Week 2 - TPACK Blog

TPACK Blog

TPACK framework - Just another acronym or a great framework to facilitate learning???

To unpack the individual letters:

T - technology	Anything that is digital…  from the humble desk top and its seemingly out-dated PowerPoint’s, to the internet (social networks, blogs, Wikis, web sites, etc.) to cameras, tablets, gadgets, gizmos, blah blah blah... (anything that is on a kids Christmas list…)
P - pedagogy	The science of teaching.  Mmmm, really?? The further into this course I get I am starting to wonder if pedagogy is more of an art than a science.  As an environmental scientist, I’m very familiar with the development of a theory with subsequent testing or investigation to determine the validity of that theory.  The research or the experimental results then provide an outcome, a single outcome, a yes or no, a ‘this is how it is’, a full stop.  The ‘science’ of teaching seems to have too many variables, and possible outcomes, for my liking.  I am finding it really challenging (in a good way J).
A - and	I THINK THIS IS THE MOST IMPORANT LETTER OF THIS ACRONYM!!!! It is the ‘and’ that is the key to bringing these three components together.  It is the linking that provides the framework element to support an effective learning environment for learners.
CK - content knowledge	The ‘know your stuff’ component.  We are all here because we know our specialised field of study; we just need to learn how to teach it.

 

I guess that to fully explain the TPACK framework you would be amiss to not include the schematic developed by Shulman (1987) (Figure 1), that is everywhere on the web.  I feel that the most important element of this diagram is the outer circle where context is noted.  As with any method of delivering pedagogical content, it needs to be balanced and in context.  In context with: the material to be presented; the characteristics of the learners, to take into consideration their skills, attitudes and experiences; and the physical resources available at that time and place.

Figure 1

 

As with any good Google search, there is always the material to be weeded out.  When I found this defaced schematic I had a little smile and moved on, but afterwards I came back and had another look, and it’s more accurate than I first thought (Figure 2 (ites.ncdpi.wikispaces.net).  It is the fine balance and the appropriate use and integration of each component that provides the most effective learning tool.  These squiggles are more like how I’m envisaging the meshing together of technology, content knowledge and pedagogy than the simple symmetrical circles of Shulman (1987).

Figure 2 

 

A short aside:

Tonight I wrote the letters T, P, A, C, and K in the Google search window just to see what other perspectives were out there (note: I love Google), and one of the first items to come up was the YouTube video, “TPACK in 3 Minutes” (http://youtu.be/0wGpSaTzW58).  YouTube seems to be popular this week, as during our tute we also watched a video, “Wikis in Plain English” (http://youtu.be/-dnL00TdmLY).  Both of which I found to be quite ok and they gave a nice and easy to understand explanation for their individual topics.  The most interesting thing about them (and my long winded point here) is that they were videos of exactly what I would have seen my ‘old school’ teachers drawing, in real life, on the blackboard (yes, I am THAT old).  It makes me wonder just how far technology has really come, if we are simply watching a movie clip on the internet of people writing on a white board or playing with flash cards and printed pictures… I think that it inadvertently demonstrates the value of continued, more traditional, forms of ‘face to face’ teaching, while at the same time highlighting just how diverse the subject areas are on the internet and how valuable it can be when gaining knowledge.

 

Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform.  Harvard Educational   Review, 57(1), 1-22.