Technological Choices in Teachers’ Planning
Because teachers’ instructional planning tends to be content-focused and
activity-based (John, 2006; Yinger, 1979), because teachers conceptualize and use learning activities differently in different disciplines (Shulman,
1986; Stodolsky, 1988), and because effective technology integration requires
interdependent content, technological, and pedagogical knowledge (Koehler
& Mishra, 2008; Mishra & Koehler, 2006), the TPACK development strategy
used in the professional development experience provided to this study’s
participants was organized around a taxonomy of learning activities that the
authors developed in a particular content area—in this case, the social studies. Each activity had several suggested digital and nondigital educational
technologies from which teachers could choose. The focus for the instructional planning strategy shared with the teachers linked students’ contentrelated learning needs directly with combinations of consciously chosen,
content-based learning activities supported by suggested educational technologies (Harris & Hofer, 2009).
Note that the emphasis in this approach to technology integration was upon
content-based learning activities (as they are the primary elements in teachers’
instructional plans), rather than the affordances and constraints of educational
technologies that can support learning activities for students (e.g., Freidhoff,
2008). Because teachers’ planning is conceptualized around content goals and
organized according to learning activities, technology integration methods
should be similarly focused. Possibilities for technology use should be considered according to the types of learning activities that have been selected, which,
in turn, have been chosen to match students’ learning needs and preferences.
As the numbers of possible learning activity types—even within a single
curriculum area—are large, activity-type collections become easier to use
when they are sorted into functional subcategories. The resulting contentspecific taxonomies can then serve as organized collections of options for
teachers to consider, once they select learning goals, acknowledge contextual
constraints, and note student learning styles and preferences. Because these
taxonomies recommend compatible technologies for each type of learning
activity, as teachers select activities to combine to form lessons, projects,
and/or units, they are also learning to integrate educational technologies
into their instructional planning in authentic, learner-centered, content-
keyed ways. The results of this study suggest that as the plans are implement-
ed and evaluated, teachers’ TPACK can grow.
For example, in the social studies, 44 learning activity types (ATs) have
been identified to date. They are divided into two categories of student
action: knowledge building and knowledge expression. The 17 knowledge-
building activity types assist students in developing their knowledge of
the social studies. They range from more general activities (e.g., read text,
discuss) to more discipline-specific activities (e.g., engage in artifact-based
inquiry, sequence information). The 27 knowledge-expression activity
types can be classified as either convergent or divergent. The six convergent
knowledge-expression activity types (e.g., answer questions, create a time-
line) encourage all students to present their understanding in comparatively
similar ways. The 21 divergent knowledge-expression activity types (e.g.,
design an exhibit, create a film, create a game) are subdivided into five writ-
ten, three visual, three conceptual, six product-oriented, and four participa-
tory ATs. These challenge students to share their unique understandings of
curriculum content in individualized ways.
Sample activity types from each of these subcategories, with accompany-
ing suggested technologies, appear in Tables 1, 2, and 3. The full taxonomy is
available on the Activity Types Wiki (Hofer & Harris, 2011).
The ways that teachers cultivate and use TPACK should be as flexible and
accommodating of the complete range of curricula and teaching approaches
as possible. Mishra and Koehler (2006) express this idea by saying: