The QR Code in Education

QR Codes?  What?  I had never even heard of these before doing some research today.  But then again, I don't even own a cell phone.  As far as I understand it, a QR Code (short for a Quick Response code) is kind of like the bar codes on the box of Crunch Berries in the supermarket, but instead of simply communicating a price and letting the store know when they need to order more Crunch Berries, these codes can transmit to a mobile device (most interestingly, in my opinion, for educational purposes is the cell phone with camera) all sorts of text, a URL, or other information.

It seems that these codes were developed in Japan for manufacturing purposes (to track parts, I guess) but have expanded to advertisements, street signs and other areas.  What are the implications and opportunities of this type of technology for education?  Here are some of my ideas:

1. Augmented Reality.  Taking a field trip or walking around town?  Look out for QR codes on corners of buildings, signs, etc. that, when scanned, deliver historical facts, pictures of buildings or streets from the past, or instructions for completing a task.  It's like having a tour guide and teacher in your phone.

2. Student-created Activities.  Since these codes can be created easily using free apps, why not have students create them and embed information for other students to use in the future (like the RLO's - Reusable Learning Objects - discussed in our reading Design and Development of Multimedia Learning Objects for Mobile Phones).  Perhaps you are studying the Odyssey in English Literature and students create a tour of Odysseus' travels that other students can follow around campus, learning tidbits of information along the way - a type of interactive book report.

3. Note-Taking.  Textbooks, in print or electronic, could include codes at the end of chapters that would allow students to capture an outline of main ideas in order to help develop note-taking and test-preparation skills.

I am sure there are thousands of other application possibilities for this technology.  It's exciting to see what might develop!