Implications for flexibility (Lesson design with TPACK - part 5)

In the fifth and last part of this post series, I want to focus on the opportunities and challenges of flexibility that arise when designing with the TPACK model.

Designing with the TPACK model can promote flexibility in many ways. Simply the way of presenting teacher knowledge as an integration of content, pedagogy and technology emphasizes flexibility. The integration automatically points to opportunities for flexibility such as pedagogical approaches that one did not think of before (see my first posts about the TPACK model for more examples).

The TPACK design approach secures that everything will be taken in consideration if in one of the circles a design decision is made that opts for flexibility. So if designer chose for example to use a certain pedagogy that stresses the adaptive education, considering the TPACK model makes sure that the designer also thinks about the positive and negative implications this has on the technology and the content. The TPACK model helps designers to exhaustively address all important factors for the design.

Designing with the TPACK model does not impose a lot of challenges on flexibility. The only problem that arises is that if one chooses for flexibility in one component, this immediately puts restrictions on the design for the other two components of the model. One cannot simple change an existing practice with implementing more flexibility. No, if one makes changes in one circle, this will also affect the other circles and ultimately TPACK.