SAMR: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition

The following information can assist with the evaluation of where your chosen cohort sits in the use of technology. You could use your knowledge of your team or chosen cohort from lesson observation or extracts from a team planner.

Substitution

Technology acts as a direct tool substitute for traditional practices, with no functional change.

Substitution technologies can save class time by cutting back on traditional pen and paper/chalkboard tasks.

Examples of Substitution tasks

• having students type their work instead of handwriting it

• using online quizzes and programs instead of pen and paper

• teacher using a digital interactive whiteboard and saving the results as a document

• using a digital text-book rather than paper based

Augmentation

At this stage use of technology shows some functional improvements. Students typing on a word processor can add images, their text can be reformatted to add interest for the reader or even hyperlinked. Some skills in graphic/layout may be encouraged or evident.

Examples of Augmentation tasks

• Students give more informative and engaging oral presentations containing multimedia elements.

• Students use the internet to independently research a topic, as opposed to relying on teacher input.

• Students use a software program that gamifies aspects of a topic for student engagement and allows students to track progress in an accessible way.

• Teacher instruction is supplemented with a video that clarifies a particularly hard to explain concept.

• Using an online platform that contains teacher directed tasks and resources for students to complete

Modification

The use of technology in a classroom is evident at this stage through more collaboration and less teacher direction. Technology enhances the learning activity and can also transform it. Interactive and dynamic tasks that go beyond the limitations of a traditional classroom is more evident.

Examples of Modification tasks

• students produce podcasts summarising a topic, which can then be accessed by other students as a revision resource.

• students set up a blog in which they open up their work to a worldwide audience.

• students in groups create an informative video presentation. Their voices sit alongside a broad variety of multimodal components.

• students use a technological tool that makes an abstract concept visible in a hands-on, responsive way

• students collaborate on shared documents, or work in large groups, allowing for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Redefinition

At this level, common classroom tasks and computer technology exist not as ends but as supports for student centered learning. Redefinition sees classrooms using technology to make entirely new learning opportunities possible.

Redefining learning has the potential to connect learning with the real world and produce authentic outcomes. It also gives students strong technological soft skills such as digital collaboration, communication, technological literacy, and the ability to adapt to new systems and processes.

Examples of Redefinition tasks

• connecting students with other people around the world as part of an authentic inquiry

• having students publish their work online where it can be viewed by peers and the broader community

• 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)

• Students use a 3-D digital design program, to create a park to scale.