SAMR: Through the Years

What is SAMR?

SAMR, largely associated with Dr. Ruben Puentedura, stands for substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. Substitution is when the technology simply replaces the means of work, there is no change in function. Such as changing from taking notes in your notebook to taking notes on Word Documents. Augmentation is when the technology does improve the function, making the work easier to interact with. Such as using Google Docs to share works back and forth. Modification is when there are substantial changes in the use of the work, such as being able to use Google Classrooms to create assignments and academic calendars. Last is redefinition, where the technology that is used allows for activities and tasks that have not been accessible before. Such as connecting to students and teachers from around the world, taking virtual field trips, and speaking to experts all over the world about their special interests.  It is a framework to show educators how to incorporate technology into their classrooms. It is an upward framework that shows that simply having a new medium or technology for work is not enough, teacher and student engagement must be included for students and teachers to advance and thrive.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

A History of Substitution and Augmentation

You are in middle school and you have just finished the class novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Not only has this book emotionally wrecked your 11-year-old world, but it ended all too soon. There has to be more... there is not, this cannot be the end... it is. Your desk buddy, who was just as emotionally invested in this book as you were, is lamenting the same as you. With only one difference, your desk buddy is an avid writer. So, the two of you decide to meet after school and start an Outsiders Fan Club. In which he will be writing about whatever scenarios you both decided will happen and/ or should have happened in the book. You will break out your special, unused, shark spiral notebook to brainstorm ideas during the first meeting and then begin the writing stages in the following meeting. During these meetings, he writes a few chapters and you edit the previously written chapters. Once the entire story is finished, you take turns typing the written chapters, print it out, and put it in a 3 ringed binder with a book cover that includes the title of your story and a cool design. After this has all finished you have a special reading of the completed story with snacks and your Barbie boombox playing ambient music. This club continues to books beyond The Outsiders becoming a weekly event, but then the dreaded day comes when your best friend moves across the country. Gone are your club meetings, your nights staying up typing your designated chapters, and your dramatic readings... or so you thought.

You are in high school now and the Outsiders Fan Club has changed from handwritten chapters in spiral notebooks to Word Documents. You have a Yahoo! mail folder dedicated to just the copies you and your friend send back and forth. He still writes a few chapters at a time and you email him your comments and critiques. Since you cannot have an in-person story wrap party like you used to, you read the finished products over the phone and each print out a copy of the story to bind. This method is not favorable to the past, but it gets you through the first year. Then your school introduces a new medium of writing, Google Docs. You do not know it yet, but this will change everything. 

Gone are the millions of emails with Microsoft Word attachments. Gone are the days when his computer would crash without him having saved that draft, erasing hours of work. With Google Docs you have access to the file as he works. Not only that but you can leave comments and critiques for him to see right away. The both of you even schedule times when you can work on it at the same time. It works beautifully and after a little while your club of two begins to wonder if there is anyone else out there who would be interested in these stories. Are there others who enjoy writing stories about their beloved books? You soon find out there is an entire community out there. 

A History of Modification and Redefinition

After a few years of spiral notebooks full of stories, to word document files exchanged over email, to Google Docs writing and editing meetings, you stumble upon a website called AO3 or Archive of Our Own. A website dedicated to fan creations of their favorite media. Whether that be books you have read, television shows you love, video games you play, and so on. If there is a piece of media out there, there is someone who has written a short or long story about it and uploaded it to Archive of Our Own. It is on there that you find others who have written about The Outsiders as well as other media you and your fellow club member love. After you each create an account, you see that there are different modes of appreciating the stories you read. For instance, you can hit a button to leave a "Kudos" which is essentially a "like" to what you have read. You can also leave comments about the chapter you just read. It is on there where your friend uploads his proofed-by-you stories and finds a community of people who love what your club has created. You get to interact with people behind screens who you have never met before and explain how much they loved that week's chapter. You have a special title of "beta" which is the person who reads, comments, and sometimes edits the work of fiction before it has been published on Archive of Our Own. You as the beta and your friend as the author love to interact with people in the comments and even start to remember those who are regular commentors. You create wonderful connections and then one day a few other writers tell you both about a writers workshop group they are a part of.

This writers workshop group is a mix of writers and editors who post regularly on Archive of Our Own. The writers and editors meet once a month in separate workshops/meetings and then you all come together every other month to workshop. It is an exciting and informative time that connects you to people of all ages who have been writing fan-created works for various periods ranging from a few years to decades. You all live in different cities and different time zones so the meetings can range from a reasonable 6 p.m. after school (you are in college at this point) to 3:30 a.m. after drinking a few cups of coffee. You join Discord, an app that you can use to create private groups that can have multiple channels that are dedicated to certain subjects. For example, one channel can be dedicated to trying to find a different word or phrase to use in a work of fiction. It can look like someone asking the group what fruit historical pirates normally ate because the author is writing about their characters as pirates. Then it so happens that one member had an obsession with pirates as a kid so they knew exactly what fruit they ate in that specific region. It is through Discord and Zoom that you have voice chats and video calls for meetings. This writers workshop group lasted up until a few years ago. Through it, you got to participate in workshops that strengthened your writing and editing skills from people who have been a part of this community for decades. Some have gone on to publish some of their own original works that can be found in bookstores. You have come a long way from your Outsiders Fan Club from middle school, though you remain a proud member to this day. 

We Got the History, What Does That Mean in Relation to SAMR?

Image Source: Mimio Educator

For the first few years of high school, I stayed at the substitution level, changing from leaving comments and critiques in the margins of spiral notebooks to leaving comments/critiques using Yahoo mail where my friend would attach a Word document of his works. Yahoo and Microsoft Word did not enhance/change any functions. 

After the integration of Google Docs in school, I felt the confidence in this technology I needed to incorporate it into my friend and I's writing process. Bringing us to the augmentation level of this framework. Google Docs allowed us to streamline the process, working on chapters at the same time, being able to in real-time pinpoint problem areas to each other as well as leave comments sharing praise of a great chapter. 

Then after years of only bouncing ideas and works between the two of us, we branched out. I discover the community of Archive of Our Own, bringing us to the modification level. I get to see people I have never met before comment on the works my little club puts out. I get to talk to those commenting on our chapters and interact with other people's works as well. Building a community of connection and friendship on this website that has lasted me almost a decade. 

Finally, from the relationships my club and I have fostered on Archive of Our Own we discover a writers workshop group that consisted of authors and editors from said website. Which brings me to the redefinition level of SAMR. I use phone and computer applications like Skype, Facetime, and Discord to have these meetings and stay connected to this community. This technology has allowed me to connect to people from all over the world and form friendships that have strengthened my love of writing, reading, and creating. 

While my main writer/editors workshop group has since dissolved, I continue to use applications like Discord to stay involved in different interest groups and Google Docs to proof stories that my friend writes (Outsiders Fan Club will live on forever). I think that the modification and redefinition level is where I tend to comfortably stay. While I am not an educator, as a student and person with hands in different metaphorical cookie jars, it is important to stay up to date on different technologies that can improve your day-to-day classroom/work/personal life. 

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us0w823KY0g
https://blog.mimio.com/see-how-samr-works-in-real-classroomsand-in-your-lessons
https://www.edutopia.org/article/powerful-model-understanding-good-tech-integration