TPACK

TPACK, an acronym for technological pedagogical content knowledge, is a framework for the knowledge teachers need to integrate technology effectively into instruction, developed by education researchers Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler and published in a 2006 paper, extending Lee Shulman's earlier concept of pedagogical content knowledge, the specialized blend of subject-matter knowledge and teaching knowledge that makes a subject teachable, by adding technological knowledge as a third interacting component. Mishra and Koehler's framework describes teaching with technology as requiring not separate mastery of content, pedagogy and technology in isolation, but an integrated understanding of how the three interact, such as knowing which digital tools represent a concept well, how a given technology changes what teaching methods are possible, and how a classroom's constraints shape which combination is workable. TPACK became one of the most widely used frameworks in teacher education and educational technology research for evaluating and designing teacher training, on the premise that simply adding technology to a classroom without considering its interaction with content and pedagogy often fails to improve, and can even undermine, instruction.