TPACK in education

This week we have been working with the topic “TPACK”. In order to describe our work, we are going to explain what we know about TPACK.

As a summary, we can say that Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is the complex interaction between the knowledge of technology, pedagogy and content. Also, the goal is the integration of the use of technology for future teachers.  At the heart of the TPACK framework, it is the complex interplay of three primary bodies of knowledge: Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK), and Technology (TK). As it must be clear, the TPACK framework builds on Shulman’s idea of Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

Nowadays TPACK is growing in the scholar framework.

To achieve an effective teaching it is needed a good access to technologies and knowing very well the content of each subject which the teachers have to teach. TPACK is not a new idea. Other scholars have argued that good teaching requires an understanding of how technology is related to the pedagogy and content.

Mishra and Koehler (2006) argued that “TPACK was derived from three key knowledge sources i.e. technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK)”. There are two viewpoints about TPACK’s epistemological nature. The first one is the transformative viewpoint as one where TPACK was a synthesis of TK, PK and CK, so that the influences of each have to be interrelated. On the other hand was the integrative viewpoint, where TPACK did not exist as a unique body of knowledge; but it was a simple combination of TK, PK, and CK that came about during teaching. There is another transformative viewpoint where TPACK exists as a unique body of knowledge.

Firstly, Technological Knowledge (TK) refers to the knowledge about various technologies, to apply them in class. Secondly, Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) refers to the teacher’s knowledge about the practices, methods and strategies of teaching and learning. Thirdly, Content Knowledge (CK) refers to the teacher's knowledge about the subject which is being taught.

Technological and Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) is the relationship which refers to the understanding of how teaching and learning can change when technologies are used. The second relationship we find is (PCK) Pedagogical and Content Knowledge refers to the knowledge of pedagogy which teachers apply to teach a specific content. The third relationship is (TCK) Technological and Content Knowledge which refers to the understanding of the manner in which technology and content influence one another. Finally, (TPACK) Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge, is the relationship among all the components. TPACK framework has offered several possibilities for promoting research in teachers’ education, teachers’ professional development, and teachers’ use of technology.

Now that you know the basic description about TPACK, we are going to explain the last class of Organization we had last Monday. The Star of each group explained to the class what they know about TPACK. We will do a little assessment of each group:

THE EIGHT TEACHERS: The poster was very original with the different stickers which were put by the Star of the group, Alba. She explained the theory and at the same time she added new information.

BRAIN STORMING: What we liked the most of this group was that the Star of the group, Rosana, contextualized the concept of TPACK. She explained the history.

TEACH LEADERS: This group had two Stars, Nerea and Gloria. They were fluent during the exposition and we enjoyed it a lot.

GIVE ME SEVEN: The Star, Javi, explained the theory very clear. The exposition of the group was related to the practiced we did on the previous week. He used some images to explain TPACK.

EDUCATION RUSH HOUR: Carmela, the Star of this group, was very original because she used a lot of examples in order to explain better the concept of TPACK.

STEP BY STEP: Yolanda was the Star of the group. She explained the theory very clear and she accompany the explanation with examples of the subjects we studied the previous semester.

HIDE AND SEEK: It was original, because it had relief. The explanation of the Stars, Rosa and Ana Cristina was fluent and they explained well what they wanted to say.

C’MON TUTANKMON: We liked very much this presentation because the Stars of the group, Lola and Carolina, explained the theory as if we were children of primary education. In this way, the explanation was perfect.

On the other hand, some of the Stars must speak loudly in order to listening to them better. Most of the Stars had learned the explanation by heart and also they did not talk about the context of TPACK.

Finally, if you do not have clear the concept of TPACK, we are going to upload a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2sD3K3daq8

To sum up, we learnt a lot about TPACK because we did not know what it was and we enjoy it a lot.

See you soon.