Going 1:1? Consider SAMR & TPACK

My school will go one to one in 2019.  I'm on the school technology committee and our principal wants us to design professional development to help teachers migrate from Blackboard to Google Classroom and to think about ways to help teachers infuse technology into some of their lessons.

The SAMR model and TPACK are two terms about which I hear a lot.  I had to look them both up to understand them.

Here's a brief overview of what they are and how they can help you engage students more effectively.

SAMR is an acronym for the following.

S-Substitution
A-Augmentation
M-Modification
R-Redfinition

Simply moving a written assignment to a digital assignment is substitution while sharing a digital assignment with a partner is augmentation.  Modifying or redesigning the assignment is called modification.  

For example, let's say you substituted a written timeline for an online timeline and modified it to include images and videos, and quizzes using an online platform like Sutori.  You might redesign the assignment entirely and create an assignment that can only be done digitally. So, instead of a timeline, students might create a short video documentary using an online video maker like Flipgrid.

Here a two-minute video overview of the SAMR model.

The TPACK framework provides a guide fto help teachers incorporate effctive technology in the classroom. It focuses on three ideas:

CK-Content Knowledge
PK-Pedagogical Knowledge
TK-Technology Knowledge

Here's a short video overview of TPACK.

According to technology coach, Stephen Anderson,

"SAMR is what makes lessons more engaging. It shows teachers (and students) that technology can be truly transformational and allow them to do things they couldn’t do before. That’s what makes the use of technology exciting and engaging. TPACK is what makes learning more effective. Without a clear understanding of what content is to be taught, the desired learning outcomes, the pedagogical techniques that effectively integrate technology into learning, then how can the learning be effective?

You can read Anderson's blog post about these frameworks here.

And below you can see graphic showing the TPACK framework.

Here is a chart that shows some example lessons  that reflect  SAMR and TPACK frameworks. Click here to see the chart with working links.

In addition to this exemplar chart, the site published the chart above,  called Technology is Learning, offers some good resources to consider from digital portfolios to flipped lessons.