The 4C's and SAMR
Like everything else in education, instructional technology loves to use acronyms. Today we are going to talk about the 4 C’s and SAMR. The 4 C’s were first introduced to us way back in 2009 as part of the framework for 21st Century Skills.
Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity were defined as needed 21st century student skills.
“Learning how and when to be creative, how to build cross-cultural teams, how to manage budgets and risk, how to present a compelling proposal, and how to manage a project from beginning to end will provide students with the necessary skills to become the next generation of problem finders and solvers, innovators, cross-cultural collaborators, entrepreneurs, and leaders.”
-Dr. Chuck Cadle, Chief Executive Officer Destination Imagination, Inc.
As teachers, we all recognize the merit of Dr.Cadle’s quote and the value of incorporating the 4 C’s in order to prepare our students for the future. When we implement the 4 C’s, they are often connected to technology integration. Notice the graphic above, “technology” isn’t included in any of the descriptors. It is important for us, as educators, to remember to incorporate the 4 C’s both with and without technology. Often times, we dive into a technology integrated activity that involves virtual communication or collaboration skills but we neglect to model or allow students master the skills without the technology, first. Our students live in a very device rich world and we sometimes forget the “soft skill” side of the 4 C’s. We need to ask ourselves, “if students can accomplish mastery of the content using the 4 C’s without technology, then why are we using the technology?" Now that being said, there are numerous technology integration tools that facilitate and promote the 4 C’s. For instance, many of us use Google Docs as a Collaboration and Communication tool in the classroom with students, team members, guests, and/or content experts that allows for easier or unimaginable tasks prior to the tech. As the Technology Coordinator for my district, I obviously love to see high quality instruction that incorporates the 4 C’s and includes integrated technology to accomplish the content purpose. Which brings me to the second acronym, SAMR.
Last April I shared a blog post, Why do you use technology in the classroom?, where the SAMR model was defined and referenced in regards to technology integration. In my blog you were challenged to think about why you are using technology and what the technology is allowing you to do that is either easier or isn’t possible without it.
Now, let’s merge these together. When lesson planning, we should be asking ourselves the following questions:
Now, let’s merge these together. When lesson planning, we should be asking ourselves the following questions:
- What is the content purpose of the lesson? How will I know if students understand the content purpose?
- What activities will allow for students to meet the content purpose?
- How will I incorporate the 4 C’s as I release the learning responsibility onto my students?
- How will I check for understanding along the way?
Next time you are lesson planning, reference the questions above. My belief is that incorporating the 4 C’s in conjunction with the SAMR model will lead to higher quality instruction and ultimately, lead to increased student achievement.
The tech tool spotlight below was created by Mandy Schroeder, our district technology coach. Follow her on Twitter @MrsSchroederGB
Tech Tool: SeeSaw
Seesaw is a tool that allows students to create online digital portfolios to showcase their learning. The power of Seesaw is that it allows students to have some control over how they are documenting their learning. Students decide which artifacts and projects should be included in their portfolios. These can include images, videos, writing samples, drawings, files and links. With the ability to add annotations to these artifacts, the students can further explain their thinking.
The teacher then approves these submissions to be included in each individual student’s portfolio. In addition, parents can be granted access to view their child’s portfolio in real time.
I’ve watched as some of our 4K students created their own portfolios on Seesaw. The program is extremely simple to use at any grade level. It acts as an assessment tool for teachers and a self-assessment and reflection tool for the students.
Click HERE for directions on how to get started with Seesaw. To learn more about how teachers are using this tool, click HERE.
Try it out! It is available on the web and also as an ipad app. Seesaw will save you time, lead to more authentic forms of assessments, allow for easy communication with parents, and provide a place to store all student examples, artifacts and projects.
