PLE Week 11

When I see what TPACK actually stands for it tends to just go right over my head. There are some pretty big words in there. If it were me, I would sum it up by saying that TPACK is a way to be an effective teacher.

Pedagogical Knowledge is knowing how to teach something.
Content Knowledge is being familiar with the area that is being taught.
Technological Knowledge is knowing about different technologies and how to integrate them.

The thing I learned most about TPACK is how equal it all needs to be. Just because you know everything about a subject does not mean that it will be a good lesson. Each area is as important as the next in this framework of teaching effectively. In the MTC I had a teacher who knew French like the back of his hand, but didn't seem to realize that we were starting out at level ZERO. His methods of teaching (PK) were not effective for us and although he was quite well-versed in the smallest parts of the French language he couldn't quite help us to get even the basic principles of it.

There are many different representations that a technology can have, namely technological, visual, auditory, dynamic, and multimodal. My favorite ones are the dynamic ones because they really seem to interact with the student. Google Earth and Stellarium are a blast for students because it is a dynamic learning experience, those are definitely the ones I enjoy the most.