This is a QR code. It so happens to be a QR code that links to the wiki our class has created, specifically the page about using cellphones and mobile devices in a classroom.
How can we use this?
This is a question I have been asking myself over the last couple weeks. I have spent lots of time acquiring knowledge of mobile learning, reading blogs and thinking about how we could use it in the classroom. I have thought of hundreds of ideas, but up until a couple days ago there wasn’t one that seemed good enough. We have to present our technology to our class, but more importantly I wanted to find a way that I could actually use this technology when I am interning and eventually when I’m teaching.
What really got me thinking was QR codes, and it is where I decided to have my focus. My first real question was are they just a commodity? They have the same function as many other things do on their own, but they are just very easy to use. Regardless of if they are a commodity or not, their convenience is something that is going to become more and more evident in advertising and social media aspects.
So how can we use it?
Today I pitched my idea to my group members, who will hopefully be commenting on this post, and we agreed that it is what we want to do. We are going to make a QR scavenger hunt. Maybe the word scavenger hunt isn’t the best word, we can think of it more like stations. Something that we have to focus on is teaching the rest of our class the different tools cell phones use, so we are going to be able to do this in the form of this stationed work. At each station there will be a QR code directing each person to a different aspect of cellphones, for instance a Poll Everywhere question, or a youtube video to watch, a discussion to post onto, upload a picture to a site, upload a video, make a podcast etc. These stations will show the vast ability to be able to use a cell phone to do all those things.
Now let’s think in a classroom. What this could enable is the use of all the different types of learners. You can different stations that focus on the different types of learning which could all be connected to the same concept. You could have students teach a concept and have them instantly upload the video to a place accessible to the entire class.
Ok. Thinking too small here. Let’s bring in the social aspect of this. How big could you go…
What if you post your “scavenger hunt”, or stationed lesson, whatever you want to call it, on your blog, or website, or whatever you use. You could then send it out to the world. All a teacher, in any place, would have to do is print off a page of QR codes and the stations and lesson are ready to go. Then, the teacher and the students can see the connections they can make with other students and schools all over the place. The possibilities with this are endless.
Let’s think different subjects. Math. You could teach basically any concept, come up with resources, and create these stations. You can have students making real life connections with a concept related to their area and post them instantly. You can have students teach a concept in their own way. You could have students creating their own math problems and questions and post them ready to be answered by others. This is just a small portion of what you could do.
Let’s go art now. Not only could you connect with the art you see in your community and share it, as well as share the art you have created, you could go crazy with collaboration. If you had students sending in videos from all over the place in a response to what you or your students want, you could create film pieces, or photography pieces, even music pieces. And all from your cell phone.
Science. What if you had students create their own labs or questions to labs and have them post them for other students to complete. You could have lots of people getting results to experiments or adding their input. In English, or any language, you could do creative writing workshops, collaborative writing, pen pals and so much more.
Really the list could go on. These are things that could completely be done without the QR code too, just by using them you are appealing to a different generation of learners. Cell phones are very common, and smart phones are increasing as well. These codes create a convenience to use these different technology aspects. I know that even I have stopped relying on my laptop very much and almost do everything on my phone.
Since we are in a position that we are going on an internship in the next year, it would be extremely easy for us to collaborate on a project like this, granted we get the permission to use cell phones. Something that we would have to work with, which we will already see just in our class, is that not everyone has a smart phone, or a phone capable of using QR codes. There will have to be adjustments made to accommodate this.
This is just an outline of the idea’s that I have been having. If anyone has any comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback… anything, it would be greatly appreciated.
Tags: cellphone, education, learning, math, mlearning, mobile, qr codes, technology
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