The SAMR model is a widely understood model for technology adoption and integration in education. It clearly defines how one moves up the ladder to more technology rich and transformative lessons. With the changing of times, I feel that this standard has been modified. This post will outline how I feel we all need to take a fresh look at the SAMR model.

Let's take a flashback to 5 years ago when the SAMR model was first adopted. I walked into my first teaching job. As I looked around the room, I identified some key technology landmarks. Mounted high along the wall was a tube television with a VCR attached to it. In the corner was my desk and a computer station, keep in mind that there was no wireless internet available. Last, was the prize of the room, my overhead projector. This equipment was the industry standard, my bottom line for the use and integration of technology. Anything above this line would begin to be categorized and labeled in the SAMR model. Substitution could be reached by using an interactive whiteboard or digital curriculum in your classroom! This may not have been a widely seen phenomenon, but it did exist. It certainly was present 10 years ago.


Now back to today. The industry standard for technology in education is higher. Teachers have access to wireless internet, almost every classroom has an interactive whiteboard, teachers have the flexibility of having multiple mobile devices in their classrooms, curriculum is given to teachers in digital form! These are the realities of today and are not new.

Since the industry standard has been raised, so has the SAMR model. It's no longer outside of the norm to have your lessons run through an interactive whiteboard or digital projector. You are handed your curriculum in that format. Teachers need to understand that this transfer is no substitution on their part, it is their bottom line. Technology rich lessons begin by substituting the use of the interactive whiteboard and the digital curriculum. Teachers must go above and beyond the industry standard to be able to move up the SAMR model.