TPACK (Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge)

WHAT IS TPACK?
TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. It is a theory that was developed to explain the set of knowledge
that teachers need to teach their students a subject, teach effectively, and use technology.

How the Concept Came About

The seminal piece on the TPACK model was written in 2006 by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler in “Technological Pedagogical
Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge".
They explain that their theory comes after five years of studying teachers at all different grade levels with design experiments to see
how their classrooms operated. They based their initial idea on Lee S. Shulman’s 1986 work “Those Who Understand: Knowledge
Growth in Teaching". First, Shulman discusses the usual idea of knowledge in teaching which is that teachers have a set of content
knowledge – specific knowledge about the subject they are teaching – and a set of pedagogical knowledge – knowledge about how
to teach including specific teaching methods. Shulman counters this and says that effective teachers overlap these two knowledge
sets, making a set of knowledge about how to effectively teach their subject matter. He calls this pedagogical content knowledge or
PCK.
Twenty years later, Mishra and Koehler saw that the biggest change happening in education is the use of technology in the
classroom. They noticed that technological knowledge was treated as a set of knowledge outside of and unconnected to PCK.

After five years of research, Mishra and Koehler created a new framework, TPACK, which adds technology to pedagogical content
knowledge and emphasizes the connections, interactions, and constraints that teachers work with in all three of these knowledge
areas.

First we have Shulman’s overlap:

Pedagogical Content Knowledge. This overlap reminds us that, as teachers, we design lessons based on how students can best learn
our specific course material. Another researcher, Rick Marks, said in 1990 that PCK “represents a class of knowledge that is central to
teachers’ work and that would not typically be held by non-teaching subject matter experts or by teachers who know little of that
subject.”

The second overlap area created is Technological Content Knowledge. TCK is how the technology influences the content.

The third overlap area created by our Venn diagram is Technological Pedagogical Knowledge. TPK highlights the area where
technology and pedagogy influence each other. Incorporating technology into the classroom often causes a change in how the
material is taught.
Finally, in the center of our Venn diagram, we get Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. This area acknowledges that all
three of these sets of knowledge are influencing each other, that each is important, and that to have an effective learning
environment, we need to consider all three.

How Can TPACK Be Used in the Classroom?

Keeping technology as a separate knowledge set causes problems, but when we understand the framework of TPACK, we can
integrate technology into the content and pedagogy of our classrooms. The integration will help our students learn more effectively.

TPACK framework, they should be open to certain key ideas, including:

1. Concepts from the content being taught can be represented using technology.
2. Pedagogical techniques can communicate content in different ways using technology.
3. Different content concepts require different skill levels from students, and edtech can help address some of these
requirements.

4. Students come into the classroom with different backgrounds – including prior educational experience and exposure to
technology – and lessons utilizing edtech should account for this possibility.
5. Educational technology can be used in tandem with students’ existing knowledge, helping them either strengthen prior
epistemologies or develop new ones.

Because it considers the different types of knowledge needed and how teachers themselves could cultivate this knowledge, the
TPACK framework thus becomes a productive way to consider how teachers could integrate educational technology into the
classroom.
The TPACK framework is useful for the ways in which it explicates the types of knowledge most needed in order to make technology
integration successful in the classroom.

TPACK Framework Three Primary Forms of Knowledge

Content Knowledge (CK)—what are you teaching and what is your own knowledge of the subject? For this lesson, you’ll need a solid
understanding of cell anatomy and processes.
Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)—how do your students learn best and what instructional strategies do you need to meet their needs
and the requirements of the lesson plan? In this case, you’ll need to understand best practices for teaching middle school science
and small group collaboration.
Technological Knowledge (TK)—what digital tools are available to you, which do you know well enough to use, and which would be
most appropriate for the lesson at hand? For this lesson, students will need to label a diagram and present, so the ability to fill in
blanks with an answer key, find images from the internet, create slides, etc. are important.

Why Is TPACK Important?

Most instructors and administrators recognize the benefits technology can have in the classroom—whether that be preparing
students for a technology-driven world or helping to simplify course, school, and district management. But too many view
technology as a silver bullet to the challenges they face. It’s sometimes assumed, consciously or not, that digital tools alone can
improve education. This is exactly why the TPACK framework is important. It’s easy to think that adding a great LMS to your class
strategy is going to enhance learning.

ASSURE MODEL (Analyze Learners, State Objectives, Select methods, Media and Materials, Utilize Media and Materials, Require
Learner Participation, Evaluate and Revise)

The ASSURE Model

is a guide in crafting an instructional flow that can guide the teacher in integrating appropriate technology and media into the
instructional process.
It als refers to a systematic approach that the teaher can use when writing an instructional plan.

Analyze Learners
Matching the characteristics og the learner with the content of the methods, media, and materials.
General Characteristics
- identify your learners
Specific entry competencies
- know what your learners are capabe of doing
Learning Styles
- how an individual perceives, interacts with and responds emotionally to the learning environment

Information processing habits

Concrete Random - lean toward a trial and error approach
 game
 simulations
 Independent study projects
 discoery learning
Abstract Sequential -learners decode verbal and symbolic messages adeptly
- Reading presentations
- Listening to presentations
Abstract Random- draw meaning from human mediated presentations respond to tone and style of speakers
- Group discussions
- Lectures with question answer periods
- videotapes
- television
State of the objectives
A statement of what will be achieved, not how it will be achieved.

Audience
- learning takes place when learners are actie, mentally processing an idea, or physically praticing a skill.
Behavior
- the verb describing the new capabilities that the audience will have after instruction
Conditions
- the performance that is to be observed by the learners
Degree
- the standard by which acceptable performance will be judged

Select Methods, Media, and Materials

selecting the most approprite way of delivering the lesson and using the applicable media or technology can effectively make
learners acquire understanding of the lesson or gain the competence desired.
Utilize Media and Materials
it is important to preview or use media and materials before your lesson, especially when using technology

It’s important to follow the 5 p’s

1.Preview the Technology , Media, and Materials
- it is necessary to carefully plan the materials to be used whether they are connected to the topic or not.
2. Prepare the Technology, Media, and Materials
- all materials to be used must be ready ahead of time
3. Prepare the Learners
- it is necessary to tell the student the puspose of of the study and how they will be evaluated. They should be informed how they
will be graded, if there is a homeword test
4. Prepare the Environment
- the classroom set up must be in order and sorroundings must be quiet so as not to disturb the teacher’s teaching and student’s
learning
5. Provide the Learning Experience
- here, the teacher will carry out the teaching in the lesson , it will be known if the planning that was done was followed and if the
tacher taught it successfully

Require Learner Participation

•Behaviorist Perspective
-learning is a process of trying various behaviors and keepingthose that lead to favorable results.
•Cognitivists Perspective
-learners build up a mental schemata when their minds areactively engaged in struggling to remember or apply a newconcept
or principle •Constructivists Perspective
-learning is an active process where knowledge is built on thebasis of experience
•Social Psychologists Perspective
-interpersonal communication as the social basis for knowledgeacquisition Active participation in the learning process enhances
learning .
Evaluate and Revise

•Assessment of Learner Achievement

-Did students learn what they were suppose tolearn?

•Evaluation of Methods and Media

-Were the instructional methods and materialseffective?

•Revision
-What changes need to be made in the lesson?