised that educators or researchers need to
help preservice teachers develop more advanced conceptions, such as the constructivist-oriented
conceptions revealed in the current study.

Limitations and future research

The present study has indicated significant relationships among preservice teachers’ conceptions
of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans. How-
ever, the current research has some limitations. At first, the present research merely examined
the relationships between preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and
their quality of technology integration in lesson plans. Nevertheless, their learning experiences
with mobile devices and their academic performances may have played a role in forming the
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conceptions of teaching. Moreover, based on the sample derived from Taiwan, the results were
related to a Taiwanese sample only. Undoubtedly, learning and teaching contexts may be varied
in different countries or cultures; consequently, future investigations in different countries or
instructional contexts are suggested. Besides, due to time constraints, each preservice teacher
only wrote one lesson plan and developed one teaching material (ie, eBooks and applications) in
the study, which may not completely represent the quality of technology integration in lesson
plans and reflect a teacher’s conceptions of teaching using mobile devices. As a result, it is sug-
gested that participants be encouraged to develop multiple lesson plans and teaching materials,
so that the relationships of beliefs and practices can be further explored. Finally, compared with
TIAR, the instrument developed by Koh (2013) seems to lack a clear coding criteria to evaluate
the quality of technology integration in lesson plans, despite the fact that both tools acquire suffi-
cient validity and reliability. However, neither of the assessments were not specifically designed
for the examination of the role of mobile devices; hence, the development of the relevant instru-
ment assessing mobile devices integration in lesson plans in particular is considered significant
for future research.

Acknowledgement
This study is, in part, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under grant
numbers of MOST 104-2511-S-027-002-MY2, MOST 106-2511-S-027-001-MY2 and MOST
106-2511-S-003-058-MY3.

Statements on open data, ethics and conflict of interest

The data of this study can be obtained by writing e-mails to the corresponding authors.
The participants in this study were protected by hiding their personal information. The only per-
sonal information asked were their gender, age and experiences of teaching with mobile devices.
There is no conflict of interest in this study.

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