TPACK and the development of a PLN

   This blog is a place for reflection during my enrollment in Technology Assisted Music Learning. I will take time at the end of each week to synthesize my learning. Viewers of this blog are welcome to post comments and join me in a search for meaningful integration of technology in the music classroom. My current use of technology is minimal and only impacts student learning in the most basic ways. Though not uncommon in music education (Bauer, 2014), a lack of meaningful integration is troublesome.  In fact, teacher training that includes technology has mainly been a point of frustration. This is due, in part, to my inability to see ways to integrate technology that are truly transformative. Why should I use technology to do what I've always done if it doesn't make a difference in teaching and learning?
 
   To start, I teach 4th-12th grade orchestra in a rural district. I also teach a high school beginning guitar class. Our district has made a push for technology by going 1 to 1 in all schools (each student will have a device by the end of next year). We have been inundated with professional development that utilizes technology. Our technology integrationist has pushed for all students and staff to use Onedrive, Schoology, and a variety of other school-based technologies. Overall, it's been difficult to move towards more technology because of a lack of connection to content and pedagogy.

    In his book, Music Learning Today, Dr. Bill Bauer notes the importance of TPACK (2014). While one can learn how to use the technology, it has little value unless connected to content and pedagogy. This connection forms an important part of professional development with technology.

   In all aspects of teaching, we must be able to combine our content knowledge with our understanding of how to teach that content (PCK). For example, I might be a master violinist, but if I don't know how to convey that knowledge to students, I will be a poor teacher. When approaching technology, how it connects with our content and how it is taught is of utmost importance. This is why most technology based professional development doesn't work; it only teaches us how to manipulate the technology. Similar to being taught how to use a screwdriver; it's useless until we know how and when to apply it. We must be able to build TPACK for the technology to be effective. 

      

     Developing one's TPACK is not an easy task. However, having a PLN (personal learning network) can help with the process (Bauer, 2010). During the last week, I've been developing my PLN through twitter and an RSS feed through Feedly.com. Already, I've found twitter to be a great place for professional development. NAfME's twitter account helped with a fantastic article about improvisation in string classes. 

Creativity and Improvisation for String Players  

I also found twitter's search function to be a great way to find tweets by colleagues. A number of hashtags (#) have become valuable for continued learning. 

      Feedly is an excellent place to store RSS feeds for later perusal. I've found a number of sites relevant to my teaching and can check them all in one location rather than going to each site individually. This has already saved valuable time, and lead to some great reading. I found an article about building a guitar culture that I can apply to my teaching situation. There are also great resources for using iPads that I believe will be useful. 

   

     As I continue to explore web-based ways to grow my PLN, I hope to find additional ways to integrate technology that includes an understanding of pedagogy and content knowledge. Though using technology can be daunting, I believe it will lead to better student learning in the long run. 

References:

Bauer, W. I. (2010). Your personal learning network: Professional development on demand.
           Music Educator's Journal, 97, 37-42. DOI: 10.1177/0027432110386383

Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music Learning Today. New York, NY: Oxford University Press