TPACK: Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge

What makes a great teacher?   This is a difficult but important question for education at all levels.  One way to get to the answer is to think about individual teachers that you have encountered in your life.   Somehow we all know great teachers when we meet them and of course, we certainly know poor teaching when we come across it.

I am not one of those who believes that teaching is a natural gift and some people are born to be teachers and others not.   Most great teachers that I know work constantly on their own development as educators.  A capacity for great teaching can be gained through experience and reflection and I believe that anybody who wants to be a great teacher can become a great teacher.

What then are the ingredients for successful teaching?  Well, thinking about the teachers in my life, I know that teachers need to have a very good knowledge of a content area.  I did science in college and I have some strong views on how we should teach science based on my own experiences as a student.  Previously I commented on the lecture by Carl Wieman, the Nobel laureate in Physics. Wieman argues against the over reliance of explaining in science teaching - he suggests that we start with realistic goals and facilitate individual discovery through activities "doing science" rather than listening to it.

I attended my first lecture in Physics at UCD in 1977 I remember the lecturer Rev Dr Tom Burke asking the class what constitutes a force such as gravity.  We were used to the school definitions such as the Newton's gravitational force = M1 by M2 over R squared times G (the gravitational constant) and offered this as the answer.  But Fr Burke asked further "sure that's the formula but what is the gravitational force?  What's happening for example, between the Earth and the Moon that manifests itself as gravity?" We were stumped!  When we left the lecture we were none too happy - our old world of Physics as the subject of certainty (you only needed to know the formula) was turned upside down.  We were not given the answer.  We were forced to think.  I'm thinking about it still.  Welcome to science.  Fr Burke was a great science teacher.

So, good knowledge of a content area is certainly a characteristic of an effective teacher.  However, this on its own is not sufficient.  Here is what Jean Piaget had to say about subject matter knowledge:

“Every beginning instructor discovers sooner or later that his first lectures were incomprehensible because he was talking to himself, so to say, mindful only of his point of view.  He realizes only gradually and with difficulty that it is not easy to place one’s self in the shoes of students who do not yet know about the subject matter of the course.”

(Piaget 1962 p5)

Piaget suggests that it is not easy to place one's self in the shoes of the learner.  Just because we know something doesn't mean that we can teach it.  We use the term pedagogy to refer to knowledge about learning in others.  A good teacher needs to have pedagogical as well as content knowledge.

Lee Shulman (1986) suggested Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) as a special kind of content knowledge important for teaching.  There are two aspects of pedagogic knowledge - a kind of general or generic understanding of learning and teaching that is applicable across all subject areas and a second subject specific pedagogic knowledge.  This is knowledge as to the teach-ability of aspects of a subject.  

This may involve asking questions that encourage new thinking as occurred in my first Physics lecture.  It may also involve identifying threshold concepts (Meyer & Land 2006), aspects of a subject area that open up understanding, and presenting these in ways that are accessible to students. 

In a recent conversation a friend referred to a teacher as great with analogies and metaphors.  A stock of appropriate analogies, metaphors, examples, illustrations and models is perhaps part of the PCK of any teacher.

Often PCK is represented as the intersection of two domains of knowledge pedagogy and content.  This representation is useful for teachers and those involved in the professional development of teachers.

Lee Shulman's contribution has certainly helped researchers by providing a conceptual framework that encompasses the domains of knowledge associated with effective teaching.  However, more recently it has been suggested that this framework needs to be extended to include the domain of technological knowledge.

Mishra and Koehler (2006) have put forward the proposition that today's teachers also require knowledge in a third domain - technology.  Their representation extends Shulman's PCK to become TPCK also called TPACK.  They emphasise the value of the integration of these bodies of knowledge for teaching rather than considering each as a separate domain. 

In this model, knowledge about content (C), pedagogy (P), and technology (T) is central for developing good teaching. However, rather than treating these as separate bodies of knowledge, this model additionally emphasizes the complex interplay of these three bodies of knowledge.

Mishra and Koehler 2006 p1025

For example, it is not advocating "technology" per se be considered rather, it is what technology can do to facilitate learning.  The argument is that the technologies of today offer new possibilities that were not considered when Shulman first put forward PCK.

For me, I'm not so sure of the value of separating technology as a domain.  As I mentioned above, part of the PCK for a good teacher is a stock of analogies, anecdotes and illustrations.  All of these are tools - intellectual tools - that are used to facilitate student understanding.  

Through each generation the art and craft of teaching has evolved to accommodate the cultural and social milieu of the time.  Despite what we often think there is nothing special about today, this time and these new technologies.  Human cognition has evolved over thousands of generations and the essential mechanisms for learning are the same whether technology enhanced or not.  In the Digital Literacy in Primary Schools (DLIPS) project we found that teachers were using strategies that involved project learning and technology.   Yes of course their are some technical skills required, and of course we will need to provide additional training and professional development for teachers at all levels as technology evolves and makes new strategies and practices possible.  However, my argument is that this should always be considered as part of the pedagogical content knowledge base of the teacher rather than a new domain.

To add technology as a separate domain of competence has some advantages (as argued by Mishra and Koehler) but their are disadvantages: we may over-estimate the technology rather than the intellectual tool that the technology makes possible (film-makers tell stories - it is the story telling that has pedagogic value); we may alienate teachers who do not use technology (these may be great teachers also!) and finally, there is a danger of commercial influences driving technology into pedagogy.

Regardless, I set out to answer the question "what makes a great teacher?".   For me, knowledge (PCK), an ability to motivate, a capacity to set achievable goals, to provide students with constant feedback on performance and a learner-centered approach to instruction - these are the ingredients of a great teacher.

References

Casey, L., Bruce, B. C., Martin, A., Shiel, G., Brown, C., Hallissy, M., et al. (2009). Digital literacy: New approaches to participation and inquiry learning to foster literacy skills among primary school children. Report funded by the Department of Education and Science. Available from http://hdl.handle.net/2142/9765.

Piaget, J. (1962). Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. New York: Norton.

Shulman L S. (1986). Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching Educational Researcher, Vol. 15, No. 2, (Feb., 1986), pp. 4-14 American Educational Research Association

Meyer J. H. F. & Land R. 2006 (Eds.) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge.  Routledge − Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York


Mishra P, Koehler MJ.  2006 Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Teachers College Record Volume 108, Number 6,  pp. 1017–1054

SITE Conference

I recently attended the SITE Conference in San Diego, California.  SITE stands for the Society for the Information Technology and Teacher Education and it is one of the biggest conferences in this field.  Chip Bruce and I had submitted a paper based on the Digital Literacy in Primary Schools (DLIPS) project.
I attended many other sessions and it was very useful to catch up with developments across the field.  One thing that struck me is the use (perhaps overuse) of short abbreviations to describe areas of interest.  Thus a session might be described as dealing with TPAC for SET in K-12 - decoded this means Mhisra and Koehler's (2006) Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK - worth a future blog!) for Science Engineering and Technology (SET) subjects in primary and secondary schools (K-12).
The presentation associated with our paper is posted below.  The basic idea is an exploration of the connection between learning as inquiry and new digital media.  Essentially we argue for a new approach to pedagogy based on the Inquiry Cycle and making the most of digital media capabilities to initiate,  sustain and enhance that cycle. 
It's not so much that the vision of learning as inquiry is new - it is in fact a well established idea but that the new media of today make it possible to realistically achieve in a school setting.  See my previous blogs on An Organic Approach to Teaching and How Digital Media Make it Possible and my discussion and links on the Inquiry Cycle in my Why We Blog post for further insights.

Digital literacy in primary school site presentation 2010

View more presentations from Leo Casey.

Mishra P, Koehler MJ.  2006 Teachers College Record Volume 108, Number 6,  pp. 1017–1054
 

"Grade Inflation" Getting Everything Wrong

This is a really important issue for Ireland and for everyone in the education sector.  It is vital that get a clear understanding of what the problem is and what we need to do to rectify it.

First of all, the problem we need to solve is not "Grade Inflation" and it would be a huge mistake if we were all to get in a muddle comparing the numbers of first class honours' degrees or 600 point Leaving Certs in the past few years.

Just like all measures based on our social circumstances, such as the spending power of the average weekly wage or the average life-expectancy, over time we should expect to see a gradual improvement in similar measures of quality and achievement in our education system.

Today, we are educating more people to a higher standard than ever before and I will be surprised if the emperical evidence from the soon-to-be released study will not show this to be the case.

But I do not believe we should be congratulating ourselves - there is a problem and a new challenge and we need to get to the heart of it.

Let me use one source Dr Craig Barrett, former CEO and Chairman of Intel and a frequent visitor to Ireland:

 "Your primary and secondary schools are only average," he said. "It is no longer good enough to be average. You have to be excellent at what you do ... at the end of secondary school your young people are average. Your education system is being challenged by improvements in the rest of the world. Things have changed, the educational attainment of other countries have been increasing, and that increases competition for attracting investment."Source: http://www.examiner.ie/opinion/columnists/matt-cooper/for-ireland-to-make-the-grade-we-need-radical-education-reform-111903.html#ixzz0h0o2hsCx

Barrett is providing us with a global perspective and he, rightly in my opinion, points to the progress made by other countries.  Later in the same interview Barrett lays down the challenge:

"It is possible for Ireland to continue to be successful, but you have to worry about the capability of your workforce and what it does," he said. "Why not a race to the top? Why not have more capability and jobs where you can add value? Increased capability and education is where you increase value."

Later"Teachers should not be just competent but masters," he argued. "How do you excite children about a subject? By having high-quality teachers. You must treat education like any quality service you aim to provide. Your employees have to be good and get paid on the basis of performance."Source: http://www.examiner.ie/opinion/columnists/matt-cooper/for-ireland-to-make-the-grade-we-need-radical-education-reform-111903.html#ixzz0h0qGJr4J

Now, let me make plea: let's not get ourselves in a flap over grade inflation or comparisons between institutions.  Let's talk about what really matters - quality of teaching and quality of assessment.

It is a not sufficient for the Department of Education and Science to look to the State Exams Commission (note "exams" not "assessment") to produce year-on-year comparisons of Leaving Cert grades - why don't we look at what the Leaving Cert is really measuring - mostly memory, recall and strategic learning.  Genuine problem-solving and creative thinking are not nurtured and not sufficiently recognised.

Similarly, in third level we are certainly guilty of over rewarding students who do not ask questions, suggest alternatives, write critically or challenge the norms of society.

This is the real threat!  In short, it's not that we are giving too many high grades in exams, it's that we are not measuring what we should be measuring.

Certain skills are more important for competitive and connected workplaces - these include inquiry, problem solving, technical and scientific skills, critical thinking, research, collaboration, presentation and good writing.
These skills need to be nurtured and measured at all levels of education.  This is the real challenge.

The School

The recent 3-part RTE series "The School" broke new ground in terms of education and television.
What takes place in schools is both familiar and mysterious to most adult viewers.

Our school experiences resonate throughout the entire span of our lives and, for many, learning identity forged during teenage, years remains fixed and unchallenged long after our initial schooling is complete.

Every society looks to young people to reproduce and reinvent itself for the future.  Put simply, organised societies that are good at education will survive and outlast societies that fail to do so.  Schools and education are our biggest investment apart from health systems.

Strangely, unless you are currently an active participant in the school system, there is little visibility of what's going on.  We seldom get an opportunity to compare schools today with the schools of our childhood.  This issue is more important that a simple need to satisfy our curiosity: we need to know about how much has changed, the improvements, new ways of teaching, a new understanding of learning, and new thinking on what should take place in schools.

Since we left school we have grown and developed into who we are today - few of use would say that we have not radically changed since the day we left school.  And yet, we often assume that the school system that we left so long ago has remained fixed and unchanged.  Obviously this is not the case.

And this is why "The School" as a television series did us all a great service.  It provided an opportunity to 'open our minds', to see and to experience contemporary school life.

The school principal, Eamon Gaffney is a good friend of mine.  Eamon, the staff and students of St Peters Dunboyne showed great courage and self-confidence in facilitating the making of these programmes.   I remember Eamon saying that he felt that this story needed to be told "people need to know about schools of today, the breath of learning and the holistic approach to education".

"The School" has captured something that's important to us all.

Really Useful Websites on Learning and Teaching

As a follow-up to my previous blog on the Top Ten Insights on Learning I would like to provide a list of web sources and resources that may act as good places to start with insights on learning and teaching.

I'll try to give a brief description of each and why it makes the cut for me.

Starting Points: Aggregation Sites
Theory into Practice (TIP)
Greg Kearsley has put together an excellent resource that deals with a wide variety of learning theories.  This is an excellent starting point and it will give the beginner a good appreciation of the breath of theories and their practical applications.

Emtech's  Learning Theories
This is another excellent starting point with a comprehensive list of learning theory orientations.  What I like about this list is that each section is authored by a different person and you can cite each as an individual resource.

Martyn Ryder's Instructional Design Models
Martyn Ryder's very comprehensive listing of instructional design and learning theory resources -this site is well maintained, comprehensive and deals with an wide expanse of theoretical orientations.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching Tips Index
This is another great starting point for lot's of interesting exploration.  The index is compiled by the faculty development team at Honolulu Community College.  I've looked at many of these teacher development sites and I have to say this is certainly one of the best!

Angles on Learning
James Atherton's resource for called: An introduction to ideas about learning for college, adult and professional education - brings together ideas about learning for college, adult and professional education. Great piece of work!

The ETL Project
This project sought to identify evidence-based good practice in teaching-learning environments for a range of undergraduate courses.

National Survey of Student Engagement If you are genuinely interested in what goes on in college classrooms then this site dealing with an extensive US research project is a good place to start.

Doing What Works
This is a US Government site that promotes research-based educational practices.  This resource is particularly relevant for primary and second level teachers. 

Learning Research

ERIC
The Education Resources Information Center - a search-able database containing loads of journal articles and other resources on education and learning.

Education and Policy
European Commission
The Education and Training Directorate of the European Commission - a good starting point for EU and national policy documents.

Top Ten Insights on Learning

It's the time of year for reviews.  I call it the season of the "top tens": we have the top ten songs of 2009, the top ten sporting moments, the top ten films and so on.

I have decided to step on the band wagon and am now pleased to present my Top Ten Insights on Learning.

Here we go:

1. Learning is constructed
2. People are curious
3. We learn best in social settings
4. Much adult learning is child's play
5. We have a Learning Identity
6. Meet the Digital World
7. Adults learn what they want to learn
8. Learning can be additive or transformative
9. We learn throughout life
10. We strive to be all that we can be

 1 Learning is constructed

 The best analogy is that of a tree with many branches.

We learn through the integration of present and past experiences.  As we experience the world we connect new experiences with our past - in other words we construct knowledge.

Learning has nothing to do with transmission of knowledge - it about personal construction.

Educators who recognise this focus on process rather than output and encourage students to make their own meaning rather than reproduce the work of others.

 2 People are curious
We can use whatever terms we wish: "learning as inquiry" "problem-solving" "achievement goals" - the plain fact of the matter is that people are curious.  

We can be both mentally and physically curious.  We have evolved our higher order thinking skills because our curiosity has provided a competitive advantage on this planet.  

Curiosity is at the root of learning - to make learning happen provide conditions where curiosity is aroused.

 3 We learn best in social settings
We have created our society and culture by developing systems to share knowledge, organise tasks, transmit knowledge between generations and collaborate with others to solve problems.

No matter how clever or knowledgeable a person is - very little can be achieved alone.


When we learn our instinct is to share and communicate with others.  

Students who work together through group work will learn much more than the task at hand: they will have to listen, discuss, debate, concede, collaborate, co-operate and share.  These are really usefull skills.

4 Much adult learning is child's play
I said above that people are curious both mentally and physically. Curiosity can be very dangerous if it is left unregulated. 

I could be curious about what its like to walk on the central partition of the motorway, manage an international bank or pilot a 747 but I'll never do these things.  

However, through play and imagination I can experience these actions and their consequences.  
Many talk about "lifelong learning" I think we should call it "lifelong playing".  These day's I'm playing with the Italian language.

Teachers should let students play - this is also important in 3rd level: role play, simulations, gaming, problem-solving, apprenticeship and peripheral participation can be regarded as adults at play.

 

5 We have a Learning Identity

We all have a Learning Identity and I have written about this in a previous blog post.   

In my own research on how adult's go about learning digital skills late in their careers I found that Learning Identity loomed large whenever educational endeavour was considered.  I would ask "why do you want to learn computer skills?" and people would respond with "well I was no good in school..."

Perhaps it's because society places such a high value on schooling and educational qualification that those who have had difficult experiences in school feel so inadequate when it comes to learning in later life. 
It's as if what they learned in school was that they were not good learners.

Educators and trainers should not underestimate learning identity.   It's not just about praising and encouraging (although we should do this all the time) it's about being aware of social comparison, fear of humiliation and genuine exam anxiety.  The big message should be - this is not like school.

6 Meet the Digital World

Your first thought might be that the digital world is "out there" in the places where people are using technology to make things happen.  But what I want to talk about is the Digital World that's "in here" - I mean inside your mind!   

We all build the world in our mind and through this process we organise, ascribe our values, assumptions, unquestioned beliefs and preconceived patterns of thought about aspects of the world.

For me its the Digital World but for other people it may be the world of the literate, of the wealthy, of the workers, of the young or of the future.  

The important point is critical awareness.  That is the learning task: to be cognisant of our assumptions, prejudices and patterns of thought. 

7 Adults learn what they want to learn

This should be written on the wall of every training room and college classroom.  

Learning decisions are often neglected.  I find this a fascinating area of inquiry: why do people choose to learn at a particular point in time?  


We can pack our children into a classroom and somehow get away with telling them what they need to know but there is no way this will work with adults.

Connecting usefulness and application is integral to the learning task for adults.

 8  Learning can be additive or transformative
Of all the learning typologies this simple distinction is the most useful.  We tend to think often about adding to our bank of knowledge but we seldom describe learning in terms of reorganising our thinking about something.  


One of the characteristics of transformative learning is that it it involves loosing something (and this can be disconcerting) and rebuilding or putting something new in its place.


I think that transformative learning can take place at a societal level also.  Imagine the upheavals caused by Calileo's assertion that the Earth orbits the Sun or when Darwin described the Origin of the Species.  It wasn't so much that we rejected the new ideas but we also had to face the reality that to do so involved moving away from preexisting, more comfortable, beliefs.


Transformative learning can take people outside their comfort zone and challenge 'the way we've always thought about things'.  This is not always an easy experience.


One example of transformative learning that I frequently encounter is the process of college students moving beyond a positivist view of the world to become more comfortable with uncertainty, different perspectives and and awareness of their own subjectivity.

Teachers who challenge students to think differently, to appreciate other perspectives and to self-reflect on practice will create conditions for transformative learning.  When students argue and critique we know we have accomplished.

 

 9  We learn throughout life
We tend to compartmentalise our short existence into a series of stages each with its own tasks and challenges.  


We are born and grow in childhood developing of motor, language, thinking and communications skills.  As teenagers, we build our identity and later we are tasked with our partner relations, parenting and success in the workplace.  Later still, we face the challenges of ageing and the fragility of our bodies and finally we face the fact that we are mortal.  

We need to learn as we go - there is no point of arrival where we have all the we need to confront the challenges ahead.  This is why learning is often described as a journey, this journey parallels the journey of life.

People of all ages look for meaning in their life, learning is one way to give meaning.  Senior learning is often regarded as "nice" - in fact it is much more, it is essential.  Lifelong learning is also learning for a long life!

 10  We strive to be all that we can be
This is the so-called drive for individuation.  

One way to think about this is in terms of a desire to be competent no matter what the field of activity.  
This is not the same as wanting to be good at everything.  To strive to be 'all that you can be' is to take account of opportunity, capability and circumstance.  

But what you need to be good at is: who you are - you need to be the best "put your name here" possible.  As we grow this guides our approach to learning and life.

We learn to be all that we can be.

My pictures are from Christmas Day in Maynooth 2009 when Maire and I took a walk by the canal. 

 


 

Problem Based Learning: The Apprentice?

Those that know me will know that I am a fan of Problem-Based Learning, usually referred to as PBL.
Ireland's version of "The Apprentice" is being aired on TV3 and watched by many including our household. The idea is that contestants are fighting it out to get a big job as apprentice to Bill Cullen (Ireland's best known, self-made entrepreneur).
For each episode the contestants are asked to complete authentic tasks usually with a sales or design element.
We get to see them work in groups, select a project manager, set goals, solve problems and think and act creatively. As television it's quite absorbing and informative and there is plenty of learning taking place, for the contestants and vicariously, for the the viewers.
When I first watched these sequences I was impressed to see a good instructional approach transferred to television.
However, all this is let down by the final sequences of each programme. These scenes take place in the boardroom where groups are asked to report on the process.
Bill is naturally a good teacher and in fairness, he tries to balance his negative criticism with supportive comments.
But the show's structure calls for an inevitable reduction by one contestant (you're fired!) each week. This leads to verbal abuse, recriminations and outright humiliation for some of the participants.
All this makes great television but the message is too savage for genuine learning and personal development.
Most importantly, Bill looks for "the creative spark" in the actions and thinking of the contestants.
Genuine creative thinking arises when we relax our learned inhibitions - creativity requires a safe and secure foundation (see Bowlby, for example).
Faced with the prospect of ridicule on national television few people are going to genuinely take a risk and truly express novel thinking.
We need innovation in the workplace - to nurture innovation we need to provide 'safe spaces' for exploration - we also need to encourage learning from failure as well as from success.

Knowledge Surveys

I came across an interesting piece on Knowledge Surveys from Edward Knuhfer and Dolores Knipp (linked above).

They advocate the use of Knowledge Surveys as a tool in support of learning and instruction.
These surveys consist of a series of questions - similar to a set of exam questions - but the difference is that the learner is asked not to answer the question but to rate their own ability to respond.

For example - consider the following questions:

Q1 Describe three characteristics of an constructivist theory of learning?

Q2 Compare constructivism with social constructivism?

Q3 Outline practical applications of a behaviorist approach to learning?

Now, in a traditional assessment the student would be asked to write short essays on the above.

With a knowledge survey the student is asked to rate their level of knowledge as:

A - I feel confident that I could answer this question

B - I know about 50% of what may be involved and perhaps if I went away for twenty minutes I could find the missing information

C - I am not confident that I would be able to answer this question at all

Do you get the gist? The knowledge survey gauges a student's perception of their own ability.

Knowledge Surveys may be very useful particularly at the beginning of new courses or topics. A word of caution though - students may not always have or report a reliable estimate of their own ability.

The Skillful Teacher

I came across this quotation from Confucius many months ago
and I have been waiting for an opportune time to include it in my blog.
Please forgive Confucius for his use of the term 'man' only in his description
of the skillful teacher.  The most skillful teachers I know are women. 
When a superior man knows the causes which make instruction successful, 
and those which make it of no effect, he can be a teacher of others. 
Thus in his teaching, he leads and does not drag; 
he strengthens and does not discourage; 
he opens the way but does not conduct to the end
without the learner's own efforts. 
Leading and not dragging produces harmony. 
Strengthening and not discouraging makes attainment easy. 
Opening the way and not conducting to the end makes the learner thoughtful. 
He who produces harmony, easy attainment, 
and thoughtfulness may be pronounced a skillful teacher.

– Confucius,Book XVI – HSIO KI (Record on the Subject of Education)

Isn't it remarkable how Confucius seems to capture all that we would now
call best practice in teaching others.

She leads but does not drag
Most learning practitioners would agree with this - for adults the mantra
is adults learn what they want to learn and what they find useful.
One can facilitate, encourage and lead people in the pursuit of
learning outcomes but there are few situations where compulsory
learning is successful.

She strengthens and does not discourage
Positive affirmation and feedback when matched with realistic goals will
enable learning.

She opens the way but does not conduct to the end
without the learner's own efforts
This is wonderful advice.  To 'open the way' could suggest something like 'scaffolding'
a term used in constructivist approaches to learning.  What is suggested here is that a teacher
may provide just the appropriate level of support for learning but in the end the
outcomes will be achieved by the learner's own effort.

Leading and not dragging produces harmony
Yes! 
Strengthening and not discouraging makes attainment easy
Absolutly!
Opening the way and not conducting to the end makes the learner thoughtful
and willing to invest the mental effort
She who produces harmony, easy attainment, 
and thoughtfulness may be pronounced a skillful teacher
I know many who fit this description.