PrAACtical Uses for QR Codes

In some of our posts, we talked about using QR (Quick Response)  codes as a way to share information.  If you are new to QR codes, they are like bar codes in that you scan them with some kind of device (like a smart phone or tablet) that has software or an app that reads the code. Then what? Then it takes you to whatever the author wanted you to see or hear. For example, a QR code on an SGD in a loan library might take you to a quick start tutorial on the manufacturer’s website. A QR code on a handout might take you an electronic copy of that handout  that is stored on someone’s website or a cloud service, like DropBox or Google Docs/Drive. A QR code on the student’s picture card ring might take you to an audio recording of directions for how to complete a task or what to do to calm down. I might paste a QR code on the back of a student’s device (with their permission of course), so that an aide scan scan it and see a video of how to do aided language input. There are a million prAACtical ways to use QR codes.

Here’s a tutorial for how to make them.

Steven Anderson has a great LiveBinder devoted to QR codes in education with lots of tips, examples, and resources.  There are quite a few free QR code generators online. My current favorite is this one  which is simple but effective. There are also lots of free apps to scan/read the QR codes for your mobile devices.

Once you’ve made a QR code, then you save it to your computer as an image. You can insert the QR Code  image into a document, a PowerPoint presentation, or any number of things.  You don’t even have to be close by to scan  the QR code. At the ATIA conference  last year, I scanned QR codes on a presenter’s slide and was able to download the handout right from my seat. That got my attention and I have been using them ever since.

Want to try one out? Scan the QR code in the banner of this post. We’re no experts on QR codes, but since they’ve been helpful to us, we figured they might work for some of you as well.

If you use QR codes in your work, we’d love to hear about it.