The magic of QR codes in the classroom - Karen Mensing

Teaching is both a science and an art, and many teachers around the world spend endless hours perfecting their professional practice. At TEDActive 2013, a few teachers from the United States offer some tricks of the trade they've learned (and continue to hone) along the way.

[karenmensing]

Thanks for all the feedback on my presentation! I'd like to clarify that QR Codes are merely a tool. It is not all that I use to teach, just something that heightens engagement. I love to see my students excited and eager to learn. When I have used QR Codes in the classroom, I have seen that excitement and engagement and it has transformed my lesson in a positive manner. Obviously, I still think the role of the teacher is extremely important! :)

[chapp]

educators are the undervalued asset that supports America.

[AlanDoyleMusic]

A lot of people are cynical about this talk, but technology really can have a major impact on education and learning experience. I know it's not always possible to access every resources, but teachers should always think of how to integrate into the class.the resources they can access.

[carolvangorp]

Dear Karen, Very interesting...thanks.  One thing, however, the feedback like "good job" from a computer seems even less impactful than from a teacher. When we give specific feedback, we need to express WHAT THE STUDENT is doing or needs to get in order for it to have any educational impact.

[dep]

This was posted 7 years ago but the effects are starting to notice judt recently... Who knew this technology existed 7 years ago but applied after 7 years and during a pandemic... We will only see their usefulness once it is put to a test and now we know that this video really is true that the uses of QR codes are limitless and it could change the way all of us disseminate information😁🥳

[TemperanceRaziel]

Don't understand all the negative votes. This is an amazing teaching tool!

[salavora]

Using QR Codes adds an element of fun, of exploration and hence makes it more memorable.
In comparison: I had two geography teachers: One told us that there is a city called Paris which is the capital of france and that we need to know that name for the test... boooring
The other grouped us into teams, handed each team an atlas and then wrote PARIS on the board. The group which found the city AND could tell him in which country / contient it was won points. GREAT! learned a lot this way!
QR->fun

[mooxim]

"students who didn't have devices with them were begging their parents to pull out their smart phones"
Doesn't sound like a particularly good thing to me.

[kirbymarchbarcena]

Well, I just hope the kids won't just always depend on their smartphone or tablets just to enjoy learning.There must be another way to teach the kids without making them bored if they have no tablets or smartphones

[lifemakesmelaf]

In a lot of school districts, kids (especially elementary school kids) are now provided Ipads instead of textbooks so they read the codes with those

[LooksLikeLilian]

The one big thing, other than the fact some kids can't get acres to this tech and the controversy of how old someone should be before they get this tech which is truly a parental decision and should not be further forced upon them to conform to the societal norm of young kids with tech, It is much more rewarding as a student to hear your teachers praise verbally with enthusiasm than to just see it on a screen.

[Kakuzukun]

That's quite the dividing, isolating and shaming pool of activities if inducted to a Public school. A poster takes less than one dollar to produce but a Smartphone of Game Device capable of scanning QR code costs hundreds of dollars, a hundred at the VERY least, creating trouble for every family struggling with affording indulgent luxuries greater than dessert snacks added to the grocery lists. Not being able to participate in classroom fun can be crippling to a small child.

[mrs.francinejones]

Wonderful I’m blown away!! Great use of QR in the 21st century classroom

[wadenkrampf]

Nice idea, I'll use it.

Of course not everyone has the opportunity to use this yet, but sooner or later this technology will reach over 95% of the world. New technology and new ideas will always create curiosity and using curiosity to teach is a smart and easy thing to do.

[ainoaguy]

I dont think the point of the lesson was to just focus on the QR code idea, I think what she was trying to say is that finding innovative ways of teaching can help kids be more interested in learning. The QR codes were just an example of what can be done.

[ParksIII]

I get very sick of all the naysayers who point to the expense and elitism using new technology entails rather than allowing themselves to be inspired by creative teaching approaches using new technologies. I met a 30 something unemployed man today who was blown away by my iPad apps looking at 3D interactive Skeleton and my personal genealogy project on Ancestry. He said he was going to enrol in a computer course today. Yay!

[jetsethi]

It seems like many people missed the point. Yes, QR codes were used. But it seems that it's more about a new method of interactivity for engaging students, or people in general. QR codes were just the means to that end.

[mcraej]

Tech in the classroom does not simply turn our students into consumers, it motives them and helps them to become engaged learners. The experience of reading the "I have a Dream speech" is not as profound as hearing it given by MLK. Using tech in an interactive lesson about the Civil Rights movement allows students to activate multiple areas in their brain making it more likely that the information in the lesson will be encoded into long term memory.

[guiltyguildleader]

Its meant to either obfuscate data or make it readable so you can copy&paste it instead of typing it in, reducing the risk of errors. QR codes have been used by the industries for quite a time in places like logging real life events in mobile environments into databases. The "mystery" around what is written in them created the current craze. Today, most of the time they are a security issue and real life spam.

[ParksIII]

My 8 year old is smart phone savvy and uses QR codes on his ipod and emails information to family and friends and belongs to several blogs and enjoys creating worlds in Minecraft. The tech just keeps getting better, cheaper and easier to access for even the poor.I still go fishing, rock climbing and tramping (all free activities!) with my son but we read books on Kindle and embrace the new technology.The new technologies encourage and teach problem solving, thinking skills, are motivating and work.