Ascending the SAMR ladder
We should think of the SAMR model as a ladder – with each of the steps helping us ascend to the next.
- We start by substituting our old ways of working, teaching, and learning with newer ones.
- These then evolve and develop and offer augmentations to our ways of teaching and learning.
- From there we can begin to modify traditional approaches to teaching and learning, incorporating new ways of working, learning, or instructing.
- Finally, we move up again and can redefine the learning experience with entirely new ways of teaching and learning.
The first two stages of this process are where we are enhancing teaching and learning whilst the second two stages are where we are transforming teaching and learning.
Image from: https://www.powerschool.com/blog/samr-model-a-practical-guide-for-k-12-classroom-technology-integration/
This process takes time and practice, and we can’t leap in one go from substituting right to redefining. Trying to improve, evolve, and develop our instructional designs little by little is the most successful approach to moving through the stages of the SAMR model.
Activity: Enhancing your Instructional Design with the SAMR Model
Think back to a lesson, unit of study, or course you have recently designed and facilitated. Identify one task, activity, element, or part of the design that you think could be enhanced with technology. Either by using technology in that learning experience or by improving the way that technology is already used.
Using the SAMR model, think about how you might use technology to substitute, augment, modify, or redefine this learning experience. To do this, use the SAMR Planning template that is shown below.
Give a clear statement of the activity, assignment, or lesson that you want to re-think. What is the Learning Experience?
Once you have done this, work through each stage of the SAMR model, thinking about how you can use technology to enhance and enrich the learning experience.
- First, find ways to first substitute existing ways of working. – Then look for how technology can augment those with improvements and extensions.
- Move further by finding ways technology can modify the task or learning experience.
Finally, see how technology might redefine the learning experience entirely.
