davidfutch.com

I’ve been investigating the use of QR codes since I saw them on signs at FETC11 this year. I like the idea of placing the QR code on just about everything from digital to printed media and the ability to encode information (URLs, text, SMS, phone calls and vcards) is a real cool feature. What I really want to know is how are people applying the technology? Even a bigger question for me is how can it be applied to education?

Then, while on a flight this last week I saw a QR code at the bottom of an article in the airline magazine. I pulled out my phone and scanned the QR code and it revealed a web address. I went on to search for other QR codes in the magazine and scanned those as well. My QR code scanner of choice, ATTScanner , not only read the code quickly but also saved the scanned URL for future reference. Since that experience on the plane I was conducting a presentation and a QR code appeared on the web page that I was showing participants. To my surprise one of the participants hopped up and scanned the QR code that was on the screen. We were both disappointed that the scan only returned a series of letters and numbers that made no sense to either of us.

So now I understand one very good use of the technology but what other applications are there? If you have seen other ways of using the technology add a comment below. I’d like to hear about it’s use in the educational environment too.