A Simple Guide for Teachers: Using and Making QR Codes

Our principal approached me and asked what I thought the best way to have our students take an online survey on the school's iPads would be.  He'd already created the survey, he just needed everyone to be able to access the link.

For me this was a perfect opportunity to showcase how QR codes can be used to direct students to a particular website, without having to worry about them typing the URL in correctly.  We have included a free QR code reader app on all of the school's iPads, so all I had to do was generate a QR code that lead to the survey site, and a set of instructions for those teachers who hadn't used QR codes before.  I wanted to put information about generating your own codes in there too, in the hope that teachers would see how easy it is and feel confident giving it a go themselves.

Here is my instruction sheet:

Using QR Codes

A QR (Quick Response) Code is a square barcode

that can be captured with a school iPad using the I-nigma app.

A common use of a QR code is to use it to take you to a particular website.  If you open the I-nigma app and position the barcode above so it is in the red square, it will take you to our school website (make sure you have logged on to Watchguard).  

Making QR Codes

If you have websites that you want to share with your students then creating a QR code for them will allow the students to easily find the sites.  You can also create QR codes for short amounts of plain text, which can be used for all sorts of things e.g. a treasure hunt.  And when you really get the hang of it you can record short amounts of audio and link through to them.

To make your own QR codes you can use a QR code generator on your laptop, like www.qrstuff.com.  

Here is how to make your own QR code for a website in three simple steps!

• Copy the website URL you want to use and paste it into the box
• Click on the “Dynamic” circle (it makes the QR code easier to scan)
• Click on “Download QR Code”

Then you will have a picture of your code that you can print or include in a document.