Tools of the Trade: Quick Response (QR) Codes
By Rita Sorrentino
We see them everywhere: magazines and newspaper advertisements, billboards and business cards, cereal boxes, web pages, and even on items of clothing. Do these popular pixilated marketing images have educational value? Certainly!
First, what is a QR code? Quick Response (QR) codes are two-dimensional barcodes that are created with a QR Generator and then scanned with a QR Reader. QR Readers transform print and physical worlds into digital realities. By downloading a free app on a digital device, you are able to scan the matrix-designed QR code, which will then lead you to a website, video, document file, contact information, or some other data.
What do you and your students need? You and your students need a device with Wi-Fi access to scan and read the QR code. A variety of mobile devices such as Smartphones, iPads, Tablets, and Laptops can scan and interpret the code. With regular access and use, QR Readers can be implemented into many aspects of the curriculum. Without doubt, teachers and students will find creative uses for QR codes in and out of the classroom.
Younger students can reap the benefit of QR Codes since it leads them quickly and directly to rich web resources thus allowing more time on task. At all grade levels, important content from subject areas can be easily accessed on mobile devices giving students more opportunities to read, research, and review both in and out of the classroom.
Need a few ideas to jump start using QR codes in your classes? Consider these suggestions:
- Do Now: At the beginning of the class, students scan a code for a getting-started activity. It can include reading selected text, responding to a writing/photo prompt, or checking answers from previous assignment.
- Book Trailers or Author Websites: QR codes can be placed inside covers of books in a class library that link to book trailers on the web as well as to an author’s website.
- Open House Virtual Tour: Create a great way to welcome parents and other visitors to the classroom by posting QR codes that explain aspects of the year’s curriculum and activities. Include goals and expectations for specific projects, examples of students’ work, or an audio or video message from the students and/or teacher.
- Roll the Dice: Prepare digital or printed dice on which each slide contains a QR Code related to a certain reading/writing activity. Foam dice might prove more durable than paper and can be reused easily. Tony Vincent (see below) suggests creating reflection response options on the dice.
What are the benefits? QR codes can save time and help make classrooms more interactive. They hold unlimited potential for providing immediate connectivity and communication. When students begin creating their own codes, it will be extremely important to instruct them in the practice of good digital citizenship.
- Steven Anderson (@web20classroom) posted a LiveBinder for QR Codes with links to tutorials, interesting educational uses, and recommended apps for specific devices.
- Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) writes extensively on integrating mobile technology into teaching and learning. In What’s Up with QR Codes, Tony offers best tools to use for generating and reading codes, clever ideas for classrooms, and an opinion on use, overuse, and best practices.
- Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) from Free Technology for Teachers has shared several articles on this topic. You might find some innovative uses for back-to-school night in Three Things to do With QR Codes On Back-to-School Night, and ideas for fun learning in Send You Students on a QR Code Treasure Hunt.
With thoughtful planning, QR Codes can increase interest and participation in the curriculum. Whether codes are teacher generated or student generated, using QR codes in the classroom can be very exciting and productive. They give students easy access to rich content, provide opportunities for differentiated instruction, and make teaching and learning more interactive. The coded squares take up little space and can readily be displayed in classrooms, throughout the school building, and beyond.
If you find the black and white boxes lacking in artistic appeal, you can be creative in making yours. This one was generated with QRCodify. Besides color, you include logo and customize the shape.
Oh, the places you can go with QR Codes! (Where did these QR Codes take you?)
Can you suggest a way of using them in your classroom practice? Please share in the comments below.
Rita Sorrentino is a recently retired teacher from Overbrook Elementary School in Philadelphia. Rita is finding new pathways for working with teachers and students to use digital tools for reading writing, speaking and listening. She presented ‘Beyond Superheroes: Using Comics Across the Curriculum” at the PETE&C Conference in Hershey in February. Rita joined the Pennsylvania Writing Project in 2004 and the Philadelphia Writing Project in 1994.