Some reflections

In this blog 'some reflections' I look back on a design process for a lesson in primary education. This had to be done based on the TPACK framework. The reflection is divided into 4 themes: process of designing a course as and educational designer; working with TPACK;the limitations/challenges of flexibility and implications for instructors.

Process of designing a course as an educational designer
I had no experience in developing a course for primary education. I found this quite a challenge, to understand the starting level of the group we selected and to decide what is suitable or not. Fortunately, my group members did have some experience and were able to support me with that part.

I experienced that I am very much used to having formats to work towards to, or to develop formats before inserting the information. We managed to get a lesson preparation form from the pre-service teacher education at Stenden University for Applied Science. I found this really helpful in designing the lesson. Looking back I should probably have looked for some design models in the literature as well. Using this form lead to a very detailed lesson plan. That in itself is not a problem, but it may hinder the amount of flexibility the teachers’ experience when they start to work with the lesson. If they feel they cannot adjust or tweak the lesson to their requirements, it may hinder the commitment of the teachers and the implementation. As a result, involving teachers in the design phase is important.

Also the role of the context is very important. We took an existing primary school as a base for our context analysis. We were now able to tweak the context to match our design. However, in the real world, this is much more difficult or not feasible at all.

Overall, I have enjoyed the experience of designing a lesson for a primary school and it was really nice to work in a team, as we really could help each other along and were critical in our feedback on the different parts we delivered.



Working with TPACK

It has emerged (as expected) that you cannot look at the separate components and then, by putting it together, reach TPACK. We had as a starting point the pedagogical approach ‘collaborative learning’. As the assignment was to use TPACK and thus integrate technology in the lesson, we almost immediately started searching for a digital product to support collaborative learning. After some brainstorming we came to using a web quest.

The step we took led immediately to PTK, as we had to combine the pedagogical approach with a technology. The last element to look at was content. As we decided to use a web quest to support the pedagogical approach, we were relatively free in deciding on the content, so we searched for a nice topic within available web quests.

It is important to realise that TPACK is a framework, as opposed as a design model. The added value of the framework is that it makes teachers’ aware of the relation between the knowledge components technology, pedagogy and content. It helps teachers to understand the complexity of these concepts and by creating awareness of the different (and complex) relations that can support development of new courses.

I feel however, that we could have used the suggested literature more. We had a very practical approach, maybe guided by the format for the lesson plan. As stated we fairly quickly came to the combination of collaborative learning and using a web quest, whereas we could have looked at the activity types of Mishra & Koehler (2009) as explained in my blog on ‘TPACK and its relation to flexibility, pedagogy and technology’. Also the pathways JISC (explained in the same blog) has set out could have given us some other ideas.
 


The opportunities/challenges of flexibility

As I described in an earlier reflection, the level of flexibility influences the pedagogical approach. More flexibility requires a different mix of pedagogical approaches than a very rigid programme, in which the learner has little to no choice. Similarly, adding technology to face-to-face classrooms settings will require a different pedagogical approach. In our case the starting point was the pedagogical approach collaborative learning. As a result, we did not really consider flexibility when developing the lesson.

As described in one of my earlier posts, flexibility is integrated in the TPACK model, but not specifically mentioned. Having a lot of PK, CK and TK will support more flexibility. However, as it is not specifically mentioned, it is easy to forget. As the context for the lesson was a primary school, where generally speaking only face-to-face classroom activities take place, flexibility needs to sought within that context. We did try to integrate some flexibility in the lesson, but in the end it has become a fairly prescribed lesson. The teacher has to make some decisions, but the outline of the lesson plan is fairly fixed. On the other, because the work form is a web quest, there is sufficient flexibility for the learner, as they can for example choose to do the assignments in the order given in the web quest, or to first scan the whole web quest before starting with the assignments.

In the blog on working with TPACK, it was already identified you need to have thorough knowledge of all three knowledge components, because otherwise the risk is that one will jump to quick fixes rather than looking at it creatively, as happened in our design. We went very quickly from collaborative learning to using a web quest to support the pedagogical approach with a technology. We for example also jumped to the conclusion that the technology should be digital, when in fact, that was not a specific requirement.



Implications for instructors

Professional development is an essential element in implications for instructors. As explained, the more knowledge a teacher has on the three different knowledge components, the more flexibility can be achieved. Professional development can support this. Teachers need to have an understanding of the TPACK framework so this would be a good starting point. Once they see the complexity of the interrelations of the three knowledge components and their relation to the context, it may help them to design lessons taking all three components into consideration and to reach TPACK. It will help them to think about the three components in relation to the context. As a result, the professional development of teachers should be focused on the three knowledge components. By gaining more knowledge on the three separate components, it will become easier to look at the interrelations and to create ‘new’ liaisons.

The context can be challenging or limiting for instructors. As a result support and the implementation process are very important aspects. If teachers feel not supported by the school or the context is very limiting, it may hinder them from trying to be innovative. I feel that the TPACK framework really can help teachers in being more innovative, when support for development of innovative lessons and support during implementation is given.