Chapter 2: Scaffolding The Tpack Framework In Reading And Language Arts: New Literacies and New Minds

In his century old seminal essay, What Knowledge is of Most Worth?, social theorist Herbert Spencer (1909) stated that this question needed to be answered before designing curriculum or instruction. As we continue into the 21st century, Spencer’s compelling question is still front and center but now in the midst of fast-paced technological changes that are prompting new literacies. Perhaps in no other area is his question more provocative than in teacher education. 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. They argue that teaching with technology is a “wicked problem” (Rittel & Webber, 1973), with solutions being diffi-cult to realize because of “complex interdependencies among a large number of contextually bound variables” (Koehler & Mishra, 2008, p. 9). Central to understanding Mishra and Koehler’s TPACK framework is the capacity to separate the three components (i.e., content, pedagogy, and technology) while at the same time understanding that they coexist in a dynamic transactional relationship. For example, when a new technology is introduced it forces teachers to “reconstruct the dynamic equilibrium among all three elements” (p. 18).