6. Assessing Media Affordances: The SAMR Model
6.2. The SAMR Model
A good way to assess whether a particular application of media or technology is making full use of the affordances of a medium are to apply the SAMR model developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, a technology consultant based in the USA.
Puentedura suggests four ‘levels’ of technology application in education:
- Substitution: A direct tool substitute, with no functional change, for example, a video recording of a classroom lecture on water quality made available for downloading by students; students are assessed on the content of the lecture by written exams at the end of the course.
- Augmentation: A direct tool substitute, with functional improvement, for example, the video lecture is embedded in an LMS, and edited into four sections, with online multiple-choice questions at the end of each section for students to answer.
- Modification: Significant task redesign, for example, the instructor provides video recordings of water being tested, and asks students to analyze each of the recordings in terms of the principles taught in the course in the form of essay-type questions that are assessed.
- Redefinition: Creation of new tasks, inconceivable without the use of technology, for example, the instructor provides readings and online guidance through the LMS, and students are asked to record with their mobile phones how they selected samples of water for testing quality, and integrate their findings and analysis in the form of an e-portfolio of their work.
In the first two levels, substitution and augmentation, video is used to enhance the method of teaching but it is only where the video is used in the final two stages, modification and redefinition, that teaching is actually transformed. Significantly, Puentedura links the modification and transformation levels to the development of Bloom’s higher-order ’ 21st-century’ skills such as analysis, evaluation, and creativity (Puentedura, 2014). For a more detailed description of the model and how it works, see the video: Introduction to the SAMR model.