Recent studies on technology have shifted from the emphasis on technology skills alone to integrating pedagogy and content with technology -what Mishra and Koehler (2005) call technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Deeper understanding on how TPACK can be cultivated is needed. This design-based research explored how an improvised, problem-based learning approach guided by the SECI framework (socialisation, externalisation, combination, internalisation) can help in-service teachers to cultivate TPACK. Data were collected via self-progress surveys, reflections by the in-service teachers, student produced artifacts, records of overall course design, and log entries by the instructor. Based on the survey data, teachers believed that they had developed TPACK. By comparing the qualitative data from two groups, it was discovered that teachers became better positioned to use TPACK more fruitfully after their mental models moved towards Biggs's Level 2 and 3 approaches in teaching. The course created critical but safe opportunities for teachers to better understand that technology in itself is not likely to improve ineffective teaching practices; and, in selecting technology, teachers may have to reevaluate their teaching practices and to rethink the nature of the subject that they teach.

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Research on knowledge cultivation often focuses on explicit forms of knowledge. However, knowledge can also take a tacit form-a form that is often difficult or impossible to tease out, even when it is considered critical in an educational context. A review of the literature revealed that few studies have examined tacit knowledge issues in online learning environments. The purpose of this study was to develop a greater understanding of the conditions and processes that help promote the sharing or cultivation of tacit knowledge in a formal online course setting. Using naturalistic inquiry as the methodology of this study, an online graduate business course offered at a private, nonprofit United States-based university was purposively selected as the research site. The study found that the online course encouraged processes and created conditions consistent with Nonaka's model of knowledge creation and the concept of ba (or shared context)-encouraging students to share, and to construct knowledge through socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. The results suggest that purposefully developing a ba-like environment may be a useful approach to facilitating online learning, creating a strong potential to support learning processes necessary for students to cultivate tacit knowledge.

The Internet and its applications in education and industry have significantly influenced how we teach and learn. This has all occurred as a consequence of emerging technologies and the demands for online instruction by consumers. In the midst of this environment of rapid growth, a new form of pedagogy has emerged. However, much of it is not the result of research. This paper addresses the need for a conceptual approach to researching, e-learning instructional design and the technologies employed as a basis for e-learning. A programmatic research construct is offered as a structure for building a conceptual model. Three categories of variables are considered in building the construct. They include outcome, in situ, and independent variables. The intent of the paper is to engage researchers and developers in a process of further defining the variables and translating them into research questions that might serve as guidelines in building the literature base for the pedagogy of online instruction.

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