What is SAMR?
SAMR is an acronym found in education that stands for Substitution,
Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition. R is the highest level of technology
integration where “Technology allows for the creation of new tasks that were
previously inconceivable”. It is a
framework that can be used to guide technology integration in the teaching
practice and to assess the level of integration on lesson plans and tasks.
Kathy Schrock wrote a fantastic in-depth article here that digs far deeper into
the subject than I intend to go (http://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html).
She even maps SAMR to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and other taxonomies.
My goal is to simply share my discovery from personal experience. About 10 years ago I got
involved with OETC's EdTech Cadre initially for my personal professional
development and to build my PLN as a new member of the Oregon educational
community. My involvement continued as part of the required professional
development in support of a grant I had written for my district.
My 2nd year in the cadre, we were given the option to
select an area of teaching and learning that integrated technology
appropriately and effectively, and create a session to ultimately share with
the group at the end of the term. As one of my personal goals was to improve my
presentation and teaching skills, I took the challenge.
As an amateur artist, professional musician and private
music instructor, and a firm believer in STEAM (where the Arts are included
with STEM), I chose to use my love and knowledge of the multimedia arts as the
basis of my cadre project.
The basic idea I had was inspired by a connection I made
with Kevin Honeycutt at an ISTE conference, where he shared his concept of
“tra-digital” jam sessions, that is combining the use of easy to use iPad music
instrument apps (digital) with traditional musical instruments (guitar), to
inspire and engage students. I took this idea and integrated the use of simple
iOS video production apps with the idea of creating music videos with
tra-digital instrumentation. This continued to evolve as I prepared to share my
session. I added the use of a shared google doc for session attendees to
collaborate on creating content for the project which was designed to be
completed in a 50 minute class session.
My first session was just following the earthquake and
tsunami in Japan so the class, attended by 10 people, agreed to do a version of
Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. On the google doc we collaborated to create new
lyrics that focused on the Pangaea Ring of Fire and voila- this became an earth
science project! In the group of 10 educators we had one or two musicians, and
some who were comfortable singing (although it’s my belief that everyone has a
voice and should sing but that’s another story!) and others who took on the roles of choreographers and videographers.
Following this first project, I was further inspired and
informed by the work of the North Point Church iBand which was one of the first
groups to do music entirely using iOS devices. I refined my presentation over
the next few years and wrote and won a $5000 grant which funded the purchase of
6 iPads, wireless audio equipment and many of the apps that North Point used in
their video. After doing two repeat sessions with my OETC EdTech cadre friends,
I took it on the road, doing sessions at the local farmers market (Sweet Home
Farmers Market, sung to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama), a Sudbury school
(Sudbury School for Learning, sung to the tune of Strawberry Fields Forever-
yes, the students chose that song on their own!) , and finally multiple years
at the ISTE conference.
At Iste 2013, I tweeted out the link to a google doc for
lyric creation, collaborated with several folks to gather video of people
attending the conference and produced ISTE2013 (sung to the tune of Misty).
In hindsight, and as I came to understand what SAMR was,
I discovered that I had achieved the Redefinition level of the SAMR model,
creating something that exhibited learning in multiple areas, and produced
“something previously inconceivable”, as well as incorporating many of the ISTE
standards.
It’s not about producing high quality professional
looking music videos, it’s about engaging the students in fun and innovative
ways using technology to collaboratively create artifacts that show their
knowledge while gaining new skills along the way. The way I put it initially
was: when I was in school, the really cool teachers let us do an art project
like a collage or a sculpture or a painting when doing a social studies report
on Egypt. When my kids were in school it evolved to where teachers would
let students use mom and dads VHS camcorder to record a skit about the given
subject. I think today we are obligated to allow or rather encourage or even
mandate that students use the vast array of digital tools available to them.
Teachers don’t need to be expert at the use of the tools but can and should be
“the guide on the side”. And in so doing will likely find they have also
achieved Redefinition.
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