QR Codes in the ESL Classroom

     If you're like me, and I'm almost certain you are, you have often stopped and gawked at posters or flyers with that little black and white textiled square in the corner and wondered what the heck it is.  Eventually, you rationalize it to be some kind of mutant barcode, and in fact you're right! QR Codes, or Quick Response Codes, seem to be everywhere and on everything today. So what exactly is a QR Code and why the heck is everyone putting them on everything? Well, compared to a regular barcode you see on merchandise in retail stores, QR Codes posess faster readability and hold more storage space.  What does that mean? Well, in Layman's terms, the barcode at your retail store when read by a scanner only informs the reader of the price and name of the object being scanned while a QR Code when scanned holds a link to a website, photo or video. QR Codes were originally designed for businesses in the form of marketing, hence why you see them all over soda cans, food labels, and all kinds of merchandise. 

     The next question is,"How can I read them?" QR Codes can be read by smartphones and tablets.  There are a lot of free QR Code reading and creating apps available for your mobile device and they are usally all free.  Some of the more popular include, Google Goggles, ScanLife, QR Droid  and Kaywa Reader (a coworker of mine, Chris Johnson hipped me to Kaywa Reader). Simply download the free app via your Google Play Store app on your Droid phone or from your Apple Store on your iphone, and using your phone camera, begin scanning them.  As you will find, the codes link you to websites, photos, or videos instantly. 

 

     So how do these things work in an ESL classroom? Well, many of the same QR Readers available in your app store also allow you to generate you own QR Codes and print them.  This gives you the power to connect students to photos, vidoes, or websites relevant to ESL.  One teacher even had a great idea of forming a scavanger hunt in her ESL institution by placing cut out codes around the hallways that contained instrutions on how to complete the hunt.  Students used their smartphones to deocode the QRs and continue on the ESL scavage. I personally print and paste cut outs of QR Codes via my Quiz and Poll app and let students scan them with their phones to take ESL quizzes or join in class polls. 

 

Students really enjoy scanning QR Codes with their smartphones because it promotes m-Learning.  The results are fun, spontaneous, portable, and personal.  Students are engaged more in learning because they feel a sense of responsibilty being allowed to use their smartphones in class and even more so used as an educational tool. At the end of each of my classes, I actually teach my students how to generate their own QR Codes of photos of themselves and let them hang them on my wall so they can feel free at anytime to check themselves or someone else out.

 

     If you want to know more about QR Codes in your classroom check out the little video below!

 

 

Best,

#mr.ford