A Qualitative Approach to Assessing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Source: Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(4). (2009). 
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)

This article describes a proposal drawing on qualitative data produced during lesson study cycles to assess teachers’ development of technological pedagogical content knowledge.
The qualitative data sources include teachers’ written lesson plans, university faculty members’ reviews of lessons, transcripts and videos of implemented lessons, and recordings and transcripts of debriefing sessions about implemented lessons.

The approach to assessing TPACK described here grew out of a lesson study (Lewis, 2002) professional development project. A lesson study cycle involves having a group of teachers collaboratively construct a lesson on a shared learning goal for students, implement it, observe the implementation, and then debrief on the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson. The debriefing may lead to another lesson study cycle in which teachers continue to refine their approach to teaching the chosen concept.
An example of the implementation of this lesson study technological pedagogical content knowledge (LS-TPACK) assessment model is provided.

The example includes inferences drawn about high school teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge in the context of two lesson study cycles that involved teaching systems of equations with graphing calculators.
The first cycle dealt with constructing a lesson for the general algebra I population at the school, and the second cycle’s lesson was for a group of algebra I students the LSG considered to be more advanced.

Reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of the LS-TPACK model are included from a qualitative perspective, as well as from a psychometric perspective.
Conclusion
The concepts of lesson study and TPACK are both relatively new to the field of teacher education. Both are increasingly becoming recognized as important elements of the field.

The LS-TPACK model provides a means for assessing the TPACK exhibited by groups of teachers as they immerse themselves in the simultaneous study of content, technology, and pedagogy.

Reference
Lewis, C. (2002). Lesson study: A handbook of teacher-led instructional change. Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools.