TPaCK, Venn Diagrams for the Win

By the time we finished watching the "TPACK in 2 Minutes" video in class last week, I understood the argument that, as educators, we need to bring our knowledge of content, pedagogy, and technology to bear on every lesson if we want to fully engage our students and give them the best opportunity to learn. It's a simple concept, but it's not so simple to implement.



The trickiest circle of the Venn diagram to work with is the one dealing with technology. At this stage in the game, I know what I want my students to learn in my classroom (writing as a process, critical thinking, arguing toward common ground rather than "winning," etc.), and I know how I want them to get there (pre-write/write/rewrite, follow the money, listen deeply to the other side, etc.), but I'm not sure I always know the best technologies to use to help them get there.

My temptation is to use technologies I am comfortable with. Pen and paper, word-processing software, Springboard, library databases, doodle for scheduling, Google Drive for group work, email, texting, PowerPoint, screen casting, YouTube: these are my go-to tools and they can accomplish quite a bit. But, when I want to do multi-modal projects, I'm less comfortable with video-editing software; when I want students to conduct primary research, I have to pray that Survey Monkey or Google Forms will cooperate during my demonstration; and when I want to conduct grade conferences remotely, I have to overcome my discomfort with video conferencing.

The reason I tend toward the comfortable is that I know I have to be able to model the technology for my students if I want them to use it successfully and trust that I know what I'm doing. Even with word-processing software, which seems like it would be a cinch for digital natives, I always spend time going over it with students ("Do you know how to add page numbers or page breaks? No? Well let me introduce you to your new friend, Insert menu.") I walk students step-by-step through turning in items on Springboard and have them turn in a low-stakes assignment with it first, but I still always get a few frantic emails just after the drop box closes for their first major assignment from students who couldn't quite get the software to work for them. I talk about key words, and expanding and limiting searches in databases, because most of my students have never considered doing anything beyond typing a question into Google, maybe Google Scholar.

The take-away for me, then, with the idea of TPaCK, is a reminder that technology in the classroom always needs to be introduced in a thoughtful and thorough manner, seriously considering the theory that supports its use and clearly modeling and providing the opportunity for students to use the technology successfully. We need to avoid becoming stagnant in our use of particular tools, but we shouldn't just introduce some new bell or whistle every week just to try to show the kids how hip and with it we are (my students have never been deceived about this, and frankly, neither have I. I knew me in middle school <shudder>). It strikes me as flexibility, but with purpose. I will remain open to adding new tools into my toolbox, but I will only introduce them into my classroom when I have a clear view of how they might enhance learning and am fluent enough in them to help students troubleshoot and find solutions when things don't go exactly as planned.