What Is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

TLDR

TPACK extends Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge to include technology, addressing the complex, ill‑structured nature of teaching and the added complications of integrating analog and digital technologies. The paper aims to describe the TPACK framework for teacher knowledge in technology integration. The authors detail TPACK as a complex interaction among content, pedagogy, and technology knowledge. The interaction of content, pedagogy, and technology knowledge yields flexible knowledge essential for successful technology integration in teaching.

Abstract

This paper describes a framework for teacher knowledge for technology integration called technological pedagogical content knowledge (originally TPCK, now known as TPACK, or technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge). This framework builds on Lee Shulman’s construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to include technology knowledge. The development of TPACK by teachers is critical to effective teaching with technology. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the complex, illstructured nature of teaching. The nature of technologies (both analog and digital) is considered, as well as how the inclusion of technology in pedagogy further complicates teaching. The TPACK framework for teacher knowledge is described in detail, as a complex interaction among three bodies of knowledge: Content, pedagogy, and technology. The interaction of these bodies of knowledge, both theoretically and in practice, produces the types of flexible knowledge needed to successfully integrate technology use into teaching.