Technology and Teacher Preparation in Exemplary Institutions: 1994 to 2003

In a 1994 study commissioned by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Mergendoller, Johnston, Rockman, & Willis (1994) examined four exemplary institutions to identify their approaches to integrating technology into teacher education. A decade later, the field would benefit from a comparison of current approaches of infusing technology into teacher education to the 1994 findings. This study examines the approaches of the first seven teacher education programs to receive the ISTE NETS Distinguished Achievement Award. Current approaches to the process are outlined, including the identification of the key factors impacting their implementation. A comparison of the 1994 and the present study reveals that the systematic coordination of experiences in the teacher preparation program, a unifying theme throughout the program, and a shared vision of technology and teaching are instrumental and may help guide future efforts of technology integration into teacher preparation

Online Digital Archives Technology That Supports Rich, Student-Centered Learning Experiences

Today\u27s students watch the newest movie trailers on the Web, share music files, play video games with other players over the Internet, and swap digital pictures of the latest teen idols. Donald Tapscott points out in his book Growing Up Digital that as this rich multimedia experience becomes more a part of students\u27 lives outside of school, they will further expect this kind of experience in school as well

In Search of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Teachers\u27 Initial Foray into Podcasting in Economics

In this paper, we report on work with eight practicing ninth grade social studies teachers to determine how they chose to integrate podcasting to help their students build on their economic literacy, which includes building both economic concepts and skills. The study is rooted in an interpretivist research paradigm, using the Council for Economic Education\u27s National Voluntary Content Standards in Economics (1997) and Mishra and Koehler\u27s (2006) theory of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to frame data generation, analysis, and the reporting of results. We found that teachers demonstrated strong technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) but a lack of technological content knowledge (TCK) in the design and implementation of the podcasting projects. We argue that the lack of teachers\u27 content-based rationale for podcasting is a function of the universal nature of some digital tools, such as podcasting, in contrast to more specialized tools, such as computer simulations

TPACK Stories : Schools and School Districts Repurposing a Theoretical Construct for Technology-Related Professional Development

TPACK (Koelhler & Mishra, 2008), a theoretical construct that describes the knowledge that teachers use to teach with digital tools and resources, has flourished in university-­‐based teacher education and research. Increasingly, K-­‐12 schools and districts have also appropriated TPACK in their professional development efforts. This study of seven schools and districts explored how the TPACK construct was understood and used in these K-­12 organizations. Study results revealed the importance of context and professional culture in appropriating the construct; the use of TPACK as a way to connect disparate professional development initiatives; TPACK conceptualized as applied knowledge; and how educational leaders’ beliefs about professional development shape how TPACK is understood and enacted

The Construct is in the Eye of the Beholder: School Districts’ Appropriations and Reconceptualizations of TPACK

Despite debates about the specific parameters of its eight subcomponents, TPACK is generally understood within university-based teacher education communities as the knowledge needed to incorporate technologies—especially digital tools and resources—effectively in teaching and learning. How do professional development providers working within primary and secondary schools and districts conceptualize and operationalize TPACK? Our study of educational technology-related professional development in seven North American schools and districts in seven states/provinces found that educational leaders’ discussion and operationalization of the TPACK construct differs from that of university-based researchers in intriguing and important ways. In these organizations, TPACK was both appropriated to reconnect curriculum and pedagogy with educational technology use after prior technocentric professional development was found to be lacking, and reconceptualized to focus more upon practice than knowledge.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/bookchapters/1004/thumbnail.jp

TPACK Research with Inservice Teachers: Where’s the TCK?

Researchers are increasingly exploring the development and expression of experienced teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). While the majority of extant studies focus on evidence and growth of TPACK holistically, some have begun to distinguish teacher knowledge in TPACK’s subdomains, including technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological content knowledge (TCK). In reviewing this literature, one pattern has become apparent: teachers’ TPK is documented considerably more often than their TCK across studies that have disaggregated results according to these subdomains. This paper reviews the studies that together illustrate this trend, offering potential explanations and suggestions for further investigation.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/bookchapters/1009/thumbnail.jp

Planning For Deep Learning Using TPACK-Learning Activity Types

Teaching for students’ deep learning, while rooted in venerable 20th-century educational research and theory contributed by Vygotsky, Dewey, and others, is taking on a new urgency as heretofore theoretical depictions of 21st-century learning are being operationalized in K-12 classrooms. What is the nature of deep learning? What are the pedagogical roles and practices that encourage it? How can we help teachers to plan learning experiences for and with their students that encourage and support deep learning, incorporating the use of digital tools and resources in maximally effective ways? This chapter uses extant literature on deep learning, teaching for deep learning, and recent calls for teachers’ enhanced “pedagogical capacities” (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014) to argue for a reconceptualized use of TPACK-based learning activity types in educational planning for students’ deep learning

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) in Action: A Descriptive Study of Secondary Teachers\u27 Curriculum-Based, Technology-Related Instructional Planning

How does teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) inform their instructional planning? How can this knowledge be enhanced? In an interpretivist study of experienced secondary social studies teachers’ planning, we sought to discover clues to the nature and development of these teachers’ TPACK-in-action as it was expressed in their planning processes. Comparisons of interview data and planning products before and after engaging in professional development that addressed content-focused, TPACK-based learning activity types (Harris & Hofer, 2009) revealed three primary findings, each supported by participating teachers’ oral and written reflections upon their learning. The participating teachers’(a) selection and use of learning activities and technologies became more conscious, strategic, and varied; (b) instructional planning became more student-centered, focusing primarily upon students’ intellectual, rather than affective, engagement; and (c) quality standards for technology integration were raised, resulting in deliberate decisions for more judicious educational technology use

Open Educational Resources (OERs) for TPACK Development

We have developed customizable, modularized, TPACK-based online short courses that are designed to help elementary and secondary preservice teachers learn to plan technologically enhanced, curriculum-based lessons, projects, and units. We offer these multimedia materials to teacher educators internationally as open educational resources (OERs) via an attribution/sharealike Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) at http://activitytypes.wm.edu/shortcourse/. In our SITE 2016 presentation and in this paper, we introduce, explain, demonstrate, and discuss these TPACK-based OERs, and our aims in developing, using, and making them available to others. We hope that our efforts will catalyze more widespread sharing and adaptation of TPACK learning materials among teacher educators