TPACK????

Before I started with the study Educational Science and Technology, I had never heard from the TPACK-model. And maybe this is not very strange, because there are many other people who have never heard of the TPACK-model. But I am a teacher...

So before I give an explanation of the TPACK-model, I will share my experience with technology in the class. After that, I will try to explain what TPACK is. And for those people who are curious, in a next post on my weblog I will describe the added value of TPACK and maybe some negative points.

My own experience

Last year, I was a teacher at a primary school and I gave lessons to children from 5 and 6 years. I did use technology, such as the computer, a radio and a normal black board. Unfortunately I had no interactive whiteboard in my classroom, but as I said, I did use technology so I was very glad with that. During the course ‘Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology’ I figured out that I did not use technology on a effective way. I did not integrate technology in my lessons, but I used it when the children worked independently. So some children were sitting at the computer and worked with a program for mathematics and language. Other children were sitting in the ‘listen corner’. They played a game and got the instructions for this game by listening to the radio. And there were children who wrote words on the black board. But I did not integrate technology in my teaching. The only technology I integrated in my teaching was the black board. I used it to write words on it. And to be honest, even after following this course, I find it still difficult to really integrate technology in my teaching, especially when teaching young children. Of course, as a teacher you can use the interactive whiteboard that shows a digital picture book, and the teacher can ask questions about the content of that book. But this is a very simple form of integrating technology into your teaching.

What is TPACK?

I think when you ask people to give a definition of a good teacher, many people will answer that a good teacher must have knowledge of the subject he teaches. It is important that a teacher has enough knowledge about the content, the so-called content knowledge. Probably there are also people who say that a good teacher can transfer the knowledge on a right way to the students. That means that the teacher must know how a student think and learn. Based on that, he can choose which pedagogical approach will be used, for example collaborative learning, problem-based learning, traditional learning etc. (see my post ‘The art and science of teaching’). The so-called pedagogical knowledge. But I suppose that there are few people who say that a good teacher must have knowledge about technology. At least, it is not my first thought when I think of the definition of a good teacher. But the development of technology ensures that the knowledge and skills about technology becomes more important. So, it is important that a teacher has skills and knowledge about how to use technology. The so-called technology knowledge.

So, as you can read, I have described three types of knowledge. These three types of knowledge come together in the TPACK-model. And maybe you already noticed it, but TPACK is an abbrevation of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. Mishra and Koehler (2009) are the founders of the TPACK model, which is presented below.

(Source: http://www.tpack.org)

                     (I see that the model is not represented. If you click on the link the model will appear.)

A very important thing to notice are the areas that overlap eachother. Effective teaching depends on the integration of these three types of knowledge. When you integrate these three, there arise three new types of knowledge:

-         TPK (Technological Pedagogical Knowledge): How the pedagogical approach changes because of the use of technology or how the technology support the pedagogical approach. I think the example I mentioned before about using the interactive whiteboard to show a picture book belongs to this knowledge. The technology changes the normal pedagogical approach, that the teacher reads the book en the children are sitting in a circle and listen.

-         TCK (Technological Content Knowledge): How the content changes because of the use of technology, or how technology can support the content. By using the interactive whiteboard the teacher can easily show movies or pictures about any content. The technology changes the content. Without an interactive whiteboard there are not that many or different movies the teacher can show.

-         PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge): How particular aspects of the content are organized, adapted and represented for instruction. Sometimes it is better to use traditional learning as the pedagogical approach, because you teach something that is totally new for everyone. Another time the teacher chooses another pedagogical approach that best suits to that content.

Now I am at the point, where it is all about: TPACK. It is in the centre of the model, where all the different types of knowledge come together. A teacher shows TPACK when there is interaction among content, pedagogy and technology knowledge. It is a challenge to integrate these three types of knowledge. It is possible for a teacher to start with the content, and based on that content the teacher chooses a pedagogical approach and the technology. I think this is the most common way. But of course it is also possible to start with a pedagogical approach or with a specific technology. A very simple and short example in which TPACK is used: on a secundary school the students must make a powerpoint presentation (technology) about a part of the human body (content). They must do that in groups, which means collaborative learning (pedagogy).

Reference:

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