Content Knowledge (CK)—is what are you teaching and what is your own knowledge of the subject? For this lesson, you’ll need a solid understanding of cell anatomy and processes.

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)- is what digital tools are available to you, which do you know well enough to use, and which would be most appropriate for the lesson at hand? For this lesson, students will need to label a diagram and present, so the ability to fill in blanks with an answer key, find images from the internet, create slides, etc. are important.

Technological Knowledge (TK)—how do your students learn best and what instructional strategies do you need to meet their needs and the requirements of the lesson plan? In this case, you’ll need to understand best practices for teaching middle school science and small group collaboration.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)—understanding the best practices for teaching specific content to your specific students.

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)—understanding how to use your digital tools as a vehicle to the learning outcomes and experiences you want.

Framework should also be used to develop new forms of professional development “to promote a better understanding of the synergy between technology and pedagogy.”

TPACK can be a helpful mantra urging you to step back and look at your whole strategy and the nuanced connections between all of its moving parts.

Even if you have sufficient knowledge of the content you’re teaching (CK) and of your LMS (TK), you might still subject your students to an entire online course of text-based PDFs.

If you recognized how your content could be presented in more interactive and engaging digital mediums—e.g., video, class discussion, game, etc.—and you knew how to make that happen via your LMS, then you just leveled up to Technical Content Knowledge (TCK).