Welcome to the penultimate post in my Digital Technologies reflective blog. This is the last week of learning on this module. The time has flown past. I hope you have been enjoying reading every week and learning from my personal experiences and reflections.
This week we were working with QR (Quick Response) codes. The task was to develop an activity that could be used in the classroom centred around the use of QR codes. These are a good resource to promote active learning and outdoor learning.
So, how can QR codes aid in learning? What tasks can be done using QR codes? And do QR codes add any value to learning? All shall be answered in the very near future. Happy reading.
QR codes are similar to bar codes used in supermarkets, they are codes which can be scanned to provide information. In the supermarket bar codes are scanned in order to tell the computer the price of a product, whereas QR codes can be used in the place of hyperlinks. These codes can be displayed on posters to provide a quick link to a website. This is more efficient as the viewer of the poster does not have to make a general internet search for the website they are looking for as the QR code takes them straight to the website. Moreover, QR codes can be used to offer more information about something. Again, this could be present on a poster, the QR code could be scanned to give clarification on a term or to give more advanced information than what can be displayed on a poster. QR codes can be scanned by an app available on most modern mobile devices.
Since QR codes are usually found on posters we found it quite difficult to come up with an activity that incorporated these QR codes. Our main issue was developing an activity that didn’t appear to be adding the codes just for the sake of adding them, it was difficult to find a way to make the QR codes add to the learning experience and further develop the learning taking place.
Eventually we came up with an activity, after much googling and brainstorming for inspiration, we found online that the codes can be used to create a more realistic class shop. This gave us the idea to use the book creator app, which we used a number of weeks ago, to develop a shop puzzle book. Our book followed a story about a character who was throwing a party and had to go to the shop to buy the items on a shopping list. The list had different items on it, some more specific than others, which the learner, acting as the shopper, had to collect as they went through the shop. Each page had one item that was on the list and items which were similar. The learner would have to select the correct item that matched the item described on the shopping list, then they would have to scan the QR code to see how much that item cost. The shopper is expected to keep a running total of how much their shopping is going to cost. At the end of the book there are various totals and hopefully the learner has added their prices up correctly and they can scan to see which total is correct.
This task was designed around a classroom play shop but in the format of an activity booklet, this task would be good for any learner who has completed the main class learning activities with time to spare. This activity s primarily centred around mathematics and reinforces the learning of addition and the addition of money. This task also puts the learning into a realistic context, the format of a shop and spending money within a set budget.
As a team we found it was difficult to develop an activity that focused on a different curricular area other that mathematics. It appears that the team tends to default to a literacy or mathematics activity. However, despite our efforts to develop an activity centred around a different curricular area we still ended up doing a maths activity. This was because this was the best idea we had come up with, that didn’t seem to add the QR codes for the sake of adding them. We were getting concerned about time, so we made the decision to run with this idea in order to have a presentable activity at the end of the class. If we had more time, we may have been able to develop an idea that was centred around a different curricular area.
As a team we found it quite hard to fathom a practical use for the QR codes in the classroom. Most of the uses we came up with just appeared to add the QR codes just so they are there, we seriously struggled to understand how QR codes can be used to meaningfully develop learning.
Signing off for the second-last time.
