TPK vs. TPACK

For me, it was a little hard to distinguish my technological pedagogical knowledge from that knowledge as it is content-specific because I am an elementary education teacher who will be teaching every subject each day. The difference to me is that with a general store of TPK, I will be able to develop a wide range of learning activities for my students that involve technology throughout the school year. I think that both categories of knowledge are particularly important for me, however, because not only will I need to know how children can learn using technology, but I also need to know several of the methods and tools I can use for each subject.

For example, a classroom I recently worked in had a computer projector mounted on the ceiling, which I used often to present online educational videos, demonstrate classwork, and involve the class in interactive science and math games found on the internet. It was useful for many subject areas because of the availability of internet connection in the school. To me, this was an example of general TPK. On the other hand, I also know that the school where I worked had a small collection of AlphaSmart typing machines that teachers could check out to help students write, edit, and save their compositions. The files could then be transferred by USB to a computer connected to a printer or print via a wireless connection. These AlphaSmarts were very useful tools for literacy and writing because some of the children who had poor spelling or handwriting were able to stay caught up with their projects. I also noticed that when my students were able to visit the school computer lab to explore online math manipulatives to help them work and solve problems, they remembered the concepts much better than if I had just told them. These were examples of TPACK because I knew how to use the machines and tools to help teach a specific subject.