Investigating contextual knowledge within TPACK: How has it been done empirically so far?

Abstract

The technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework traditionally describes seven domains of knowledge which teachers rely on for effectively combining technology, pedagogy and content within their teaching contexts. To date, the context construct has been acknowledged interchangeably as both the settings within which teachers operate as well as teachers’ knowledge of their teaching environments. The need to distinguish between the two has been emphasized by Mishra (2019) by explicitly upgrading context as an eighth domain of knowledge of TPACK. To support future research on contextual knowledge, based on a systematic review of the TPACK literature published between 2005 and 2020, this study offers an overview of the current empirical methods, instruments, and findings surrounding this construct. Findings reveal a range of approaches (i.e., self-report, interviews, artifacts, observations, vignettes, and multimethods) for investigating contextual knowledge and the comparison of these approaches and their related findings are discussed.