TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Basically the integrating of content, curricular goals, materials, context, knowledge of students and technology. Technology is the latest component of the PACK framework. It is important that the technology piece is a key part and not just an add-on. Of course for school such as mine the technology piece is an add-on for the majority of teachers because the technology was placed in the classroom without a plan. In the paper Teaching & Learning with E-Readers: Promoting Deep Learning or Deep Trouble? by Nance Wilson (SUNY Cortland), Vicky Zygouris-Coe (University of Central Florida), & Victoria Cardullo(Auburn University) they mention the deep trouble districts encounter when TPACK is not used to bridge the emerging technology with content. They cite frustration, lost instructional time, and loss of student and teacher motivation as just some of the issues that occur when technology is just an add-on, when technology does not warrant professional development, when technology is just a term that administrators throw around to say, “Hey, look at us we have one to one technology.”
TPACK in my classroom is a work in progress. It is important to start with a goal and with the SAMR model in mind see where technology fits in. But the support and the time needed are not forthcoming from administration so the “deep troubles” will continue until I, on my own, trial and error, sift and reflect. And of course this Master’s Program has been a hugely important piece of TPACK in my classroom because this is what really put umph and goals and reflection behind technology in my classroom.
TPACK in my classroom is a work in progress. It is important to start with a goal and with the SAMR model in mind see where technology fits in. But the support and the time needed are not forthcoming from administration so the “deep troubles” will continue until I, on my own, trial and error, sift and reflect. And of course this Master’s Program has been a hugely important piece of TPACK in my classroom because this is what really put umph and goals and reflection behind technology in my classroom.