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The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model offers a method of seeing how computer technology might impact teaching and learning.  It also shows a progression that adopters of educational technology often follow as they progress through teaching and learning with technology.   While one might argue over whether an activity can be defined as one level or another, the important concept to grasp here is the level of student engagement. One might well measure progression along these levels by looking at who is asking the important questions.  As one moves along the continuum, computer technology becomes more important in the classroom but at the same time becomes more invisibly woven into the demands of good teaching and learning.

"n the Australian Curriculum, students develop ICT capability as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school, and in their lives beyond school. The capability involves students in learning to make the most of the digital technologies available to them, adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment. The Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008) recognises that in a digital age, and with rapid and continuing changes in the ways that people share, use, develop and communicate with ICT, young people need to be highly skilled in its use. To participate in a knowledge-based economy and to be empowered within a technologically sophisticated society now and into the future, students need the knowledge, skills and confidence to make ICT work for them at school, at home, at work and in their communities. Information and communication technologies are fast and automated, interactive and multimodal, and they support the rapid communication and representation of knowledge to many audiences and its adaptation in different contexts. They transform the ways that students think and learn and give them greater control over how, where and when they learn."

Technology tools also have value beyond teaching the core curriculum. Here are our recommendations for research-proven tech tools that can enable more comprehensive assessment and better collaborative discussions. We also explore the best resources for teaching digital literacy in the classroom.

Every single teacher is concerned about his/ her teaching practices and the skills involved in this process. How many times have you wondered about a better way to teach the same lesson you have delivered to an eariler class? How often have you used technology to engage your students and improve their learning 

"Whether you're the parent of a child with a reading disability or an educator that works with learning disabled students on a daily basis, you're undoubtedly always looking for new tools to help these bright young kids meet their potential and work through their disability. While there are numerous technologies out there that can help, perhaps one of the richest is the iPad, which offers dozens of applications designed to meet the needs of learning disabled kids and beginning readers alike. Here, we highlight just a few of the amazing apps out there that can help students with a reading disability improve their skills not only in reading, writing, and spelling, but also get a boost in confidence and learn to see school as a fun, engaging activity, not a struggle."

"SAMR, a model designed to help educators integrate technology into teaching and learning, was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D.. The model aims to enable teachers to design, develop, and integrate digital learning experiences that utilize technology to transform learning experiences to lead to high levels of achievement for students."

"Sometimes a visual guide comes along and it just makes total sense. That's how I felt about Allan Carrington's clever 'Padagogy Wheel' which we featured on Edudemic last week. Check out the previous version then view the one below to see the differences. From what I can tell, putting the wheel on this site has generated a bit of buzz and I'm glad we could help spread the knowledge. But I was quite amazed this morning when I saw that the Padagogy Wheel had been updated. Now at version 2.0, it features another band around the edge focusing on the SAMR Model and on helping teachers (and admins) effectively integrate education technology. In this new model Allan sorted the dozens of apps and steps of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy into the SAMR Model (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition)."

Google Drive is Google's cloud storage  with15 GB free of charge. This is probably one of the best productivity suites that  has a huge potential for us in education.  Besides being able to store our files and access them anywhere with internet connection, Google Drive also enables us to view, share and collaborate in real time while creating a document, spreadsheet or making a drawing. For those of you who are still struggling to come to grips with Google Drive functionalities, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has a special page packed full of interesting guides and tutorials on how teachers can use Google Drive. Check it out to learn more

Great info graphic highlighting some of the amazing goings on with the Internet. Imagine what will happen when the NBN gets going and wearable technology becomes common place.

The important issue here for us is not so much that change is occurring so quickly when it comes to the prospects of work for our kids. As technology evolves, there's no doubt that more and more traditional jobs are going to be replaced and new, different ones created. Whether you believe that's "progress" or not, it's hard to slow it down.

For some students the hardest part of starting a creative writing assignment is generating an idea to write about. Here are seven good sources of writing prompts that you can share with your students.

It seems that every school is considering purchasing iPads these days, and Apple has reported that iPad sales to schools are currently outselling MacBook sales by a very large margin. However, the rush to purchase iPads often precedes the careful planning and preparation that's so crucial to their success as educational tools. Technology alone is never the answer. Instead, iPad use needs to be integrated within a holistic approach to 21st-century education that encompasses a thorough and ongoing review of the skills and competencies required in our rapidly changing society and the educational processes that best help students acquire them.

Though we've talked about digital citizenship in the past, since we're constantly using technology and interacting in digital communities, an ongoing discussion about digital citizenship isn't a waste of time, but rather a necessity.

Technology has been changing the way people learn and interact for thousands of years. Many researchers argue that major innovations adopted by society have an effect on the structure of the human brain. There is little doubt that the Internet has changed the way people find information and the way they communicate. Changes to the way that students learn, and probably what they learn, need to follow.

These could be handy for any students wanting to explore and create digital stories. "These web-based applications will have you creating animations in no time. Creating animations has always been considered as one of the most complex aspects of graphic design that requires specific software and technological expertise. It is a time-intensive activity that requires heavy software and high speed computers."

We're putting together some research for some upcoming BYOT policy content, and in the course of doing so found many existing policies enlightening. For starters, it is clear that some districts were more open-minded entering their BYOT programs than others. Many "policies" (not included below) were really more of a set of rules and consequences for breaking the rules than they were a supporting framework for teachers and students. In the end, every situation is different. There is no single "right way" to implement a BYOT program, so we've included 11 widely varying policy styles below, with each authoring school or district named inline.

For some students the hardest part of starting a creative writing assignment is generating an idea to write about. Here are seven good sources of writing prompts that you can share with your students.