To SAMR and Beyond

SAMR is changing the way instructors are creating their instruction to increase student engagement. SAMR is the acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. Substitution allows you to accomplish the goal with no real functional change in what the students were assigned to do without technology. An example of this would be if you asked your students to type an essay paper instead of creating it in their own handwriting. The use of technology in this instance is only used to alter the tool being used to complete the same task. With augmentation, on the other hand, the technology is used to make a functional improvement for the students. Augmenting an assignment with technology could consist of students creating a document, and then sharing it with other students for peer review. Modification allows technology to create a significant task redesign. Students could take their writing assignment and post it on a blog to share with the world. This offers the students an opportunity to connect with others about their content. Redefinition creates a new task that was previously inconceivable with the use of technology. Students are encouraged to be creative and innovative to share their ideas with others. Through the use of news broadcasts, podcasts, etc., students are able to use different tools to share their ideas across multiple forms of technology. Using the SAMR model encourages student engagement and creativity as you move through the different modalities. Your imagination is the only limitation!