Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge AH HA!

Technocentricity VS Student-centered approaches to learning

I just wanted to say, "YES!... Absolutely!... Exactly what I've experienced!" all the way through the Harris and Koehler article.  I excerpted so many meaningful statements from this article that I couldn't you wouldn't want me to discuss them all in one blog post. 

Overall, what resonated with me is the confirmation that there are concerns about the difference between having technology in education and implementing educational technologies effectively.  So often in my own experiences I've seen technologies with great educational potential introduced to teachers who may make every effort to learn the technology, but who ultimately are unable to effectively, efficiently, frequently use the technology to impact student learning to any great degree. 

Harris and Koehler write that, "the greatest weakness of such technocentric approaches is that they have typically given short shrift to two key domains: content and pedagogy." (3)  I see those who are keenly aware of their new technological product's features (the salesman) extolling the virtues of their product to teachers, and teachers struggle to really grasp the depth of the impact on their content or teaching.  The typical product salesman I've experienced is not trained to illuminate the pedagogical or content area connections to his/her product. 

"Underlying truly effective and highly skilled teaching with technology, we argue, is technological pedagogical content knowledge." (9)  YES!  A deep understanding of all three areas has to be present or the entire model becomes lopsided and less effective.

"Learning about technology is different than learning what to do with it instructionally. Teaching technology skills (the T in the model above) in isolation does little to help teachers develop knowledge about how to use technology to teach more effectively (TPK), its relationship to disciplinary content (TCK), or how to help students meet particular curriculum content standards while using technologies appropriately (TPACK) in their learning." (10)  Again, YES!  How many times have I watched teachers learn about technology, but ultimately remain unsupported as they navigate the relationships between that technology and their content or teaching.

"...we suggest that an important first step is creating awareness of the range of possible learning activity types (Harris & Hofer, 2006; Harris, 2008) within a particular content area, matching them to multiple ways that both digital and nondigital technologies can be used to support each type of learning activity." (11)  I wonder from the research done, who in most schools is most often responsible for the steps identified here?

"The acknowledged focus in this approach to planning instruction is on content-based (and content-specific) pedagogy, which is facilitated by judiciously selected and implemented technologies. This emphasis is in accordance with the situated, event-structured, and episodic nature of teachers’ knowledge (Putnam

& Borko, 2000)." Again, too often I feel like schools' use of technologies is governed by what is funded and how it is funded instead of by implementing technology based on the needs of the learners and teachers using the tools.  Misuse of teachers' time on a technology that isn't applicable to their learners or their content area then reinforces in that teacher's mind any insecurities or frustrations they may have about other new technologies in the future.  "Judicious selection" is essential! 

And I could go on.  The steps delineated in this article were so interesting.  I would love to see them applied in an educational setting.