I am quite a big fan of QR codes as they easily allow you to embed digital content into non-digital resources plus they also allow you to direct students and parents to digital content. As such I am going to share a couple of ideas here however I will not indicate a specific app.
- Using QR codes for group projects.
The idea behind this is allowing students to be set group work exercises based on materials which will be shared with them using QR codes to provide the students access. This introduces a little bit of suspense as all the students will have is a QR code which gives no clue as to the content they are about to work through. Rather than each group working on a separate, different task, you could even provide each group a full set of QR codes where they need to identify the order of the tasks, or manage how they will address this tasks as a team.
As a teacher you just need to set up a folder to each of the group work tasks or problems the pupils will undertaken in groups. You could use OneDrive or GoogleDrive to do this. Each folder should then be populated with the resource materials students will need for each task. This can even include the actual task description thereby reducing the input required by you as the teacher before the students get started. This means students need to read and interpret the instructions to find out what they need to do as part of the task.
Each folder should be shared with the whole class of students so they can read the materials. Sharing with the whole class means the actual groupings can be done at the start of the lesson without any pre-planning. If you want the groups to hand in work or resources you will need to provide them write access as well. There is no need to send an email to students as this is where the QR codes come in.
Now create an appropriate link to each task/problem folder and then convert this into a QR code using www.QRstuff.com or a similar website. Print out the QR codes ready to place either on the walls around the room or on individual tables. Placing the QR codes around the room can introduce a kinesthetic element to the lesson, along with a certain amount of additional excitement as the students scurry around the room to complete the tasks.
Technology and Learning 