Abstract:

This paper proposes my self-report about the design a completely online course and the exploration of the potentials of applying Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to facilitate a completely online course. This course is an undergraduate-level online course on Computer Foundations and Applications in a comprehensive central south university in China. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the potentials of applying TPACK to facilitate a completely online course and to build an effective online learning community in a Chinese university.

The fundamental element that makes the online learning different from the traditional face-to-face instruction is the process of interaction, communication and collaboration in the online learning environment. In my online course design, all online learning activities of this course are conducted in a Chinese online learning community -- China Education Online. This online learning community has various functions such as discussion forum, blog, group, online courses that could help instructors to develop constructivist teaching and learning. This online social learning community allows learners to interact and collaborate with each other through using rich synchronous and asynchronous communication tools, management tools, publishing and diffusion tools. The collaborative activities and group discussions help increase the level of communication and interaction among learners and enable to form a learner-focused, active learning process (Palloff & Pratt, 2007).

In addition to the online course design, I explore how to apply TPACK to design this online course, to create the online learning environment and to form an online learning community. TPACK contains three main knowledge domains (Content, Pedagogy, and Technology) and the four intersecting knowledge areas : PCK (pedagogical content knowledge), TCK (technological content knowledge), TPK (technological pedagogical knowledge), and TPCK (technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge). Around these seven elements is the context, which is formed by learners, the instructor, and other influential factors (Koehler, Mishra, & Cain, 2013). With the purpose of motivating and engaging students in the online course, I will discuss the application of the seven TPACK components on the holistic design of the online learning environment and the online learning community, and the detailed online course curriculum design. Online course curriculum design will contain all contents such as syllabus, class agendas, discussion postings, and resources. More importantly, I will explore how to integrate these contents with various technologies in the online learning platform in order to motivate and engage students and form an online learning community among students.

References:
[1] Koehler, M. J., Mishra, P., & Cain, W. (2013). What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK)? Journal of Education, 193(3), 13-19.
[2] Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Keywords:

TPACK, online education, online course design, online learning community.