Michael Hardisky by Michael Hardisky

Purpose of Literature Review:

mphardisky — 2014-08-03 21:22:14 UTC

The purpose of the literature review is to obtain a better understanding of the TPACK framework, to determine if TPACK can be applied to a series of professional development sessions for veteran teachers and show measurable growth, and to ascertain if TPACK levels are content specific.

Topic Introduction:

mphardisky — 2014-08-09 15:31:18 UTC

When one considers the integration of technology in the teaching and learning environment of the 21^st century learner, one must also take into consideration the meaning of the term technology “integration”. Current literature defines integration in the context of the educational environment as a means of enhancing the delivery of content. However, there are researchers that disagree with this for mentioned definition. Researchers such as Javeri, M., & Chen, P. (2006), who discuss various barriers that hinder the application of technology integration in the teaching and learning environment, and discuss how a simple PowerPoint is not considered technology integration. With the looseness in which the term “integration” is being thrown around in literary studies, a clear and succinct framework needs to be considered in order to provide measurable parameters from which technology integration can be derived.

Research Questions:

mphardisky — 2014-08-09 15:32:08 UTC

1) What is TPACK?

2) How does TPACK improve the integration of technology in the teaching and learning environment?

3) What effects will the TPACK framework have when applied to a professional development session in an urban setting?

History of TPACK:

mphardisky — 2014-08-09 15:33:16 UTC

The roots of the TPACK framework are derived from Shulman's pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Shulman (1987) stated that teachers must develop a new knowledge base emerging from the relationship between content and pedagogy. Effective teaching requires more than isolated knowledge in content and in pedagogy. Shulman (1987) also stated that PCK represents the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular topics, problems, or issues are organized, and adapted to diverse interests and abilities of learners, and presented for instruction. Mishra and Koehler (2006) inserted the technology component into Shulman's PCK model to describe the relationship between technology and other components.

Terminology:

mphardisky — 2014-08-09 15:33:50 UTC

Technological Knowledge (TK): knowledge of technology tools.

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK): knowledge of teaching methods.

Content Knowledge (CK): knowledge of subject matter.

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK): knowledge of subject matter represented with technology.

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK): knowledge of using technology to implement different teaching methods.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK): knowledge of teaching methods with respect to subject matter content.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK): knowledge of using technology to implement teaching methods for different types of subject matter content.

Significance of the Issue: Why TPACK Needs Further Study

mphardisky — 2014-08-09 15:34:28 UTC

There seems to be a disconnect between the way new teachers are being taught and how they would like to teach. The only solace that new teachers seem to have is a gadget rich common ground that both teacher and student share. How can that new teacher utilize their commonality with the students to obtain success? How can the connection through technology better enhance the teachers learning environment and student achievement? It is important for one to take into consideration the application of this TPACK framework to that of the generational digital-divide. The technological knowledge of some of our veteran educators is considerably lower than that of our rookie teachers. Our veteran educators struggle to keep up with the ever-changing emergence of new technologies. Several studies have been done that looked at TPACK's application to pre-service teachers (Pamuk, S. 2012, Mouza, C., & Karchmer-Klein, R. 2013, Lin, T., Tsai, C., Chai, C., & Lee, M. 2013), but what about the educators that are currently in practice? How could the TPACK framework benefit these teachers?

Previous Research and its Limitations:

mphardisky — 2014-08-09 15:35:06 UTC

Previous research has looked at this framework from all different angles. Some researchers have compared pre-service teachers to in-service teachers, and some looked at pre-service teachers exclusively. Other researchers looked at the TPACK level of college professors, and yet others still, the application of TPACK to improve a mandatory educational technology course. During my review of the literature, I did come across three separate studies, each conducted exclusively on math, science, and social studies teachers. Nowhere in each of these studies was a comparison made across different disciplines. The limitations to all of these research studies seems to be the lack of subject specific (content-specific) pedagogy in relation to technology integration.

mphardisky — 2014-08-10 14:46:32 UTC

Synthesis / Gaps in the Literature:

mphardisky — 2014-08-10 15:58:36 UTC

After a review of the literature, the impact on teachers' TPACK development has yet to be thoroughly examined, which is a gap in TPACK research. It is also important to analyze these instructional strategies, because Niess (2005) found that teachers' TPACK development process was multi-faceted, it involved them acquiring technological skills, and creating pedagogical ideas for technology integration. Assisting the development of teachers' TPACK action in the classroom should emphasize the differences among learning activities in different content areas rather than their similarities. The focus in this approach is to plan instruction on content-based (and content-specific) pedagogy, which is facilitated by proper selection and implementation of technologies.

Video Explanation of TPACK:

mphardisky — 2014-08-10 20:34:07 UTC

mphardisky — 2014-08-10 20:41:24 UTC