Tech Tip Tuesday: Revisiting the SAMR Model

This week's Tech Tip Tuesday is coming back around to the concept of SAMR.  You'll recall we had a discussion about SAMR a few weeks ago.  You can revisit that discussion here, and you can review the levels with the image below.  

While SAMR is a great model to explore the integration of educational technology in the classroom, there are still some issues that we should consider.  For instance, the model tends to privilege the two levels of redefinition and modification.  This privilege can have the unintended consequence of marginalizing good, quality teaching that does not employ digital technology.  There are still great lessons that use non-digital (re: paper and pen!) technology.  Also, by placing substitution at the bottom of the model, it can negatively impact teachers who are otherwise willing to try new technologies in their classroom.  By creating this hierachy, it can feel like a long way to climb up the ladder in order to "effectively" integrate technology.  It is also important to point out that SAMR tends to focus on the task instead of the people in the classroom.  It seems to still rely heavily on a teacher-focused classroom instead of a student-focused one.  So what if we focused on the people instead of solely on the task at hand?  Kathy Schrock expanded on a model created by Jen Roberts in order to explore the combination of Bloom's, SAMR, and the integration of technology.  You can see the image below.

As you can see by including Bloom's, the instructor can focus on higher-order cognitive skills.  By then building on SAMR but focusing more on people over tasks, the instructor can move away from a teacher-centered classroom and more to a student-centered, tech-integrated classroom.  This shift allows for more choice and more student autonomy while addressing students' needs and interests and focusing on authentic learning.  

Want to learn more?  Check out How to Integrate Google Apps with the SAMR Model