Bringing it all together: Meet TPACK

In the first three lectures of the course ‘Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology’ we focused on flexibility, pedagogies and technology. Last week I had a lecture about bringing it all together. Finally we talked about TPACK. In this blog I will try to explain what TPACK means and why it can help teachers to teach their subjects.

In figure 1 (source: http://tpack.org/) you see the TPACK model. This model shows four circles, three circles are standing in the middle and are connected with each other. The last circle stands for the context which is important for the teacher to think about.

Figuur 1: TPACK model (source: http//:tpack.org)

The TPACK model is based on the PCK model of Shulman (1986; in Koehler & Mishra, 2009). PCK stands for Pedagogical Content Knowledge. The PCK model describes how teachers’ understanding of educational technologies and PCK is interacting with each other to produce effective teaching. Koehler & Mishra (2009) added the T for Technology in this model and created TPACK. They added the T because they say that technology is moving so fast that it is important that a teacher has specific knowledge about this area and not only the basics that can be used in the classrooms.

But what does this TPACK exactly stand for? Let me explain the different parts of the model.

First we see the Pedagogical Knowledge (PK). A teacher needs knowledge about certain pedagogies that can be used in the class. You can think about Inquiry learning, problem-based learning or workplace learning (for an explanation about this please see an earlier post of me). But a teacher also has to know something about the prior knowledge of the student. Based on that prior knowledge he can make his lesson. Also the way of assessing is a part of the pedagogical knowledge.

Then we have the Content Knowledge (CK). This type of knowledge means that the teacher needs to know a lot about the subject that he teaches. When a teacher teaches geography for example it is important that he has knowledge about climates. He has to know what the differences there are and where the different kinds can be found.

To support the teacher in teaching there are several kinds of technology that the teacher can use. You can think about an online learning environment, simulations or cameras. It is important for the teachers that they understand the technology and that they have the knowledge and skills to work with it. That is the third inner circle in the model, Technological Knowledge (TK). This is the part of the circle were the teacher can develop skills to work with technologies. But it also has to give the teacher full understanding of the technologies and the ability to learn and adapt new technologies. In that way the teacher is up-to-date and can integrate technology in his lessons.

Those three circles are related to each other. You can see that they are connected with each other in different ways, namely:

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) à This is how pedagogies change because of ICT

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) à How particular aspects of subject matter are organized, adapted and represented in the lesson

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) à How subject matter changes because of ICT

And finally we have TPACK in the centre of the model. TPACK stands for Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge and goes beyond all the three components I have discussed above. This means that all the knowledge that is important for a teacher is connected in TPACK. So TPACK is an understanding in which interaction between content, technology and pedagogy is reached. But reaching TPACK isn’t an easy job. This is because there isn’t one combination that works best for all the different subjects, teachers and the way a teacher teach.

So it is hard to reach TPACK, but I think that it is important that a teacher tries to reach TPACK and that the teacher also get the support to reach it. And by working together it is possible to reach TPACK.

Koehler, M., J. & Mishra, P. (2009) What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Eduaction, 9(1), pp. 60-70.