Beginner's Guide to QR Codes

The Eye on Education Blog is featuring links to recent posts on QR codes. Check it out here.

How Can I Use QR Codes?

In the last three posts, you learned what QR codes are, where to download a reader, and how to create them. Today, we will learn some practical uses for this tool.

Would you like for visitors to view videos of current school events? Post a QR code on the wall of the main office and consider it done. Visitors scan the QR code and view the video while they wait for their appointment.

Would you like the entire community to view those “current events”? Post that same QR on bulletin boards and windows throughout the community.

Ah, but the “current information” changes, right? No need to pull down those flyers and put up new ones. As long as the new information replaces the old and uses the same URL, the QR code can remain the same.

The spring play is coming up and you would love to include a wealth of information in the printed program. Printing costs, however, are high. The solution? Keep the program simple, but include a few QR codes. While the audience waits for the play to begin, they enjoy a slide show of photos, read bios for each actors, digest letters from the superintendent and principal, and even view a video of “out-takes” from rehearsal, all from a smartphone or tablet.

In our profession dealings, we exchange business cards with other people. Later, we manually enter their contact information in our electronic address books. Want to shorten that process? Create a QR code for your own information. Save it as a JPEG and transfer it to your smartphone’s photo collection. Now, you can give someone your “electronic business card” by letting them scan the QR code. Your information is safe and sound in their contacts without anything having to manually enter anything.

One of this blog’s readers mentioned putting a QR code with his contact information on the back of the school ID he already wears.

What about putting a QR code of your school’s contact information on promotional material? As people scan the QR code, your institution’s information becomes a part of their contacts.

Flash cards have been a popular study tool for generations. QR codes add a new dimension. Instead of hiding the answer by putting it on the reverse side of each card, you can create a single sheet with all of the questions. Next to each question is a QR code containing the text for the correct answer. Students check themselves by scanning the code and viewing the answer on the smartphone’s screen.

Do you have items you want students to identify on sight? Budding geologists should be able to identify various rocks. In anatomy class, students should be able to identify the bones on a skeleton. Print the QR codes for the names of the rocks or bones and attach them. Students check their knowledge by scanning the QR codes to reveal the correct answer on the screen of the smartphone.

You have a flat tire. You open the trunk and are a little unsure as to the steps for changing the tire. But right there on the inside of the trunk is a QR code. You scan the code, and on your smart phone see a video for how to change the tire.

Enjoy this short video on QR codes:
 

Whether it’s turning a sheet of paper into a multimedia presentation, opening a door to a larger document, unlocking hidden text, or sharing contact information, QR codes offer a new dimension to how we can communicate information.

What ideas come to mind for you that we have not listed?

Create Your Own QR Codes

In the last two posts, we learned what "Quick Reference" codes are all about and where you can get a reader. In this post, you will learn how to create your own. Several sites are available for you to create QR codes in seconds.

Kaywa

This very simple site asks you to enter the URL and click "generate." To save and use the code, click directly on the QR code to view the it in a separate window. Right-click and save the image to your computer. Another option is to copy the html code for later use on a website or blog.

Notice that Kaywa also allows a phone option. Enter a telephone number. When someone scans the resulting code, it will call the phone number. If the phone number has an exchange, my own experiments indicate you follow the phone number with an "x" and the extension. The smartphone calls the number, pauses, and enters the extension.

Mobile-Barcodes

This generator operates much like Kaywa. This site also allows you to compose a QR code that will create a new e-mail message on the smartphone with an address, subject, and pre-formatted text body. You will also see a simple "message" option. Rather than taking the viewer to another site, you see a message immediately on the screen.

Online QR Lab

This generator does all of the things we have discussed to this point, but also allows you to create a contact. Add your own contact information, and when others scan the QR code, you will be added to their smartphone contacts.

Kerem Erkan

Browse the drop-down list of QR code types you can create. Your result appears as a very large code on the screen. Right-click and save to your computer

Bit.ly

If you already use Bit.ly as your link shortener, realize there is a built in QR code generator. After creating a shortened URL, refresh and click the "Info page" beside the link. There you will see your QR code.

BlackBerry Messenger

If your BlackBerry does not already have Messenger installed, clicking the above link will allow you to download it. When you open Messenger on your BlackBerry, press the menu key and select "Scan a Group Bar Code." This code reader will take you to a URL or make a phone call. I have found it does not support some of the other options, such as e-mail or messages.

As you see, creating QR codes is easy. Now the question becomes, "Why would you want create them?" Perhaps you are already thinking of some uses. The next post, the last in this series, will provide some practical uses for QR codes.

Have you benefited from this series on QR codes? If so, send me an e-mail. In fact, you can scan the code you find in this post. It will create an e-mail with my address completed, a subject, and a pre-formatted body. Depending on the reader, the subject and text of the e-mail in the address line, but don't worry. The e-mail will send successfully.

Have you been able to scan QR codes? Have you created some of your own? Tell me about your experience.

Download Your Own QR Code Reader

In the last post, we introduced the concept of "Quick Response" codes, better known as "QR" codes.To use a QR code reader, you will need a smartphone equipped with a camera. The next step is to download a reader. The one I use on my BlackBerry is called "QR Code Scanner Pro." You can download it for free here.

Here is a list of other sources for downloading QR code readers:

2d Code
Best QR Code Readers
5 QR Code Readers for iPhone
QR Code Readers for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7

In addition, if you have a BlackBerry with BlackBerry Messenger, you already have a built-in QR code reader. Open the BlackBerry Messenger, press the Menu key, and choose "Scan a Group Barcode."

How do you use the QR code reader? When you see a QR code, open the reader on your smartphone. The smartphone will use your camera to let you see the code. Position the smartphone so that you can comfortable see all of the image.

With both QR Code Scanner Pro and the reader built into BlackBerry Messenger, simply hold the smartphone still. In a couple of seconds the reader confirms that it has successfully scanned the code and gives you a prompt as to whether or not you wish to go ahead with the results.Other software may require you to press a key to start the scan. Once you have confirmed the selection, your browser opens and you are taken to the link.

That's all there is to it! You may notice that scanning a QR code on your smartphone is the on-the-go equivalent of clicking a link when we are on our computers. QR codes allow those "links" to show up anywhere in our environment.

At this point, you have probably already seen some practical uses for QR codes and may have some others in mind. In the next post, you will lean how to create QR codes. In the post following that, we will look at some ways you could use this tool.

Have you been able to download and begin using a QR code reader? I would like to hear your thoughts.

What are QR Codes All About?

I remember when funny little black and white rectangles started appearing on products in the grocery store. Today, we are all accustomed to those bar codes. We know that the pattern of black lines contains information and that a special scanner is needed to read that information.

Now, we are beginning to see a different pattern. This one is square, with the area being filled with a small squares of black and white.Welcome to QR codes. "QR" stands for "Quick Response."

What does a QR code do?
When you scan a QR code with a special reader, the most common result is that it takes you directly to a website. That website may then give additional information or show you a video. However, the QR code can be used to make a phone call or create an pre-formatted email.

The thing that is making QR codes grow in popularity is the ability to download a reader to your smartphone. Then, when you see a QR code in a magazine you are reading, on a flyer taped to a store window, or on a piece of promotional material, you can scan the code and see the additional information.

In the next three posts, you will learn how to do each of the following:

1. Download a QR code reader to your smartphone.
2. Create your own QR codes.
3. Implement QR codes in a practical way.

What are your thought so far on the topic of QR codes?