TPACK in own words

‘TPACK in own words and a little bit help of Mishra and Koehler’

In the last course we talked about TPACK. I heard the term before and also in the course ‘Themes and Approaches’ I learned something about TPACK.

But what does it mean and why do we have a TPACK model.

Well, the TPACK model is based on an old model of Shulmans (1986/1987). He constructed a Pedagogical Content Knowledge:
But because technology gets plays a bigger role in education now, we needed to implement technology as well.

That’s what Mishra and Koehler did (2006). The constructed a TPACK model. That consist out of 3 components. Content and Pedagogy (like Shulmans model) and Technology.

The TPACK model will help teachers to think about all  the 3 components and how you can integrate them in your lessons.

That’s the question that needs to be answered. How can teachers integrate technology into their teaching?

But only think about how to integrate the 3 components with each other don’s lead to a good lesson. You need to look at the context where it all happens.

Here you see the TPACK model. And as you can see, around the 3 components the context is  been shown.

è First I will explain all the 3 components and then look deeper the relation with each other.

Content Knowledge

The content knowledge has everything to do with the content of the lesson. Sometimes you here the term Subject Matter. It’s about the knowledge of teachers about the subject matter or the content of the lesson. It’s important that teachers know about the content and that would include knowledge about concepts, theories, frameworks and evidence and proofs. When a teacher doesn’t have the comprehensive base of content knowledge the students may get the wrong information.

Pedagogical Knowledge

Pedagogical knowledge is about how students learn. It’s the knowledge about the processes and practices or methods of teaching and learning. It’s also about the aims of the lesson and the values. Teachers need to know how to work with the methods and the techniques in the classroom.

A teacher with a good pedagogical knowledge understands how the students construct their knowledge and how they acquire skills. Pedagogical knowledge requires an understanding of cognitive, social, and developmental theories of learning and how they apply to students in the classroom.

Technological Knowledge

Technological knowledge is the knowledge about ICT and how to work with it. As a teacher you need to know about all kinds of ICT opportunities and how you can use that to get information. This is always in development, because technology is also in development. New in the Technology world is the IPad. As a teacher you may need some information about it and always be updated.

Overall you need a functional understanding of technologies and skills to operate particular technologies.

è Now we described the 3 components. All the 3 components have a relation with each other and integrate with each other. We also have named those relations. I will describe the 3 relations.

Pedagogical Content KnowledgeThis kind of knowledge was also being explained by Shulman’s theory. Acoording to Shulman PCK is the transformation of the subject matter for teaching. So, teachers interprets the content and find his way to teach it. He should think about the prior knowledge about students and the instructional materials.  Also it’s about what students can add to the content.

Technological Content Knowledge

Technological Content Knowledge is the relation between technology and content. The choice of technologies affords of the content ideas that can be taught. But it can also be the other way around.

The teachers need to understand which specific technologies are the best for that specific subject matter. Teachers can make the lessons more interesting and funnier for the students.

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge is the understanding of how teachers can change their teaching and learning when technology is been used.  Teachers need to know about different pedagogical approaches and which will fits the technology that they are using. And off course the other way around.

Most technological programs like blogs or Microsoft Office aren’t made for education.

It’s for teachers a challenge to use those programs for education. Like Petra did with us. The use of blogs.

è Above we talked about the 3 different relation. But to get to TPACK we need to integrate the 3 component with each other.

TPACK: Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge

When we integrate the 3 components with each other we have TPACK. TPACK is the base of effective teaching with technology. As a teacher it is important to have an open attitude towards TPACK, so you can see the opportunities TPACK gives. Teachers need to develop themselves because there is no model for all lessons in a TPACK way. Teachers don’t focus on the 3 components, but just on the integration these 3.  A school need to give the teachers time to develop themselves, because you can’t use TPACK right away.

They need professional development and self-efficacy. Also teachers have to be motivated to develop.

Conclusion

Now we know what TPACK is. I’m curious about how it works in practice. Maybe I will search for some examples on schools and post it on my weblog.

First I want to give my opinion about TPACK.

I think it’s a good way to think about technology and a nice way to think about it in combination with content and pedagogy. But teachers need to know a lot more than just this model to implement technology in their lessons.

When you start to think about a lesson, you will directly go on with the TPACK. You forget to think about the Pedagogical Content Knowledge. When you are designing a lesson, is it necessary to think about all that or can you just begin with the TPACK? Maybe if you are familiar with this model. I don’t know.

What I’m sure about is that teachers need to develop them professionally on a technological manner. Some teachers won’t even use the whiteboard, because it is hard or maybe they think it is not necessary. I think that the use of technology is good. In my previous study I was working on a school and there the use the whiteboard for the subject physics. The children were changing cloths in the class and after that they watched a video about what they were going to do in the gym. The teacher placed the materials at the same way the video did. The video showed the location of the material and explained everything, like the teacher would do. When they watched it, they go to the gym and can start right away. You can also show the video a day earlier or when they ready with their work. It saves time and leaves more time to gym.

I never used a whiteboard, because my class didn’t have one. But I heard about the preferences and the nice things you can do. And the whiteboard is just a little technological tool you can use. Imagine you can use all kinds of technologies.

Literature

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.