QR codes have been peppered into class discussions a few times during my program. I have noticed, with the current state of the world, restaurants around town have defaulted to using QR codes embedded with a link to their menu rather than printing them out and having to sanitize or recycle and reprint. How brilliant! Save some paper, save some trees. But what is a QR code really? And how does one use it within a classroom?

QR stands for Quick Response. It’s basically a quick, scannable barcode-like image that takes you to a specific digital destination.

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They are quite easy to use. After doing some googling all you have to do is find a QR code generator website like this one. You input the link to the information you are trying to share and voila! To scan the code simply open up the camera app on your phone and hover over the image. A link should pop-up at the top of your screen that will take you to your destination. However, in some cases you may need to enable your phone to do this. If that’s the case open settings from your home screen. Scroll down and top on camera. Find ‘Scan QR codes‘ and enable it by making sure the switch is green.

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Some ways I see myself using QR codes in my classroom are as follows:

  1. Differentiation (Ex. If the assignment is to analyze a poem, provide a QR code with a reading of the poem and a few focus questions to get them started)
  2. Gallery Walks – Use QR codes to share student work. Students can make a video or audio recording to demonstrate learning. They can also use them to describe a process or show how to solve a problem.
  3. Learning Stations / Prompts – set-up codes around each station around the room. Codes can take students to online activities, videos or content that they need to use to solve a question, etc.

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Photo byΒ David DvořÑčekΒ onΒ Unsplash