SAMR & TPACK
SAMR
The SMAR Model is a simple effective way to access how you are incorporating technology into your instruction.
Four Steps
The SAMR Model is made up of four steps. They are Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. The first two steps are defined as enhancement steps while the last two are defined as transformation steps. Look at examples of each below as defined on Schoology's webpage for the SAMR Model. After looking at the examples below and watching the vidoes, think about how you use technology in your classroom! Remember!...every lesson and tool you use will be at a different step on the SAMR Model scale.
ENHANCEMENT
SUBSTITUTION
"At this stage, technology is directly substituted for a more traditional one. It is a simple, bare-bones, direct replacement. For example, if you are teaching a government lesson on the Constitution, you might use an electronic or web-based version of the document instead of a hard copy. Students might also answer questions about the Constitution using a Microsoft Word instead of filling out a worksheet. Substitution might also include a student using Keynote, PowerPoint, Prezi, Slides, or a similar program to present information about an article or amendment to the class."
AUGMENTATION
The technology is again directly substituted for a traditional one, but with significant enhancements to the student experience. In other words, you ask yourself if the technology increases or augments a student's productivity and potential in some way. Returning to the Constitution example, a student might augment a presentation on, say, the 14th Amendment with a video clip of how equal protection under the law was enforced during school desegregation. It could also include interactive links to relevant supreme court decisions, such as Plessy v. Ferguson or Brown v. Topeka Board of Education.
TRANSFORMATION
MODIFICATION
In this stage, you are beginning to move from enhancement to transformation on the model. Instead of replacement or enhancement, this is an actual change to the design of the lesson and its learning outcome. The key question here—does the technology significantly alter the task? A student presenting research on the 14th Amendment, to continue our example, might create his or her own unique graphic organizer for the class that not only includes the usual multimedia resources but represents a new product or synthesis of existing material. As another example, a group of students might collaborate in a cloud-based workspace to propose a modern definition of equal protection under the law and solicit feedback on their proposals from classmates.
REDEFINITION
The last stage of the SAMR model is Redefinition and represents the pinnacle of how technology can transform a student’s experience. In this case, you ask yourself if the technology tools allow educators to redefine a traditional task in a way that would not be possible without the tech, creating a novel experience. For example, after completing their group work and soliciting feedback from classmates (both tasks that could be completed "offline" although arguably not with the same experience as in the modified format), students could utilize technology to network with students several states away to see how regional differences impact how others think about the Constitution.
TPACK
TPACK is a technology integration framework that identifies three types of knowledge instructors need to combine for successful edtech integration—technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). It is considered to be similar to SAMR, but is very different.
Content Knowledge (CK)—what are you teaching and what is your own knowledge of the subject?
Pedagogical Knowledge (PK)—how do your students learn best and what instructional strategies do you need to meet their needs and the requirements of the lesson plan?
Technological Knowledge (TK)—what digital tools are available to you, which do you know well enough to use, and which would be most appropriate for the lesson at hand?
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)—understanding the best practices for teaching specific content to your specific students.
Technological Content Knowledge (TCK)—knowing how the digital tools available to you can enhance or transform the content, how it’s delivered to students, and how your students can interact with it.
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)—understanding how to use your digital tools as a vehicle to the learning outcomes and experiences you want.
Weave them all together and you get TPACK!
The point of TPACK is to understand how to teach with technology that ultimately enhances student learning outcomes. Here is quote from Schoology's webpage discussing how TPACK works. "Let’s say, for example, that you deliver content to your students via your learning management system (LMS). Even if you have sufficient knowledge of the content you’re teaching (CK) and of your LMS (TK), you might still subject your students to an entire online course of text-based PDFs.
While this is an adequate display of both content and technical knowledge, you could argue that it is not enhancing the learning experience. However, if you recognized how your content could be presented in more interactive and engaging digital mediums—e.g., video, class discussion, game, etc.—and you knew how to make that happen via your LMS, then you just leveled up to Technical Content Knowledge (TCK)." ~Schoology