Wednesday, September 24, 2014

I just had one of those "AHA" moments.

I've used QR codes before with my students. To be honest, it was a bit more of a pain that it was worth. It was a headache only because not every student had access to a device that could scan a code. My school does not have a 1:1 program, and it doesn't look like that will change any time soon. However, QR codes can be amazingly useful.

I was looking through my son's school folder and looking at all the "worksheets" and the other cool projects that come home. As I was mumbling about the amount of papers that come home, I thought, why couldn't this all be digital? Then it happened. The AHA moment. Why not do what Tony Vincent does and make QR code stickers. The teacher could send home the important work, and then store the rest online somewhere that we could access through a QR code scan. Here is the even bigger AHA moment, why don't I do that as a high school teacher? Instead of sending endless documents home at the beginning of each semester, simply send a sticker with a code home where parents could access all the files digitally, and digitally sign them. I think my desk just got even emptier.

Take a look at Tony Vincent's blog about QR codes, he offers some great suggest and tools to scan and create codes. I also use the i-nigma scanner on my android, and appreciate its simplicity. As far as making codes, I've used Goo.gl and to quickly make a code of a URL. Again, the blog referenced, offers some great tools for making QR codes. I can not wait to start making stickers to send home instead of sending piles of paperwork.


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