TPACK and TPK

Technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) is the knowledge of how technological tools can be used in a pedagogical context. TPK is not content specific, but rather addresses how to use technology in conjunction with the general knowledge and skills related to teaching. TPK can be used to support teaching methods and strategies in any content area. Examples of TPK may include the knowledge of how to use multimedia tools such as videos and audio to help students become interested and engage in the topic, such as French culture.

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) is the knowledge of how to use technological tools in a pedagogical methods in a specific content area. The two types of TPACK tools are: content-domain oriented tools and pedagogy oriented tools. With content-domain oriented tools, learners use technology that promote a pedagogical method that is specific to a content area. In pedagogy oriented tools, learners use technology that are strictly used for pedagogical purposes. An example of a TPACK tool for French teaching includes a concept mapping tool that may help them organize a native text or help them organize an essay the have to write.

PLE Week 4

This week, I learned how to use a bunch of different free web tools that will be very useful in the classroom. First, I learned how to create a wiki through pbworks.com and how to create various pages within the wiki. We also learned how to embed various things such as googledocs, calendars, maps, and pictures into our wiki pages. To edit the pictures in our wiki, I learned how to use picnik, which provides a lot of free editing capabilities. In order to communicate with others synchronously, I learned how to use Google Video Chat.

For me, the most difficult thing to learn was how to use the html within the wiki in order to embed things onto the site. HTML is still pretty confusing to me, but I learned how to change the size of the thing I want to embed as well as adding an iframe into the site. But at the same time, I think that the wiki will be the most useful tool to learn because you can have an entire course website up for your class that can include a calendar, assignments, and documents that update when you update them on your personal computer. I also think video chatting will be useful if you have a guest speaker that is too far away to travel to your school. The class will still have the opportunity to hear them and learn from them. I think that is the main idea of these web tools-- being able to open up the possibilities for learning and making things easier to access.

Instructional Video

Storyboard Images

Instructional Video

Our idea for the instructional video is focused on culture-- specifically the marvels, both architectural and natural, of France. The idea is that the students would choose from a list of monuments and do a video presentation about them--in French. For our example, we chose Versailles. We are going to talk about the origins, location, specific rooms, and significance of the palace using images, music, and spoken language. Our video is connected to the second goal of the World Languages found in the Utah Core Curriculum. This goal is associated with gaining knowledge and understanding of different cultures.