QR Code Ideas

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QR codes are finally showing up in lots of places, posters, magazines, web sites. Sometimes they direct you to a vendor's web site, sometimes to contact information, sometimes to special offers. I think they could be a useful addition to the tech integrated classroom and tech-savvy teacher.



A QR Code (it stands for "Quick Response") is a  two-dimensional  "bar" code that can store a web site's URL, plain text, phone numbers, email addresses and pretty much any other alphanumeric data you want to communicate. You need a scan app to access the code. Just launch the app, center the code image in the viewer guides and get to the info coded in the image.



So how do I see this used by a classroom teacher?

Review answers

How about coded answers to a math review? Scan the code at the left.

Maybe you have iPads in the classroom or students have smart phones. You might have different stations around the room, where QR codes are used for instructions. No one knows what to do at the station until they get there. Scanning the QR code of the URL with the device (iPad, iPhone, etc.) takes them directly to the web site, without having to fuss with getting the URL typed correctly.

You can scan a QR code being projected to a large screen or from a computer screen. If the camera can focus the image, it can read the code information.

Consider a student doing research in the media center. As they find web sites to use in research, have them create a QR code for the site. This is simply an image, so it can be stored or included in a document as desired. QR codes might be incorporated into a presentation done by students.

Have some fun with this tool. Put your contact information or your teaching schedule into a QR code. Print these on handouts or cards that you hand out to parents. If they don't know how to use the QR code, consider it a teachable moment and help them along.

The QR code is standardized, so any code-scanning app will be able to read any code image. QR codes have been used in other parts of the world for a few years and are finally getting more attention in the US. In theory, you can store up to 4296 characters, but with larger amounts of data the image resolution becomes important. Keep it well under the max character count.
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www.qrstuff.com

A web site that I have used successfully to create QR images is QRStuff.com. http://www.qrstuff.com/
At this site, you can create any type of QR code, then download the image. Print the image on business cards, web pages, paper handouts or post it to web pages or online profiles.


The scanner app I use on both my iPhone and iPad is called simply Scan. It is extremely easy to use, activating the QR code automatically once the device camera focuses in on the code. Scan, Inc. was founded by three friends in their college apartments in January 2011.

scan.me