Ask what the device is doing for the learning.
SAMR is a four-level model for noticing how technology changes a task. It is about the task, not the tool. Start from zero and you'll have it in about two minutes.
Four levels, rising
Each step asks more of the task than the one before it. Click any step for what it means, what it looks like here, and how to spot it.
The line that matters
Notice where the weather task stopped being recognizable. Between A and M, the assignment itself changed. That line splits the model in half, and it is the only boundary worth memorizing.
Below it, a teacher from 1985 would still recognize the assignment. The device just makes it faster or cleaner. Above it, the task is different: students working on one shared artifact, or sending work to a reader who is not the teacher.
Quick test: describe the lesson without naming any technology. Still makes sense, you're below the line. Stops making sense, you're above it.
Try your eye
Three activities you could meet next week. Pick a level for each, then check your reasoning against the explanation.
Students take the weekly spelling quiz on their devices instead of on paper. It grades itself and shows each student which words they missed.
Students read a chapter on screen instead of in the paperback and answer the same eight questions in a doc.
Students record a podcast interviewing a local veteran, publish it for families, and release a second cut after listener questions come in.
A lens, not a ladder
The staircase shape suggests climbing, which turns the model into a scoreboard. The learning is the goal. The level just describes how you got there. Three questions to ask before you plan around a device.
Before you plan around a device
If you can't write the goal without naming the technology, the tool has become the assignment.
"Nothing, and that's fine, it's a warm-up" is a valid answer. An answer you can't give at all is the signal to stop.
Count the minutes of logging in and troubleshooting against what you get back. Sometimes paper wins, and choosing it is good teaching.
Where the model falls short
Four levels in a row read as a climb, and that is the most common misread of the model. A five minute retrieval check should be a Substitution. Rebuilding it as a group project to reach a higher rung wastes class time. The level should follow the goal, not the shape of the chart.
SAMR describes the product, not the process. A Redefinition project can rest on a weak prompt, thin feedback, or a task no one needed. The model names what the technology did and says nothing about whether the teaching was any good.
The same activity lands differently depending on what your students already do and what they can already use. Even researchers studying SAMR sort similar lessons into different levels. Say what your normal practice is first, then treat any label as a starting point. That is why the evaluator here reports confidence instead of one flat verdict.
SAMR model by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, 2006. Read further below.
Learn more
Four short videos. They play right here, so you keep your place on the page.
You know the model now. Put it to work.
Describe one of your own activities and get a level, the reasoning, and a specific move toward each level above.