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In my work supporting school, I’ve discovered that professors at all times recognize methods to make their instructing extra environment friendly. Many occasions, studying a brand new instructional expertise software is time-consuming. On this case, I’m proposing utilizing expertise that we already use in our day by day lives and making use of it to our lecture rooms.
QR codes (brief for “fast response”) are square-shaped codes that many people use for restaurant menus, live performance tickets, and church donations. We now have seen them at bus stops, outdoors storefronts, and on occasion flyers. Why are professors not utilizing them of their school lecture rooms? QR codes can be utilized to share supplies with college students and to have interaction college students in lively studying actions. They supply a fast strategy to entry a webpage that might be the syllabus, a ballot, an inventory of sources, or a shared on-line area for a brainstorming exercise. Not all college students will come to class with a laptop computer however many may have a cellphone with a digital camera. And most college students will know what to do after they see a QR code!
What can professors use QR codes for?
Think about a classroom the place the scholars stroll in to discover a QR code displayed on the display screen or a web based convention room the place the shared display screen is displaying a QR code. Whereas everyone seems to be arriving and getting settled, college students scan the QR code and land on a web page the place the professor has put the agenda for right this moment’s lesson, a few reminders, and an entry ticket. The entry ticket asks college students to reply a query. It could be about present occasions associated to the sphere, the assigned studying of the day, a tough drawback or idea, or a mirrored image on the time and technique that college students are utilizing to arrange for an upcoming examination. Davidson and Katopodis (2022) be aware within the New Faculty Classroom “actions that assist college students suppose deeply concerning the methods through which they be taught finest might be among the many most useful in the whole school expertise” (pp. 101-102). College students’ brief solutions are nameless. They’re posted on a shared digital board akin to Padlet, a Google doc, or Jamboard that everybody can contribute to and skim. The questions don’t have proper or fallacious solutions. They’re meant to assist college students set up current data, pull related data into working reminiscence, and encourage reflection and metacognition.
The professor begins the category by asking two volunteers to elaborate on their solutions and reminds everybody that the board will stay open for all to put up. Then, the trainer proceeds to conduct a brief lecture the place course supplies such because the syllabus, slides, or movies could be shared with everybody by a QR code (see Determine 1). College students may make a replica of the slides or worksheets and take notes as they comply with the lecture. They may additionally save the URL of the video to view for a second time.
Throughout class, the professor would possibly pause lecturing for an lively studying train or to verify for understanding. The train may contain recall follow. “Repeated recall seems to assist reminiscence consolidate right into a cohesive illustration within the mind and to strengthen and multiply the routes by which the data can later be retrieved” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014, p. 29). A QR code would possibly result in an interactive exercise utilizing Mentimeter, PollEverywhere, Socrative, or Kahoot the place college students submit solutions anonymously and self-check what they know. “When the mind is retrieving studied textual content, names, formulation, expertise, or anything, it’s doing one thing totally different and tougher than when it sees the knowledge once more or restudies. That additional effort deepens the ensuing storage and retrieval power” (Carey, 2015, p. 94).
If college students are working in teams, the QR code may result in detailed directions and a shared area the place they’re collaboratively making a useful resource or documenting their dialogue. This shared area might be a Google slide, a Padlet wall, or a Jamboard body. The professor would possibly assist preserve college students’ work organized by assigning totally different on-line areas to totally different teams utilizing distinct QR codes or by asking every group so as to add a brand new slide or put up to a unique part of the identical doc.
On the finish of sophistication, the professor shows another QR code that results in a brief survey asking college students to replicate on what they’ve discovered, the way it connects with their lives, and what questions stay of their minds. Determine 2 reveals a Know-Surprise-Study exercise utilizing Jamboard. The primary two slides can be utilized initially of the category. College students are requested to write down what they already know and what they wish to find out about a subject. The final slide can be utilized on the finish of a category session when college students are requested to write down what they’ve discovered.
In abstract, professors can use QR codes to:
- make bulletins
- activate prior data
- share course content material
- verify for understanding
- encourage reflection
- help collaboration
- get suggestions
Why not simply share a hyperlink?
Whereas all of the actions that I suggest in my imaginary class might be executed by displaying a URL on the display screen, it’s extra time-consuming and error-prone to ask college students to sort an extended string of letters and numbers than to level to a QR code and faucet on a cellphone display screen. It is usually attainable to share hyperlinks with college students by a course administration system or presentation slides however in my expertise, extra college students deliver their telephones than their laptops to class. My suggestion is to share the hyperlinks in as some ways as attainable – by the course web site, by handouts and on classroom screens. If college students are working in teams, it is extremely possible that not less than one scholar has a cellphone and is ready to put up the result of their collaborative work.
What are some fairness, accessibility, and safety points?
As with all expertise utilized in courses, we have to take into account fairness, accessibility and safety points. To handle fairness and accessibility, professors may learn the questions out loud and permit a number of methods of participation. For instance, college students can present coloured index playing cards or use American signal language to point their solutions to multiple-choice questions. College students also can write down their solutions on a sheet of paper that they hand in on the finish of the category or enter their solutions on a digital board after class. Professors can maximize accessibility by making supplies and QR codes accessible in a number of areas and upfront of the category session. Asking college students to work in small teams and submit one collective or consultant reply is one other strategy to enable participation for college kids who won’t have gear or Web connection. Professors ought to make sure that all college students have entry and may full QR code actions in the event that they determine to tie participation to college students’ grades.
To handle cybersecurity points, professors may maintain temporary discussions about what QR codes are and when it’s applicable to scan them. Earlier than clicking on internet hyperlinks, we have to take into account who’s sharing them and for what objective. Comparable concerns needs to be made earlier than scanning QR codes. Professors ought to make college students conscious of the websites and instruments that QR codes are resulting in and whether or not identifiable data is being collected. QR code actions might be preceded by sharing sensible recommendations on cybersecurity.
How can professors discover or create QR codes?
A QR code of any webpage might be simply generated utilizing the Chrome internet browser. Directions for a way to take action on totally different working techniques might be discovered on-line. The ensuing picture might be downloaded to a pc and added to slides, flyers, handouts, or course websites. Professors preferring extra whimsical QR codes of various colours and shapes can use on-line QR code turbines akin to QRcode-monkey, QR-code-generator or Me-QR. Many viewers engagement instruments akin to Mentimeter or Ballot All over the place robotically generate QR codes for his or her actions. On-line boards akin to Padlet or Wakelet additionally present QR codes as a part of their sharing choices.
Conclusion
Quick and correct entry to a useful resource saves time and prevents confusion. Professors can use QR codes to share supplies, begin lively studying workouts, and lengthen studying past the allotted class interval. Presenters can achieve rapid perception into what the viewers is considering and make the content material extra related to them. Instructors may give voice to a big class when there isn’t a time to ask particular person college students to talk up. There’s a place for QR codes in greater schooling, and studying to make use of them can profit each professors and college students. To get extra concepts on how one can use QR codes, readers can assessment 8 Methods to Use QR Codes in Greater Schooling School rooms by Tolu Noah (2022).
Shiao-Chuan Kung is the director of the Heart for On-line Studying at Hunter Faculty, Metropolis College of New York. Her major position is to assist school discover technical options to pedagogical issues. She facilitates instructing and studying with expertise workshops, coordinates skilled improvement occasions for school and acts as expertise advisor for departmental tasks in addition to college-wide initiatives. She additionally consults with professors and departments within the design and instructing of hybrid, HyFlex and on-line programs.
References
Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L. III, & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of profitable studying. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard College Press.
Carey, B. (2015). How We Study: The Stunning Reality About When, The place, and Why It Occurs. Random Home.
Davidson, C., & Katopodis, C. (2022). The New Faculty Classroom. Harvard College Press.
Noah, T. (2022) 8 Methods to Use QR Codes in Greater Schooling School rooms. Educause Overview. EDUCAUSE. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/8/8-ways-to-use-qr-codes-in-higher-education-classrooms
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