The Substitution - Augmentation - Modification - Redefinition (SAMR) framework for technology integration: Challenges to its use for guiding K-12 teachers’ pedagogy and practice

In this paper we examine Puentedura’s (2006) Substitution - Augmentation - Modification - Redefinition (SAMR) model for K-12 technology integration. Despite its increased use among practitioners, to date the model has not been included within scholarly debate. We analyze the SAMR model in light of extant educational technology literature and using an analytic approach, our exploration and analysis centers on an identification of the model's four core tiers. We aim to provide insights into the model’s shortcomings, as it is used to represent technology integration as a four-tiered, task-based, hierarchical process. Our analysis suggests that the SAMR model limits practitioners’ understanding of the complexity of integrating technology to support and enhance all levels of teaching and learning.