How Teachers Are Using QR Codes in the Classroom to Enhance Learning

Are you a teacher who is looking for ways to make learning even more fun for your students? Then try using QR Codes in the classroom! They make digital content and links easy to access, are customizable, editable, and can be used for all sorts of lesson plans. Keep on reading for examples of how real teachers have used QR Codes in their classrooms!

Why are so many teachers using QR Codes in the classroom?

QR Codes have become increasingly popular among educational institutions across the globe, especially with teachers who focus on younger age levels. With the push towards technology in our daily lives, teachers are realizing that instead of fighting it, they can use technology to their advantage. 

QR Codes are a perfect example of how teachers can positively integrate technology in their classrooms because they’re so easy and flexible to use. Many children already have smartphones, so they can use their smartphones (and also tablets in class) and scan the QR Codes to do things like save homework, find quiz answers, and access links easier. Plus, it also saves on loads of paperwork – something highly beneficial for both teachers and parents.

The benefits of using QR Codes in the classroom

Teachers love using QR Codes in the classroom because they simplify access to complex links, make learning more fun for students, and have a wide variety of uses. Not to mention QR Codes can be customized and edited later on!

It takes mere seconds to scan a QR Code with any smartphone or tablet – whether it’s with a third-party app or directly with the camera, which is why so many teachers are using them to make digital content more accessible for students. This works particularly well with links because students can scan the QR Code and automatically view the website instead of having to type it in themselves. Consider how long links can be if you need to share a specific article. It can take ages to type in manually. You can make it much easier by sharing the QR Code with a projector so students can scan it. For younger students and students with disabilities, this method especially is a whole lot less frustrating.

Flexible types of QR Codes save time

Whether you want to use QR Codes to share a link, videos, images, PDFs, sound files, and more all of this is possible with QR Code Generator. This not only saves you time during class because students view the correct information via the QR Code, but it also saves time for your prep work because you don’t need to print out tons of copies for the same website for every student. This level of flexibility means that no matter which type of content you’d like to share, there’s a QR Code that works for everything.

Enhances classroom learning

Because there are so many different types of QR Codes, there are endless ways that teachers can incorporate them into the classroom to make learning more interactive and fun. The image below is a good example because you can add a QR Code to a grammar quiz to provide a more creative way to access the related tasks. If you wanted to use QR Codes to share quiz solutions, you might want to use a PDF QR Code to create a document or use a Video QR Code for a video tutorial.

By the way, a PDF QR Code is a great way for teachers to share any type of document with students or teachers without needing to print it. Parents will certainly thank you for not having to deal with so much paper!

Completely customizable

If you’re worried about how you can adapt QR Codes to different mediums, this is no problem, because you can customize them in every way possible. You can increase the size as large as you need (such as to use them on a bulletin board) or even make them small for individual worksheets (but no smaller than 2 x 2 cm or 0.8 x 0.8 in because they become unreadable for QR Code scanners). You can also style your QR Codes with colors and edges and even custom frames. When styling your QR Code, make sure that the color contrast is readable on the design and doesn’t blend into the background too much, otherwise, it becomes hard to read. 

Ability to edit and update QR Code content later on

If you choose a Dynamic QR Code, then you can even update your QR Code’s content later on. Say you need to change a link or even change your type of QR Code (i.e. use a video instead of images), you can do this without needing to design a new QR Code. This too saves time, because you never have to worry about reprinting due to typos or if the link is no longer available.

Ideas for using QR Codes in the classroom

To give you some inspiration for how to creatively use QR Codes in the classroom to enhance learning, here are a few examples from real teachers.

You can add QR Codes to worksheets so students can easily access video and website content. Jessica Boschen is a grade school teacher who did precisely this by using a combination of URL QR Codes and Video QR Codes to give students easy access to biographical information about important historical figures. By using this approach, she made the lesson much more interactive, because the students could independently read and listen to the information instead of just listening to a group presentation to the whole class.

Interactive bulletin boards

Bulletin boards are a great way to inspire curiosity among students. Schools can use them in classrooms and even on public bulletin boards that anyone in the school can access. The teacher who created the bulletin board in the image below used QR Codes to encourage students to learn more about famous women.

If you wanted to create something similar, you might consider using a combination of Video QR Codes, Website URL QR Codes, Image QR Codes, and MP3 QR Codes to give a variety of information about a particular subject.

An additional option here that would work for public bulletin boards around the school would be to use an Event QR Code so parents and students could sign up for things like PTA meetings or large school events. With Event QR Codes, anyone who scans them can automatically view all the event details, register, and add the event to the digital calendar.

Make reading time fun

A teacher wanted to make reading more interactive for younger students so she added QR Codes to a classroom reading station that all focused on Halloween stories for October. The goal here also was that students could do this independently, instead of needing to read with an adult. They already use tablets in the classroom so this was the perfect way to incorporate them into the lesson in a positive manner. In this case, you could use a Video QR Code if the files are on video or an MP3 QR Code if you’d like to share sound files.

Fun for parents at school

Another school got really creative with QR Codes and decided to integrate them into a fun event for parents. Each student recorded an audio file about themselves so that parents could get to know all the students and their interests. The audio file was converted into an MP3 QR Code, which was then added to each student’s locker. At the event, parents could walk through the hallways and scan the QR Codes to listen to the audio files automatically.

A special offer for educational use

We at QR Code Generator appreciate how hard teachers work to make their classrooms as awesome as possible. So, we are offering a special plan for teachers who want to incorporate QR Codes into their lessons. All you need to do is send us an email at support@qr-code-generator.com and our friendly support team will assist you further.

Author
Adriana Stein

Adriana Stein is a Freelance Content Writer for Egoditor GmbH and is originally from Oregon, USA. She is now based in Hamburg, Germany, and specializes in creating and managing SEO and content marketing strategies for businesses across a variety of industries. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn!

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