The SAMR Model: What Is It & Why Should I Use It?

This past school year, the new buzz word in my district was "SAMR." (Okay, maybe it's not a buzz word per se, but it's a buzz acronym at least.) SAMR is a model to help educators integrate technology into the teaching and learning that takes place in their classrooms. It stands for four different levels of technology use: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. These levels are then split into two separate groups: Enhancement and Transformation. Here's an image to explain everything.

Are you confused, yet? 

Luckily for you, I used my handy dandy Screencastify and Prezi skills to create a video to explain SAMR to you in a way than doesn't leave you confused and frustrated like this graphic does! Yeah!

I hate being expected to use buzz words like SAMR without knowing how they specifically apply to me and my students. To help give you a more grounded understanding of the model, I give tons of examples in my video on how you can apply SAMR to your own elementary teaching practice. The video is targeted for use at my school (L'Etoile du Nord French Immersion, aka LNFI), but of course, you don't have to be part of my school to benefit from the video. The examples I give work for any students, but especially so for those in Grades K-1 and in language rich settings.

Enjoy!

Now, as a K teacher, I understand that we all learn differently and a screencast may not appeal to your personal learning modes and styles. Below you can find a the link to my Prezi presentation (for those of you who would like to peruse the information and click between slides at your own pace) and a link to my presentation notes (for those of you who learn best by reading and marking up text documents).

The SAMR Model Prezi Presentation

SAMR Presentation Notes

At the end of my presentation and in my presentation notes, I provided a link to a SAMR Wheel image that I find really useful. It combines the SAMR model with the Bloom's Taxonomy model that we all know and love. To top it off, it also includes images of various apps that can apply to each level of technology and learning. It is great! The image is pretty dense with information, so take a look at it when you have the chance. I stuck the image below, but here is the link to an interactive SAMR Wheel image with clickable links for all the apps: Interactive SAMR Wheel.

Well, I hope you learned something about SAMR today! Stayed tuned for next week, when I will show you how to make a nifty screencast video like the one you saw today!