Tastes like TPACK

In order to successfully use a blog in a classroom setting, it does require a balance of technology, pedagogical and content knowledge. Yet, the relationship between the three, or rather the ratio, is most important.

I would argue that PK is the most important element for utilizing blogs in the classroom. My reasoning for this is that a teacher must have a reason for using a technology, rather than it is “hot” in culture. Our primary job is to deliver curriculum. We must ask ourselves if blogs will help deliver curriculum in a more efficient and engaging way. There is no doubt in my mind that the collaborative nature and accessibility of blogging allows for classroom walls to be expanded into the home, cellphone etc. The blog, in my opinion, is an extension of a classroom discussion. Or at least a class blog can be. When students begin to blog their projects and research, there is the potential that other students will not engage in the blogs of others. That is where good teaching plays a part. PK allows for a teacher to iron out these issues before they start.

Obviously, the CK is important for curriculum. Yet, I don’t think it is the be all and end all. If the intent of blogging is to create dialogue and promote critical literacy (this is my intent), then talking about anything can foster this.
Finally, but obviously necessary, is TK. In creating this blog as both a place to discuss educational blogging and as a classroom blog, understanding the capabilities and limitations of blogs can prove a challenge for a digital immigrant.

Have a look here, for a diagram of TPACK and how it can work. “True technology integration is understanding and negotiating the relationships between these three components of knowledge. A teacher capable of negotiating these relationships represents a form of expertise different from, and greater than, the knowledge of a disciplinary expert (say a mathematician or a historian), a technology expert (a computer scientist) and a pedagogical expert (an experienced educator). Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, [transactional] relationship between all three components.” (Mishra and Koelher 2006)