Dr. Ruben Puentedura developed the SAMR model as a way for teachers to evaluate how they are incorporating technology into their classroom practice. Puentedura constructed his model in the form of a ladder and equates it with a student climbing the cognitive scale associated with Bloom’s Taxonomy. (i.e. as a task moves from lower to upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, so does a task move from lower to upper levels of SAMR).
Below is a comparison of Bloom’s and SAMR:
Puentedura’s model encourages educators to ask themselves if the student task is an act of substitution, augmentation, modification, or redefinition? The suggested threshold for moving from enhancing learning to transforming learning is between augmentation and modification. As an example of this, consider a student writing a paper. If the student writes the paper on a computer instead of on a piece of paper, this is an act of substitution. If the student uses spell check and a formatting tool to assist with the writing process, this is augmentation as there is a slight change in the functional improvement. Should the student publish the paper, perhaps on a wiki, blog site or through google docs, so other students can read it and give feedback, this is a modification of the process, for it now includes collaboration. Lastly, in redefinition entirely new tasks are created which were inconceivable without computers and computer software tools. In this level student transform their written stories into media productions using storyboards, filmed scenes and music. Students can also publish these and receive feedback on the work. In this level technology has redefined the task.
Working towards redefinition, is of course the goal for teachers who would like his/her students to be working in the highest thinking levels possible while using technology.
A short video introducing the SAMR model can be found at: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/introduction-to-the-samr-model
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