The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework for Teachers and Teacher Educators

describes the type of teacher knowledge required to teach effectively with technology. Describing what teachers need to know can be difficult because teaching is an inherently complex, multifaceted activity which occurs in varied settings. By its nature, teaching is an ill-structured problem requiring reasoning about a wide range of interrelated variables such as the background knowledge that students bring into the classroom, teacher and student expectations about the content to be covered, and school and classroom guidelines and rules. The use of technology in the classroom introduces a new set of variables into the teaching context, and adds complexity due to its rapidly-changing nature (Koehler & Mishra, 2008). The TPACK framework identifies a unifying structure that not only respects this complexity, but also provides guidance for appropriate technology integration The TPACK framework describes the kinds of knowledge that teachers need in order to teach with technology, and the complex ways in which these bodies of knowledge interact with one another. This builds on the approach used by Shulman's (1986) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), describing how and why teacher knowledge of pedagogy and content cannot be considered solely in isolation. Teachers, according to Shulman, need to master the interaction between pedagogy and content in order to implement strategies that help students to fully understand content. The TPACK framework extends Shulman's (1986) notion of PCK by including knowledge of technology. The TPACK framework describes the kinds of knowledge that teachers need in order to teach with technology, and the complex ways in which these bodies of knowledge interact with one another. Teachers must understand how technology, pedagogy, and content interrelate, and create a form of knowledge that goes beyond the three separate knowledge bases. Teaching with technology requires a flexible framework that explains how rapidly-changing, protean technologies may be effectively integrated with a range of pedagogical approaches and content areas. Teacher educators need to visualize ICT integration in a holistic manner, and the authors in this paper present the highly popular framework – TPACK for the readers to consider. It is important to note why adoption of a framework is important to consider ICT integration in teacher education. They argue that good teaching with technology requires shift in exiting practices in both pedagogy and content domains. Teacher educators are therefore urged to think about their own context, and go beyond technology literacy to promote educational practices that innovatively use interaction of technology, …