25. QR Codes Increase Productivity
Blog Post Agenda:
1. What are QR Codes?
2.Techie Teachers’ Tricks for Using QR Codes
3. Examples of QR Codes
1. What are QR Codes
QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response. QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes. According to Wikipedia, the QR code system was invented in 1994. QR codes became very popular due to their fast readability. A QR code consists of square dots arranged in a square grid which can be read by different devices such as smart phones, tablets, QR readers. Users can read QR codes by using different sites or apps or generate QR codes.
2. Techie Teachers’ Tricks for Using QR Codes
Using QR codes in the classroom can be so much fun! By using QR codes, teachers can substitute, augment, modify, or redefine learning experiences (SAMR). QR codes can really make things much easier. QR codes have increased productivity so much in my class! Since we started using them, everything was a click away. Just imagine having your students access a thesaurus, or just having to type this word in their browser. Right after I introduced the QR codes to my students in our English Language Arts class they had to find synonyms for certain words. Having a QR code for the thesaurus, was so helpful for all my students because accessing it was just practically just a click away. I also saw the huge benefits of using QR codes when I had my parent-teacher conferences a couple weeks ago. Again, sharing with parents their children’s websites, e-portfolios, blogs, or class resources, was just a click away. Besides that, all the resources parents scanned during our parent-teacher conference were automatically saved in their app history which made it so easy to collect and reference later.
Information that can be stored in a code:
-a website address (URL)
-a short piece of text
-a phone number
-an email address
QR reading apps (first one is my favorite):
-I-nigma app (for android or Apple devices), QR Code Reader (for android or Apple devices)
QR generators (first one is my favorite, but I like other sites for the different features they provide, too).
–Goo.gl (= Google’s URL shortening tool. When you shorten a link with Goo.gl a QR code is created for it automatically. To find the QR code, click the “details” link after your shortened URL has been made, then you can save it, or print it. This is a great tool! All links you shorten are automatically saved by Goo.gle.),
–QR Voice (=free tool that allows you to create QR codes that when scanned will play a short audio message- 100 characters. This tool allows teachers to do so many things! More about audio QR codes in my next post),
–Visualead (3 nice visual QR codes for free; you can see an example below),
–QR generator (their interface looks great, and you can create fancy QR codes, but after the 14 days trial you can’t access your codes unless you pay a quite expensive subscription–I made the mistake of thinking that I would be able to be able to use the codes I had created during the trial period even after those 14 days; unfortunately, after these 14 days I had to re-create all my QR codes using a different site, which happened to be Goo.gle. Such a hassle! Learned my lesson! :),
–QR Droid Code Generator.
What can you do with QR codes in the classroom?
Students can scan QR codes to take them to a specific website for research, blog, or other online resources, listen to a story that is being read aloud, watch a video on an academic topic, complete academic scavenger hunts, etc.
Some activities I have been doing with my students, in which students made their own QR Codes, include:
-4th grade students recording themselves reading books for a Kindergarten class (they just pasted the QR code inside of the book cover). We used the MP3 app to record these audios. You can also use the mp3.org website or any other websites to produce audio files.
-students wrote a math problems and made a QR Code for the answer
-students made Google Presentations (it can be any topic: math, science, social studies, English Language Arts, etc.) and pasted their QR codes to a 3-D art project or diorama.
-students made iMovies, uploaded them to YouTube or Vimeo, and made a QR code to take home for parents to scan and watch or add to their student-led conferences portfolio
-students can make human body posters and create audio recordings talking about each body part, then label each body part with QR codes (once scanned the audio would play right away)
– Back to School Scavenger Hunt for parents by writing clues, attaching them to QR codes and pasting the QR codes around the room. Check out a cool free Back-to-School QR Code Activity created by The Techie Teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers here. This activity is so much fun! Also, you can check out another great Back to School Scavenger Hunt QR Code Activity created by Loretta Lee on Teachers Pay Teachers here.
3. Examples of QR Codes
Download a QR reader app (like i-nigma) and scan my teacher blog QR code. You’ll see how all QR codes you scan are saved in your history. I created this QR code with Visualead.
I displayed QR codes all over my room. These QR codes are links to various online resources we are using in class, or links to students’ portfolios, their own websites, or audio books reviews. I created these QR codes with QR code generator and I had the unpleasant surprise to notice that after the 14 day trial period I wasn’t able to use the codes I created during the trial period. So, I had to re-create all of my QR codes, because upgrading was too expensive, and like all teachers, I prefer using free websites when there are plenty other free options. I am including them here for you to see even though if you tried to scan them, it would say that they were archived. I didn’t want to display here the new ones I created just because I am keeping my students’ eportfolios private this year.
QR Code for McMillan dictionary:
A collection of educational resources my students are using:
You can also see my bulletin board below:
I am very excited about the potential of QR codes in the classroom. I am also very excited about the audio QR codes–more information about audio QR codes in my next post. Audio QR codes are so awesome!
Until next time get creative, be inspired, and grow! 🙂
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