Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
This blog is in response to he article Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Learning Activity Types: Curriculum-based Technology Integration Reframed by: Harris. I agree with others who posted in the VoiceThread that this article summed up our class really well, but it also could have been a great introduction to the purpose of the class. Focusing on our content areas and ways that technology can support them and great pedagogy is so much more useful than finding ways to use technology just for the sake of using technology.
The article states that often the training involved with using technology is too “technocentric”, meaning that there is little attention given to the interplay between technology, pedagogy, content and context. The authors discuss a framework they recommend that uses TPACK: technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in order to better integrate technology instruction that is more meaningful for students. Each of these areas is essential areas of knowledge for teachers to teach effectively using technology. The weakness of this “technocentric” approach is stated as forgetting two essential aspects of teaching- content and pedagogy. The focus is all on the technology with little learning taking place in a meaningful way.
I know I have said this before, but I have noticed this with any training I’ve had with technology (besides this course). The training revolves around how to use the technology and not why we should use it or the learning gains students can make. This course is different because we can practice with the technologies and see how others in a variety of teaching contexts use different technologies. I also hadn’t looked at the technology standards before this course.
The discussion on technological knowledge was interesting to me because it says that it is always in a “state of flux” which makes defining what “technological knowledge” is so difficult. I used to have “technological knowledge” compared to my colleagues just because I was younger, but I am loosing my edge as I focus on content and pedagogy and grad school. It is a hard balance to keep. After reviewing many software and technology applications and the research behind a few of them I can see that the goal of adding technology into the classroom isn’t to entertain students or just to be novel; the goal is to engage students in social learning and in the social construction of knowledge. It is a blessing to work in a school and in a district that supports technological advances and trials and errors by teachers. I have the supports in place to try new things with my students and a great group of students this year to be my lab rats (I teach psychology…).
I come again to the end of a course where I have gained many new ideas for change in my classroom and I have to make everything fit together in a way that is useful for me and for my students. There seems to be too many resources for me to sift through, but each week is a new week and each schoo
l year is a new year. I can try new things and craft my teaching practice each year to make it better and better. Not many other professions can say that.
From apscms.net. This graphic summarizes the ideas in the article about needing all parts of TPACK.
The Wiki Way of Learning
Learning about how wikis can show student thinking and allow for reflection and problem solving has helped me to see the benefits of wiki in the classroom. Before reading this article I was ignorant about how beneficial wikis because they allow students to learn from each other, which is the best way to learn. Wikis allow collaboration, co-construction and demonstrates different ways of learning. There is no expert in a wiki, only collaborators constructing knowledge together.
Wikis provide a quick way for students to construct knowledge socially in an authentic way and provide them the space to reflect on their thinking and how their thinking has changed. Ruth (2004) says that students will be more engaged in learning if they can get help from teachers and other students and if they feel that the task is meaningful. Knowing why a wiki is used is so much more important to me than knowing how they are used. I am looking forward to seeing more examples of wikis working in science and psychology classes to implement the same ideas and wikis for reviewing major concepts in my classroom.
Social and cooperative learning have been shown to be more beneficial to a diverse group of students. Wikis may be another way I reach out to underserved students.
(from abpc.wikispaces.com)
The graphic compares collaboration via email with wiki
