TPACK Reflections

I had the opportunity to read and evaluate two different research papers concerning Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge.  The first paper describes what exactly TPACK is and the pieces that make up the system.  The second paper discusses preservice teachers compared to expert teachers and how TPACK affects the classroom environment. I was also privileged enough to watch a video on YouTube about Khan Academy. It is a technology system that helps aid in the educational success for all students.

The first paper entitled Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content and Learning Activity Types: Curriculum-based Technology Integration Reframed by Judith Harris and Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler.  This paper breaks down what TPACK is and how teachers use it in the classroom. “TPACK emphasizes the connection among technologies, curriculum content, and specific pedagogical approaches, demonstrating how teachers’ understandings of technologies, pedagogy, and content can interact with one another to produce effective discipline-based teaching with educational technologies” (Harris 397). Teachers must apply TPACK to their classrooms in an effective way.  When doing activities, the teacher should incorporate TPACK. It encompasses understanding and communicating representations of concept using technologies, appropriate pedagogical techniques are required to teach content in different ways to students of different learning needs, knowledge of what makes lessons easy or difficult to learn all while incorporating technologies. I believe TPACK is an effective system to keep teachers on track of what they need in his or her curriculum.

The second research paper I read is entitled WebPack: Future Teachers’ Plans and Practices with Emerging Tools by Ugar Kale, Cheng-Hsien Wu, and Christopher Clausell.  In this research I discovered there are many useful Web tools out there to aid any teachers in teaching about a specific subject. There are websites where students can access and gain knowledge or there are apps and games where students can relearn, practice, or discover new ways of learning.  No child learns the same so to have options on how to teach with technology is a great aspect to preservice and veteran teachers. This review on TPACK goes into more depth about the technologies that cosine with grade level. Majority of elementary school teachers use Classroom Tools such as smart boards, clickers, and projectors.  These items are convenient for the teachers to display work or the activity for the day.

Speaking of convenience, the Web Tool YouTube is very helpful. I looked up a Khan Academy video on physics.  The tool uses many different ways of relaying a message.  The person is talking; giving step by step instructions but also giving visual in a multitude of color.  This video was effective in teaching me the unknowns of physics and how to use the equations.  The break downs and explanations opened my views on how physics can actually be worth learning.

Technology is a useful resource that students enjoy learning from and with.  I would allow my student to use all types of technologies to see what technology best fits his or her learning needs.