Researching TPCK
From TPCK
Contents |
Research Methodologies
Surveys
Surveys may be used to track changes in how participants think about various components of the TPACK model. Two recent surveys have been published for measuring TPACK, one by Archambault, L., & Crippen, K. (2009). the other by Schmidt, Baran, Thompson, Koehler, Mishra, & Shin (2009).
For example, Koehler & Mishra, 2005 used surveys in their study design teams as they worked to develop an online course over the duration of a semester. A design team was led by a college faculty member, and 3-4 inservice teachers, who were also educational technology masters' students.
Survey questions were designed to measure the extent to which both individuals and the team were thinking about T, P, C individually and in relation to one another, for the PC, TP, TC, and TPCK components of the model by rating the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with statements about their activities and thinking processes.
G-TP: Our group has been considering how course pedagogy and technology influence one another
This is just one example of how surveys may be useful in measuring components of the TPACK model. It is worth noting, however, that the questions are particular to the context of the design setting used in the study, and were developed and refined over a period of several years the model and methodology developed together using a design experiment approach. That is not to say, however, that this approach and even these questions could not be adopted and modified for use in other studies.
Tracking Conversation (Discourse Analysis)
Another approach to measuring TPACK borrows from the discourse analysis tradition to track conversations in teachers' extended investigations with authentic design projects. Koehler, Mishra, & Yahya (in press), used such an approach to analyze the conversations during a semester-long investigation in which faculty members worked together with masters students to develop online courses. Quantitative discourse analysis was performed on 15 weeks of field notes for two of the design teams, and coded each statement as belonging to the following categories: Other (O), Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK), Technology (PK).
Using this simply coding scheme, the focused on finding changes in the patterns formed over the course of the semester (a) within individuals, (b) between the interactions of group members, and (c) among the components of the TPACK model.
Later in the semester, statements tended to fall into multiple coding categories (e.g., T and P, or T and C), suggesting that the T, P, and C bodies of knowledge were no longer seen in isolation but were being considered jointly. Conversational threads became longer and more sustained, and expertise became more evenly distributed for all three bodies of knowledge.
These patterns were investigated both qualitatively (diagramatically) and quantitatively.
Koehler, Mishra, & Yahya (in press) study is just one example of how discourse analysis may be used to measure changes in TPCK. It is worth noting, however, that the approach is particularly suited to the design-team context used in the study. The approach was developed and refined over a period of several years the model and methodology developed together using a design experiment approach. That is not to say, however, that this approach and methodology could not be adopted and modified for use in other studies.
