Education Technology Integration: Applying the SAMR Model for English Vocabulary Building 

Propagated by Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura, SAMR is a model that helps educators make informed decisions about integrating technology in classrooms to provide improved digital learning experiences for students, in addition to better learning outcomes. In this blog, we explore the application of this model on our product Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder.

The four levels of education technology integration are Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition. As the educator progresses through each level, the role of technology becomes more transformative.

The first two levels of Substitution and Augmentation are meant to 'enhance' the learning experience while the latter two stages of Modification and Redefinition are meant to transform it i.e. by enabling teachers and students to perform activities that couldn't have been otherwise performed.

This 8 minute video by Analisa McMillan is the best I have seen to explain the 4 levels with utmost clarity and simplicity.

Glibzter's browser extension and web app - Glizbter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder works on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers while users access the internet via a laptop or personal computer (PC).  

It enables users to build and expand their vocabulary in English through real-time curation of words and phrases for AI-powered contextual practice when they stream videos with English subtitles/ closed-captions on Netflix and YouTube, and also read online news articles from select media portals such as BBC, CNN, MSN News, The Times of India etc.

Let's dive into how this product offering can be integrated into a classroom setting using the SAMR model of technology integration.

Think vocabulary building, and the image of a physical dictionary comes to mind. You come across a new word and the dictionary becomes a port of call for finding out the meaning. Likewise with idioms, phrasal verbs and connotations. Now imagine substituting the physical dictionary with an online dictionary app, say TheFreeDictionary.com. Or key in the word or phrase into the Google Search box to find its meaning, along with usage examples, pronunciation audio, synonyms, antonyms etc.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: In place of physical books, teachers can curate educational content such as YouTube videos (with subtitles / closed captions in English) and online news articles (e.g. Editorials, Long form news articles on a specific subject), and ask students to watch/ read them on their laptops/ PCs with Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary builder as a browser extension. 

When you come across a new word or phrase, say in a book, magazine or newspaper, you would ideally underline it, jot it down in a notebook, refer the dictionary (online or physical one), jot down the meaning along with the usage sentence/s. What if all this takes place automatically at the back end as and when you are streaming a video on YouTube with subtitles/ closed captions in English or reading an online article without you having to pause the video or break your reading tempo for jotting all these down?

The enhancement is in terms of automatic real-time curation of the most relevant words and phrases (e.g. 20 words and 15 phrases from a 1000 word article) and unhindered content consumption experience for the learner.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: Glibzter Immersive will extract and present to students the most relevant words and also phrases from the curated YouTube videos and online news articles you provide them, for contextual practice. Based on the presented words and phrases, the teacher can create in-class assessments in the future.

Read: Glibzter Immersive v/s Dictionary v/s Google Search

This is the phase where technology is used to design interactive and dynamic tasks that go beyond the limitations of a traditional classroom. (Source: 3P Learning.com). It would redesign the learning activity.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: Glibzter Immersive leverages the power of Generative AI to enable students to better remember the usage of English words and phrases trough contextual relevance i.e. by knowing in what situation and in what emotions can the words/ phrases suggested be used. Add to this 'Word Combinations' i.e. Collocations and 'Synonyms', and students will get a well rounded practice session with translations in 7 Indian languages (soon to be opened for all languages) and audio feature for aiding in better pronunciation.

Redefinition is a phase where technology can make new learning opportunities, hitherto considered impossible, possible.

As an English Vocabulary Builder, Glibzter Immersive caters to the 'What to Speak' aspect of communication. Going forward, we will be looking to building the 'How to Speak' component with voice based assessments. We will also be looking to improve the assessments for contextual usage of words and phrases.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: With these features, teachers can assess communication skills of students, be it in terms of vocabulary application but also in terms of confidence to verbally use the words and phrases in writing and speech.

This blog will be updated once these features are worked on. Until then, do share your views on this blog and our product offering Glibzter Immersive in the comments section below.