Week 2 - TPACK Unpacked!

Hi everyone!

So Week 2 of E-Learning saw us exploring digital pedagogy and some of the new learning design frameworks that have arisen in response to the growth in technology across our globe.

I want to look at the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) learning framework in detail today and try and unpack what it means for us as teachers - in plain English!

In it's original form, the TPACK learning framework was actually called the PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) learning framework. In essense, this original framework highlighted the importance of teachers having reliable content knowledge, as well as a sound understanding of the ways in which to deliver content so students learn effectively (pedagogical knowledge). Sounds pretty spot on right?

As Mishra and Koehler (2006, p. 1020) point out however, the PCK framework was really only appropriate for the education era that focused primarily on the content knowledge of the teacher, and in more recent years, the era which placed importance on having good teaching pedagogy rather than just good content knowledge.

We have now entered the 21st century education era, and whilst excellent content knowledge and teaching pedagogy are still two crucial components of successful teaching, they are not enough to meet the needs of today's students. As we have explored in my previous posts, the rapid growth in technology over the past decade has dramatically changed the world we live in - and also the way teachers must teach. We as teachers have access to a range of technological tools (eg: Wikis, Blogs, Prezi, Glogster, Movie Maker - we will explore some of these in my next posts) that can enhance our students' learning and help them access the curriculum through a means they are familiar with and love!

But for teachers to be able to use these ICT tools in the classroom they must have the technical skills to make them work. Furthermore, they need to have the pedagogical knowledge to know what type of ICT tool is best for teaching a particular concept. This is why the original PCK learning framework was transformed into the TPACK learning framework. Educators now understand that it is a mix of sound content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge that make for excellent learning design.

Here is a visual of how TPACK works:

To finish my TPACK unpacking, I want to give you an example of what TPACK looks like in action.

You are teaching a grade 7 class and the content you are exploring is in the English sub strand of 'Responding to Literature' (Australian Curriculum).

The content descriptor you are focusing on states - 'Reflect on ideas and opinions about characters, settings and events in literary texts, identifying areas of agreement and difference with others and justifying a point of view'.

So now that you have identified what content knowledge is required, you need to decide on the technology and pedagogy you are going to use.

Technology - Have your students create a blog (via Blogger) where they can post reflections about their opinions of the characters, settings and events in the text (this could be done periodically after reading every chapter). Have the students read their peers' posts and comment on whether they agree/disagree with their views about the book and justify their opinions. At the end of reading the text, have students write a final blog post highlighting their end viewpoint of the book and whether their viewpoint had changed from start to finish.

Pedagogy - To assist your students to achieve deep understanding and knowledge (see Productive Pedagogies) through their blog posting, provide a series of scaffolding questions for them to answer based on the Bloom's Taxonomy model.

For example:

Remembering - What has happened in the story so far? Describe the events that have occurred?

Understanding - Discuss your ideas and opinions about the characters you have met? Do you identify with any of them? Why/why not?

And so on.

For me TPACK is certainly the perfect recipe for effective learning design - add one cup of good content knowledge, one cup of great teaching pedagogy and one cup of technological skill and whala! You've got one great learning experience coming right up :)

Talk soon guys :)

Sarah

______________________________________________________________________

References:

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Retrieved from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf

Image Acknowledgement:

TPACK Cartoon - http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/blog/2009/04/30/taking-tpack-in-new-directions/

PCK Venn Diagram - http://www.corndancer.com/vox/gnosis/artcls_037054/gno_now038.html

TPACK Diagram - http://maine.edc.org/file.php/1/oer/math_DTPACKimg.html

Huckleberry Finn - http://www.bookperdiem.com/2011/02/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn.html