QR Wonderful! (part 1)

This is one of a series on QR codes.  If I put it all in one post, I am afraid you would not read it! I know I probably would not. I was able to do a few sessions on campuses last year with QR Codes and all of the teachers really seemed to enjoy it. Some put what they learned to use immediately, and many have asked for a refresher session on it. Hopefully, you will be able to begin using QR Codes educationally by the time this series is finished!

Many of you are probably still wondering what is all the excitement about QR Codes. The answer to that is that with one scan of a code you can have various types of information at your fingertips! What exactly are QR codes? Here is a simple explanation:

You now need to download an app for a scanner. There are many scanners out there, and most are free. My favorite scanner so far is i-Nigma. It seems to run the fastest, the easiest, and is available for almost all SmartPhones. I also like this app because the website is very user friendly when it comes to creating your own codes, but we will discuss that in a later session. So go download a scanner so you can practice using it with the code below!

 

 You should have seen this blog show up on your phone when you scanned it! This was linked to a website, but you can link to prepared messages by you, text messaging, and contact info.

Until Part 2 of this series, I want you to look around for QR Codes and scan them to see what type of information you might find. You might be surprised!  Some common places you might find QR Codes:

• in magazines - usually lead to websites of the product, or more information about something on the magazines page
• on posters - saw one in my doctor's office that led to a health and wellness website or to purchase tickets for an event
• on plant tags - take you to information about how to care for that plant
• business window - leads to business website, facebook, twitter, or other social media
• business cards - gives you contact info you can add to your phone

What are some other sites you have found codes on and where did they lead you? I found one on a watermelon this summer! Care to guess where it led?

Part 2: Creating your own QR Codes