Why it works
The TPACK framework, developed by Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler, is a way of thinking about what teachers need to know to integrate technology well, and it is a useful complement to SAMR. Where SAMR asks how deeply a technology transforms a task, TPACK asks whether the technology actually fits the specific content and pedagogy. It names three bodies of knowledge: Content Knowledge (the subject itself), Pedagogical Knowledge (how to teach in general), and Technological Knowledge (what the tools can do), and argues that effective teaching, and especially effective tech integration, happens in the overlaps. Pedagogical Content Knowledge, knowing how to teach this particular content, is the long-standing heart of good teaching. TPACK adds technology to the picture: Technological Content Knowledge (which tools genuinely represent or extend this content, a dynamic graph for functions, a simulation for forces), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (which tools support this way of teaching, a collaborative doc for peer revision), and at the center, the sweet spot where all three meet: choosing a technology that fits both the specific content and the specific pedagogy. The practical value of the framework is that it reframes the integration question. The weak question is is this a good app; the TPACK question is does this tool fit this content and this teaching move, which protects against the common failure of bolting trendy technology onto a lesson where it adds nothing, or where a simpler non-tech approach would teach the content better. The workshop uses TPACK as a lens on teachers' own lessons: naming the content and pedagogy first, then asking whether a given technology genuinely serves both, and discarding tech that does not.
The research: The TPACK framework for technology integration (Mishra & Koehler).
The run-of-show
Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.
The core activity: judge tech by fit
The heart of the session is using TPACK to ask whether a technology genuinely fits the content and the pedagogy.
- Name the three knowledges: content (the subject), pedagogy (how to teach it), technology (what the tools do).
- Name the content and the teaching move of a real lesson first, before choosing any tool.
- Ask whether a given technology serves both the specific content and the specific pedagogy, the sweet spot where all three meet.
- Discard or replace technology that does not fit, including where a simpler non-tech approach would teach the content better.
Facilitator notes
- Content and pedagogy come first; choosing the tool before the lesson is the backwards habit TPACK corrects.
- Pair it with SAMR: SAMR asks how deeply tech transforms, TPACK asks whether it fits; use both.
- Be willing to discard tech, including where no-tech teaches the content better; fit sometimes means none.
Adapt it
- Elementary: keep examples concrete; show a tool that fits one content-and-teaching move and one that does not.
- Secondary: use discipline-specific examples; the right tool for one subject misfits another.
- Any setting: use TPACK and SAMR together, fit first, then depth of transformation.
Participant handout
One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.
The TPACK Framework: integrate by fit
Content + pedagogy + technology: name content and teaching first, then ask whether the tool fits both; discard misfits.
- The content of my lesson:
- The teaching move (pedagogy):
- Does the tool fit the content?
- Does it fit the teaching move?
- Tech I will discard or replace as a misfit:
Make it stick
TPACK works as a habit of judgment. Close by setting the follow-up:
- Name a check-in: is your tech fitting content and pedagogy, not just present?
- Bring one tool you kept for fit and one you dropped.
- Keep naming content and pedagogy before the tool.