Scaffolding the TPACK framework in reading and language arts: New literacies, new minds.

Abstract

Mishra and Koehler (2006) assert that in teacher education, the successful teacher is one who can draw from content, pedagogy and technology, forming a technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework—and that it is this knowledge that is of most worth. In essence, effective teaching with technology requires TPACK, or an ability to integrate content, pedagogy and technology flexibly during the act of teaching. Designing a theoretically grounded learning process for English/Language Arts (ELA) teachers, which recursively and expansively "persuades" and simultaneously accounts for the multifaceted context of technology integration, is indeed challenging. This was the goal of our study, which was conducted in the context of a graduate level course (i.e., new literacies and media) targeting ELA teachers. Using a mixed-method approach, we attempted to answer the question: How does a project-based inquiry model assist TPACK development and propel ELA teachers to integrate technology? Our research question is supported by three theoretical positions: (a) Mishra and Koehler's TPACK, as it applies to ELA instruction; (b) distributed cognition, which offers a lens to view how ELA teachers combine their individual cognitions with group cognitions to create understandings that enable them to advance their TPACK framework; and (c) instructional scaffolding based on the Vygotskian perspective of gradual release of customized support. These theoretical perspectives are discussed within the context of a project-based inquiry model that was used to engage ELA teachers in the use of technology in their classrooms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)