Mishra et al. (2006) presented a framework that to me makes sense. When I started working as a trainer for technology in 2008/2009, I didn’t know that this was a theory – but the idea that we would train teachers on specific technologies, like Blackboard or YouTube or whatever the software-du-jour was made no sense to me. I always pushed back on this idea that if you know how to use the software, then you can teach your students to use it. None of the training I received to train others ever focused on a pedagogical underpinning of why the technology should be implemented. And this of course, led to a lot of resistance from instructors to adopt and adapt technology into their classroom. The biggest pedagogical reason that was offered is that it would help students get jobs; and that idea was at odds with the purpose of a college education, which was to learn to think and become well-rounded so you could would, but not be trained for a job.
TPACK centers the instructor in the conversation, and in turn, the instructors are supposed to center the students so they can deliver the best content using the most reasonable technology to get the job done. In a lot of the work and discourse around technology, students are centered – educators want to know about their perceptions, their learning, their motivation, etc. as it’s influenced by technology. This discourse has also dominated my professional academic career. We are always measuring how X effects student learning – but rarely do we stop to ask how X effects teaching. So, TPACK re-centers this idea in powerful ways.
For my additional article on the topic this week, I read about TPACK and Generative AI (Mishra et al. 2023). This article attempts to re-center the discourse around generative AI from: How to do we stop students from cheating? to How do we create learning spaces that leverage this technology that is not going away? How do we adapt teaching to the changing educational landscape? And again, the instructor’s work is re-centered.
Education is cognitive work. Educators strive to help their students build their own content knowledge in areas so they can adapt it to their future needs. TPACK provides a way for instructors to be intentional about the use of technology in their classroom to maximize benefits for their students. One thing that I found compelling in Mishra et al. (2023) is the idea that if educators are intentional about the deployment of Generative AI into learning spaces, they don’t need to police student use – which is a futile effort anyway, since AI detection software is unreliable. TPACK provides a lens for intentionality that I really find valuable as a student, instructor, and administrator when it comes to technology implementation.
References
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for integrating technology in teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.
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