TPACK as a guide for new technology

TPACK has been presented by Mishra and Koehler (2006) as a way of organising the requirements for incorporating new learning technologies into the learning design process. TPACK allows educators to conceptualise and organise the knowledge and skills that are required for successful learning design. Mishra and Koehler (2006) and Bower et al (2010) place emphasis within the TPACK conceptualisation on the intersection between technical, pedagogical and content knowledge as the location for the successful integration of new learning technologies (See: http://tpack.org/tpck/images/tpck/a/a1/Tpack-contexts.jpg).

In Bower et al’s (2010) article they have utilised Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching and Assessing with it’s knowledge and cognitive process dimensions to illustrate an approach that aligns task focused teaching activities with student thinking processes to assist in the design for on-line learning.

The knowledge dimensions are; factual knowledge - elementary disciplinary based information for problem solving; conceptual knowledge such as higher order schemas, categorisation hierarchies, and explanations; procedural knowledge – such as the application of processes; and meta-cognitive knowledge – or understanding of the social self. Cognitive processes include: remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating.

The pedagogical approaches considered by Bower et al (2010) relate to the level of negotiation between educator and student and the expectation of creative production including: a transmissive approach in which information is streamed to students; a dialogical approach in which examples are discussed and ideas exchanged; a constructionist approach in which development occurs by individuals creating an item; a co-constructionist approach whereby groups of student collaborate to produce item/s for assessment and learning.

In adopting this approach a particular technology is selected by first pre-planning the requirements for the learning design by reviewing the learning aims and objectives. This requires careful consideration of the desired outcomes of the course. The design process would then entail consideration of the type of content that would be represented, the type of pedagogy to be adopted, and the preferred ‘modality of representation’. Using a structure design approach would assist in ensuring that the technology was not leading the learning design process and introducing unwanted limitations into the learning environment.

References:

Bower, M., Hedberg, J.G., Kuswara, A., 2010, A framework for Web 2.0 learning design, Educational Media International, Vol. 47, No. 3, September 2010, 177–198

Mishra, P., Koehler, M.J., 2006, Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017–1054.