Technology Frameworks: SAMR Model

What is the SAMR model?
This week I'll be diving into the framework for evaluating technology that I have been working with the past four years, the SAMR model. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition, with each letter basically representing a different level of how a teacher is utilizing technology in their classroom.

In the image below you can see how Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura, the person most associated with the model, defines each level:

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You can find more detailed information from Dr. Puentedura here: SAMR, Learning, and Assessment

Personal experiences with the SAMR model
When I started working at my school in 2014, it was the first year that the building was completely 1:1, with each student having their own Chromebook to take home each night. This was exciting for students and staff, but overwhelming for veteran teachers who had felt success teaching without computers their entire career. The SAMR model was how our administration presented the district's goals for implementation, almost like baby steps. They said after the first year teachers should at least be at the Augmentation level, and by the end of the second year teachers should be showing Modification in their classrooms. Since then our goal continues to be Remodification, which we interpret as sharing out student learning with the outside world. One teacher created a discussion board with another classroom in a neighboring town where they would post student work. My favorite example of this was the Social Studies department connecting their students with a classroom in another country through SeeSaw, which allowed their students to post videos asking and responding to questions about their differences in culture.

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As a teacher I was always trying to find ways to use tech in the "transformation" level. I was able to reach Modification by creating shared formative assessments with my department that we were able to get immediate data from, using Google Drive to collaborate on documents with teachers throughout the school, and provide students with endless guided math practice through Khan Academy and IXL, which almost always resulted in student growth. Some of my lessons that I would consider Redefinition would be using Desmos to have students discover how tables, equations, and graphs were all related in linear relationships. Students would see the graph of a line after typing in a linear equation, and then they'd be able to use the line to find ordered pairs of points on the line. With this tool they were able to see tons of examples in a short amount of time, and you could see the light bulbs going off as they played around with the graphs.

Desmos Graphing Calculator [Image Source]

As a tech coach this year, I am really excited to help out the Social Studies department with making global connections. Through the website twicecapspace.org I was able to find a teacher that wanted to do video conferences between classrooms. I emailed him, we talked through a video chat on Google Hangout, and he was able to give me a network of teachers from around the world that he's been video conferencing with for years! I'm looking forward to learning about all the different ways teachers in my school are redefining their classrooms with technology.