Alittle piece of the summer!! A blog entry exploring how Henrico County Schools System has adopted the TPACK model for staff development and 21st century learning. Provides examples of how to integrate technology and provides resource examples.
"Henrico County Schools System has adopted the TPACK as the Framework for professional development and 21st Century Learning in the Henrico County Schools System. Henrico County is one of the largest and earliest districts to pioneer and implement a one-to-one initiative. They have adopted this model as its conceptual framework to guide their progress towards the 21st Century Learning."
1:1 at Burlington High School. Check out the last example: It looks a lot like our final digital story project, only for high school students. Reflection is an important tool at any stage of education, and it is one we often forget.
This is what I get...TPACK emphasises the connectivity of technology, pedagogy and content. What I don't get is the "how to" and "the part I play." The article is quite detailed about the "how to" of TPACK but is also very confusing. However, other articles seems to ramble on about the "what is" of TPACK. How does this model add to what we already know about technology integration? OR Is it just structuring what we already know about technology integration? What is the fundamental thought behind the concept of TPACK?
As an ESL teacher, this is the type of article I definitely wanted to find. This paper discusses new literacy practices that can be enabled through "the creative repurposing of digital technologies" as the author calls it. The article supports the idea of teachers as designers of curriculum, who "repurpose" existing technical tools for pedagogical purposes. And, all is focused on literacy practices. Definitely, a clearer view of integration between technology, pedagogy and content.
I think the best place to start when thinking about incorporating technology into the classroom is by asking the question, “What is the right tool for this particular job?” Sometimes it’s a digital tool and sometimes it’s not. But when we force a digital tool into a classroom scenario where it isn’t the best one for the job, students are extremely quick to pick up on this “tech for tech’s sake” implementation.
And the faster and more intense our connectedness becomes, the further we move away from that ideal. Digital busyness is the enemy of depth.”
Instead, if used in a dynamic way that addresses the medium’s strengths, mobile media can actually get us to engage with each other and with the spaces we move through in deep, meaningful, and context-rich ways.
It is apparent that the students often shift between the two classroom spheres. Does this “distraction” take them away from engaging with the content I’m presenting? Quite the contrary. From my experience, they are engaged with the material that is being discussed in a much more sustained way because the devices that have typically severed as “distractions” in the past (e.g. using the laptop or the mobile phone to access Facebook) are now being utilized to constantly engage them with the material.
The quiz began with a QR code posted on my office door (I started here so they would all know where my office was located!) that led them to a download of the 7scenes app.
from Broadcastr to Foursquare
When they arrived to class on the day of the field test, we all went geocaching around campus.
The three groups each decided to create fictional narratives and used a range of mobile media from websites designed for the iPad, geocaches that contained narrative elements, and one group even built a reverse geocache that held the contents of the story.
Soon, if it hasn’t happened already, every teacher in higher education will have to develop a strategy for mobile phone use in the classroom (whether that be to integrate the technology or to ban it).
Key links: TPACK wiki | TPACK Newsletter | Key pubs: Mishra & Koehler 2006 | Koehler & Mishra 2008 Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), builds on Shulman's idea of PCK, and attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge.
I actually watched each of the presentations (I only bookmarked the first) because they were all so entertaining and thought-provoking. I especially like the history of technology (e.g. oral to writing to print) and the threats each was perceived to have on the previous. I wonder if showing these to teachers might introduce our county's "21st century learning" initiative and the need for the "less than willing" to embrace constantly changing technology.
This website provides basic info and good breakdown of what TPACK is and why it is necessary for educators. It was created by a professor of education.
The most effective teaching through technology is where the complex interconnectedness of all three knowledge constructs meet: technology, pedagogy and content
This article is a description of all the aspects of TPACK. There are a few interesting points made in this about the importance of flexibility when considering the TPACK model. I also liked the BNIE activity structure.