SAMR Model

The SAMR Model

What is it?

CLICK ME: What is it? What does it look like in schools?

Terada (2020) explains that "the SAMR model lays out four tiers of online learning, presented roughly in order of their sophistication and transformative power: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. When switching to an online format, teachers often focus on the first two levels, which involve replacing traditional materials with digital ones: converting lessons and worksheets into PDFs and posting them online, or recording lectures on video and making them available for asynchronous learning, for example".

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How SAMR used?

Terada (2020) from Edutopia, best outlines the SAMR model and the four dimensions...

1. SUBSTITUTION

“Substitution” means replacing traditional activities and materials—like in-class lectures or paper worksheets—with digital versions. There is no substantial change to the content, just the way that it is delivered.

The goal here is to keep things simple: there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Scan your lessons and worksheets, convert them into PDFs, and post them online using Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or a similar file-sharing service. Think about the information you have on your walls, such as the classroom norms, the daily schedule, or vocabulary lists, and convert them into digital formats that students can easily reference.

It may also help to provide synchronous as well as asynchronous versions of your lectures. If you’re holding class meetings over a videoconferencing service like Zoom or Skype, provide a recording for students who can’t attend. You can also create your own instructional videos for students to view at their own pace.

2. AUGMENTATION

This level involves incorporating interactive digital enhancements and elements like comments, hyperlinks, or multimedia. The content remains unchanged, but students can now take advantage of digital features to enhance the lesson.

For example, students can create digital portfolios to create multimedia presentations, giving them more options to demonstrate their understanding of a topic. And instead of handing out paper quizzes, you can gamify your quizzes with tools like Socrative and Kahoot. 

Teachers can also create virtual bulletin boards—using an app like Padlet—where students can post questions, links, and pictures. 

3. MODIFICATION

At this level, teachers can think about using a learning management system like Google Classroom, Moodle, Showbie, or Canvas to handle the logistical aspects of running a classroom, like tracking grades, messaging students, creating a calendar, and posting assignments. 

Teaching online opens up new channels of communication, many of which can help students who have traditionally been marginalized. Zoom’s text chat feature, meanwhile, gives students an opportunity to write their questions out, which can feel less intrusive if there are dozens of students participating in the call. Also, students who prefer to collect their thoughts may benefit from slower-paced, asynchronous discussions in an online forum or email threads. 

4. REDEFINITION

Learning is fundamentally transformed at the “redefinition” level, enabling activities that were previously impossible in the classroom.

For example, virtual pen pals can connect students to other parts of the world, whether it’s with other students or experts in a field. Virtual field trips enable students to visit locations like the Amazon rainforest, the Louvre, or the Egyptian pyramids. After reading a book in class, you can invite the author to chat about their work and answer questions.

Technology also provides an opportunity to bring authentic audiences into your virtual classroom, and can make publishers out of your students. Kids can write their own wikis or blogs for public consumption and feedback—and platforms like 'Quadblogging' can connect distant classrooms together so students both write and respond. Students can tackle local problems—like investigating the water quality of a nearby river—and invite members of the community to assess their digital proposals.

Why is SAMR important?

Understanding that digital technologies can be used not just as a way to deliver content, but also to strengthen relationships with your students, build real-world connections and develop students skills that go beyond the classroom and into a 21st-century society.

Reflection: SAMR & Blooms Taxonomy

In my deeper reading and research...

• ICT is reflected in language and literacy teaching-learning (English), having more roles than other content subjects as it requires students to have more practices to achieve better improvement and learning outcomes. 
• ICT use provides learners with affordance and access to meet authentic materials supporting their learning through both guided and self-directed processes. 
• Authentic materials are promoted to use in language teaching and learning as it offers learners to have samples about the real-context application in the forms of news, books, articles, videos written and created by native language users. 

From an aspirational (pre-service teacher) perspective, teaching with ICT materials in English can be readily found and accessible through trending social media (e.g., YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest), educational websites or blogs  (e.g. Newslea and Adobe Spark) and are able to train their reading skills by reading online articles and improve their writing ability through blogging or written posts.  

In relation to my teaching context, the SAMR model blended with Blooms Taxonomy may look like...

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Best (2015) from 3P Learning outlines practical examples of how the SAMR model can be used...

Substitution (Understanding & Remembering)

• having students type their work instead of handwriting it.
• using online quizzes and programs instead of pen and paper.
• uploading a worksheet in PDF for student access, as opposed to photocopying.
• using a digital interactive whiteboard as opposed to a traditional whiteboard and saving the results as a document.

Augmentation (Understanding & Applying)

• Students give more informative and engaging oral presentations accompanied by a PowerPoint or Prezi containing multimedia elements.
• Students use the internet to independently research a topic, as opposed to relying on teacher input.
• Teacher instruction is supplemented with a video that clarifies a particularly hard to explain concept.

Modification (Analysing & Evaluating)

• Students produce podcasts summarising a topic, which can then be accessed by other students as a revision resource.
• Students create an informative video presentation in place of a standard oral presentation. They can use their voice alongside a broader variety of creative multimodal components.
• Students use a technological tool that makes an abstract concept visible in a hands-on, responsive way.

Redefinition (Evaluating & Creating)

• connecting your students with other people around the world as part of the learning journey (e.g. pen pals).
• having students publish their work online where it can be viewed by peers and the broader community (e.g. blogging or social media).
• recording students as they deliver a presentation or practice a physical skill, then using this recording to prompt student reflection.
• experimenting with tasks that use extensive multimodal elements (e.g. producing documentaries or short films, webpages, print documents with creative layouts).

(Best, 2015)

References

Best, J. (2015). The SAMR Model Explained (With 15 Practical Examples). 3P for Learning. Retrieved from https://www.3plearning.com/blog/connectingsamrmodel/

Terada, Y. (2020). A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/powerful-model-understanding-good-tech-integration