Contextual Understandings in the TPACK Framework

Abstract

The technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework considers the role of technology in teaching. Although TPACK is grounded in context, one limitation is the lack of understanding about the interactions between particular contexts, knowledge development, and instruction. This qualitative multiple-case study was designed to explore the contextual factors that contribute to teachers' development of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and practice. Researchers focused on the Catholic educational environment to develop a more refined understanding of specific, and unique, contextual factors within the TPACK framework. Individual case analysis of interview and observation data pointed toward microlevel, or teacher-centric, factors, including background, attitudes, and personal conceptualization of contemporary education, to be primary influences of the development and use of technological knowledge. Recommendations are made for educators to think about how changes in context influence the distinct overlapping components of the TPACK framework, and accordingly their individual TPACK. (Keywords: TPACK, educational technology, teacher practice, teacher context)

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

This research was supported by a gift from the Richard E. & Deborah L. Tarrant Foundation.

Author Notes

Meredith J. C. Swallow is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Maine at Farmington. Her teaching and research focuses on pre- and in-service teacher development in leveraging technology in curriculum design, instruction, and assessment to support student centered, active learning. Please address correspondence regarding this article to Meredith J. C. Swallow, Department of Elementary Education, University of Maine at Farmington, 186 High Street, Farmington, ME 04938, USA. E-mail: [email protected].

Mark W. Olofson is a postdoctoral fellow in education policy with the Center for Education Research and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. His research interests include teacher professional development, the inequitable distribution of high quality teachers across historically underserved groups, and pedagogical practices that support democratic and personally responsive middle grades classrooms.