Instructional+Planning+Activity+Types+as+Vehicles+for+Curriculum-Based+TPACK+Development

Article by: Judi Harris & Mark Hofer, College of William & Mary in Virginia ED 240 Wiki Group: Innovators - Ben Ku, Crystal Kreisel, Ryan Madden, & Sarah York =Introduction: TPACK= toc

Traditional curriculum planning combines content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge but today’s teachers need to include technological knowledge, if they wish to engage students. The educators of today are teaching twenty-first century learners and there is a need to successfully integrate technology into classrooms.

TPACK, **T**echnological, **P**edagogical, **A**nd **C**ontent **K**nowledge, is a specialized, highly applied knowledge that supports content-based technology integration.

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TPACK is a combination of pedagogical content knowledge (how to teach the content), technological content knowledge (how to select and use technologies to teach the content), and technological pedagogical knowledge (how to use the technology while teaching).


 * In 1986, 1987, Lee Shulman proposed the idea of “Pedagogical Content Knowledge” (PCK). Shulman proposed that an effective teacher not only has both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, but knows how they interact.


 * In 2006, 2008, Matthew Koehler and Punya Mishra proposed that there’s a lot of technology out there (TK), but teachers don’t know how to use it to support learning a particular content. Koehler and Mishra argued that technology should not just be incorporated into instruction, but integrated to support learning.


 * In 2009, Judi Harris and Mark Hofer said that TPACK is developed through examining classroom activity types. Activity types are selected by the type of learning to take place, and technology is selected to best build knowledge through the activity.

=Instructional Planning=

Merely using technology is not the same as integrating technology into instruction. Some instructors who want to incorporate technology into their curriculum, begin the instructional planning process with the activities and technology they want to use. This results in a “technocentric” approach to teaching, which focuses on the technology used rather than the learner. Instead, technology integration involves an intentional selection of activity types that support the learning goals.

Instructional planning using TPACK is not different from traditional planning; it just calls for using digital technology when making instructional decisions. Instructional planning is:
 * Situative: instructors need to consider the classroom’s social environment, particularly the interactions of students that support learning.
 * Contexual: instructors need to consider the background of the students, including language ability, cultural background, and prior knowledge.
 * Activity-Based: instructors need to select appropriate learning activities that support learning goals.
 * Routinized: instructors need to plan learning activities in the context of the norms and routines in the classroom.

There are five basic decisions that instructors make in planning a learning experience:
 * Choose learning goals
 * Make practical pedagogical decisions to determine the parameters of the learning experience
 * Select appropriate activity types that will form the learning experience
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Select assessment strategies that evaluate what and how well students are learning
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Select tools and resources for students to benefit from the learning experience

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Once the learning goals have been established and pedagogical decisions have been made, the attention to the selection of activity types become the foundation of how to build a teacher’s TPACK. Teachers should plan a learning experience around curriculum-specific, technology-enhanced learning activity types.

=Developing TPACK Using Learning Activity Types=

Learning Activity Types serve as a planning tool for teachers, each type capturing what is most important about the structure of the activity in relation to what students do when engaged in it. Teachers can combine the use of different activity types for a subject, as well as share them with other educators around the globe. As teachers become more familiar with the kinds of technology-enriched learning activity types, they can utilize them with ease to create meaningful lesson plans. It is important to note that while traditionally teachers are taught to first choose or consider a technology and then plan their lesson accordingly, the TPACK method requires that the content of the lesson be planned with careful thought and precision, following with a technology choice to accompany it.

Activity Types Taxonomy
There are three main types of activity types:


 * Knowledge Building
 * Convergent Knowledge Expression
 * Divergent Knowledge Expression

(**1) Knowledge Building** involves tasks that focus on building content and processing knowledge

Examples: //Reading text, viewing images, research (data-based or artifact based inquiry), listening to audio, conducting an interview, etc.//


 * (2) Convergent Knowledge Expression ** utilizes Convergent thinking, a process in which a teacher wants students to all arrive at the same conclusion from one or more different approaches.

Examples: //Answering questions, creating a timeline, creating a map, completeing charts or tables, completing a review activity//

**(3) Divergent Knowledge Expression** can be written, visual, or conceptual in nature.

Examples of Written: //writing an essay, writing a report, generating a historical narrative, crafting a poem, creating a diary// Examples of Visual: //creating an illustrated map, creating a picture/mural, drawing a cartoon// Examples of Conceptual: //developing a knowledge web, generating questions, developming a metaphor// Examples of Product-Oriented: //producing an artifact, building a model, creating a newpaper or magazine, creating a film, creating a game//

Combining Activity types
Using more than one activity type provides students with the opportunity to address multiple curriculum standards simultaneously and in more varied and engaging ways. The number of combined activity types reflects complexity, amount of structure, and planned types of learning. Teachers must structure their learning types and content goals off of the learning needs and preferences of their students.


 * Combining 1 to 2 Activity Types: produces a class time-efficient and structured activity, comprised of mostly convergent learning activities
 * Combining 2 to 3 Activity Types: produces a class time-efficient but longer activity that is flexibly structured and can have more divergent activities
 * Combining 3 to 5 Activity Types: produces a medium-term, somewhat structured but both convergent and divergent exploration of content
 * Combining 5 to 8 Activity Types: produces an experience of variable length that is somewhat structured and usually more divergent exploration
 * Combining 6 to 10 Activity Types: produces a learning experience of rather flexible duration, structure, and content and process goals. It is very long and complex, and should be used relatively infrequently for classroom

=Example Unit=

What does an instructional plan identified by its activity type look like? An example unit is provided by the authors of the article and was created in collaboration with local social studies teachers. In an instructional unit on the Civil War, two 6th-grade history teachers developed a project requiring their students to create video documentaries about a person or key event in the war.

The purpose of this project was to build student understanding of the Civil War that went beyond factual knowledge, encouraging students to analyze the war through multiple perspectives of people who had experienced it first hand. These documentaries were to be written as a narrative about their chosen historical figures, with the focus uncovering the “defining moment” in that character’s experience with the war.

The teachers defined three phases of the project:
 * 1) **Research** - students access textual documents, in print and online, to compile information. Students also used these resources to scan and download pictures for their video.
 * 2) **Writing** - students draft scripts, getting feedback from parents at home and the teachers in class.
 * 3) **Production** - students build a paper-based storyboard for their film, select music, sound effects, titles, and transitions. Students create their film using Microsoft Moviemaker.

After finishing production, the student films were screened in class. The teachers who designed this instructional activity incorporated eight social studies activity types including:
 * reading text
 * viewing images
 * researching
 * answering questions
 * historical weaving
 * creating a diary
 * engaging in historical role play
 * creating a film

The teachers chose both digital and non-digital tools for students based on students’ equitable access in class and at home. Teachers used the three phases of the project to gather formative assessment and provide feedback to students, while the final product was used as a summative assessment.

=Try It!=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Develop your TPACK by practicing selecting activity type(s) that support your learning goals! []
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Step 1: In your content area, construct a learning goal.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Step 2: Decide on the activity types that support your learning goal.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Step 3: Think about what your “non-digital technology” options may be for that activity type. Then determine digital alternatives.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here’s some resources to help in your planning: > pages 4 and 5 of []
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Activities Type Taxonomy - based on ways of expressing knowledge:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Learning Activities Type Wiki - based on content area: []
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Activities Type Planning Document - MS Word file: []

=Conclusion=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">TPACK is a complex and highly situated educational construct, which makes it challenging to apply, learn, or teach but it can be developed over time. It is important to remember that, when using TPACK, the primary planning focus is on the content standards and selecting the type of technology is a secondary focus. Taking the activity type approach is meant to guide teacher planning to use TPACK in an effective way.

= References =

> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1175860?uid=__][|__3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21100894823191__] > <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://her.hepg.org/content/j463w79r56455411/__] > > <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.leeshulman.net/domains-pedagogical-content-knowledge.html__]
 * Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) - Lee Shulman (Michigan State University) **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4- 31.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1-22.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lee Shulman’s website

> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=12516__] > <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://punya.educ.msu.edu/presentations/AERA2008/MishraKoehler_AERA2008.pdf__] > [|__http://punya.educ.msu.edu/2008/01/14/handbook-of-tpck/__] >
 * Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) - Matthew Koehler, Punya Mishra (Michigan State University) **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2008). Introducing TPCK. In J. A. Colbert, K. E. Boyd, K. A. Clark, S. Guan, J. B. Harris, M. A. Kelly & A. D. Thompson (Eds.), Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Educators (pp. 1–29). New York: Routledge.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">TPACK Website: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://tpack.org/__]

> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://mra.onefireplace.org/Resources/Documents/TPCK%20Article.pdf__] > <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.mra.onefireplace.org/Resources/Documents/HarrisHofer-TPACKActivityTypes.pdf__] >
 * TPACK and Activity Types - Judi Harris and Mark Hofer (College of William and Mary) **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Harris, J., Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2009). Teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge and learning activity types: Curriculum-based technology integration reframed. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(4), 393-416.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Harris, J., & Hofer, M. (2009). Instructional planning activity types as vehicles for curriculum-based TPACK development. In C. D. Maddux, (Ed.). Research highlights in technology and teacher education 2009 (pp. 99-108). Chesapeake, VA: Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education (SITE).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Learning Activity Types Wiki: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/__]


 * These videos are presented by some of the first contributors to the TPACK model **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Part 1 - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNoijjIrPT8__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Part 2 - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9gB6AP3BEs__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Part 3 - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOYCmPUVFfs__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Part 4 - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_bgeohrV_k__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Part 5 - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-NhPA9yL3A__]


 * Images **
 * Image 1 - @http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/tpack/files/2011/05/tpack.jpg
 * Image 2 - @http://ged578.pbworks.com/f/1273212589/students-at-computer.jpg