TPACK

**__TPACK:__**

TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. It is a key component to stress when creating effective learning activities for students which allows the marriage between content, pedagogy and technology to occur.

It is equally important for teachers to make learning engaging and to make use of the distance learning equipment in a simple, efficient and focused way to create an authentic learning experience that meets the educational goals that have been established for the lesson.

The first portion of TPACK is technology knowledge. When creating a lesson it is important to remember that the equipment being utilized should not be viewed as something “fun” to do periodically; the intent is for the teacher to be able to have a positive impact on instruction multiple times throughout the school year using various interactive experiences. It is also important that the teacher understands how to use the technology completely before they use it with their students.

The next portion of TPACK is pedagogical knowledge. It is important to have a strong sense of pedagogy. This can be shown through the teacher having an understanding of the students in their classroom so that they can utilize different teaching styles and methods that work best for their learners. This will also help teachers link the proper technology into their lesson which will make the activity more valuable for their students.

The final part of TPACK is content knowledge. It is pertinent for all teachers to have their content mastered. Completely understanding all of the concepts, theories and ideas in order to better meet the needs of their students is vital.

All three parts of TPACK intertwine to make the most beneficial lesson for students. It is essential to incorporate all parts of TPACK in order to make a well thought out, meaningful interactive field trip.

Interactive field trips and technology are tangled together by design, without technology there are no interactive field trips and interactive field trips did not exist before technology.