February 24, 2020 -

I know firsthand that teachers need things to make their lives easier.  (Better pay, smaller class sizes, more support from administration, less student testing… do I need to go on?) So, I was extremely excited when we were able to add QR codes to our Spark 101 STEM Skills videos on the ‘NEW’ Spark101.org that offer a student view.  With so many schools going 1 to 1 and most students having phones, if you haven’t gotten on the QR code train, it’s time to work smarter, not harder.

“2D barcodes, or QR codes as they are more commonly known, provide users with a ‘Quick Response,’ or a way of quickly accessing information.  Originally created in Japan to track auto parts on a quickly moving assembly line, the square codes provide a stable medium through which information - website links, videos, contact info, text messages, etc. - is conveyed to the end user.  These codes are being used more and more in educational settings, print advertising, and all types of businesses due to their ease of use.  A consumer of the QR code simply needs a Smartphone to scan the codes and jump right to the content!”

                                                Kurt Kohls, Ed Tech Guru and Co-founder QR F.I.T. Trail

Hall Davidson was talking about phones in the classroom back in 2008 with the original iPhone.  There is more storage in my watch today than there was in the phone he was using.  So QR codes in education is not new.

If you are not using QR codes in your classroom, Navya Muralidhar’s blog post, QR codes for innovative learning possibilities in the classroom, has a lot of great ideas!

If you haven’t seen the ‘new’ Spark 101, what are you waiting for?  For real, it’s FREE!  Log in and take a look!

As you are poking around, you might notice “Share with students” at the bottom right of EVERY video.  When you click on that, you will get a QR code and a student link for the video.  Have you thought about using the QR code in your lesson plan?  You can copy the link or the video QR code and put it in a HyperDoc, Google Doc, or whatever you are using in your classroom.  The student link is a static QR code, so it will be the same every time you want to use the lesson. (Put it in your HyperDoc now, and it will be the same for your lesson later this week or next year when you are ready to teach it again.  You can even share it with other teachers.  Awesome right!  Even better, the student link is a safe link with just the video and no other information or materials on the screen.  There will not be advertising or political campaign messages on the screen with the video.  Need content for that newsletter?  Take the classroom QR code you use with students and share it with parents. 

If you are using the QR codes in your class, hit us up on our socials and let us know how you like it.