Everywhere I look, I seem to be running into these odd, boxy, hieroglyphic-looking images. I’ve seen them in magazines, at the grocery store, and even in a conference presentation or two. But what are they? Those images are called QR codes. QR stands for “quick response” and they’re sort of like UPC symbols on steriods. Unlike a traditional UPC which only relays information through one dimensional coding, QR codes transmit information through two dimensional coding and can send more complex data. QR codes work with smart phones allowing people to quickly scan the code and visit a website, watch a YouTube video, send a text message, add a contact or so much else. The great part about QR Codes is that they’re really easy to create. There are a bunch of websites where someone can create a QR code for free. I used QR Code Generator from the ZXing Project to create the adjacent QR code (which will link you to the 8 Blog!).
So, besides being neat aesthetically, what can an educator do with QR codes? One idea is adding QR codes to course syllabi to give students easy access to a website or a blog. Adding QR codes to equipment that students use could provide quick access to online tutorials. An educator organizing a field trip could have students access QR codes at different geographical locations to get further information or participate in an onsite assessment. QR codes could also be used for an academic scavenger hunt where students navigate around campus via information relayed through QR codes at different locations. With smart phones and mobile devices becoming more prevalent in schools, we should all expect to see more widespread use of QR codes academically.
A few weeks ago I was trying to fold a sun shade that I had purchased to take to the beach. It’s one of those new foldable shades where you perform a few “simple” moves and it folds into a small circle. No matter how I tried, however, the shade would not fold correctly. For help, I turned where many of us go these days: the Internet. After performing a few simple Google searches, I found a tutorial that described how to fold the shade correctly.
The Internet is becoming the source for these “just in time” learning endeavors. Whether we’re trying to learn how to use a piece of software, solve a mathematical problem or remove the dash from a 2004 Saturn VUE (another problem I faced recently…), we find the solutions online in the form of tutorials that others have written to help us.
Tildee is a new service where people can write and access learning tutorials on a variety of topics. The unique part of Tildee is that it coordinates text-based directions, screenshots and video into a multimedia learning experience. Presenting tutorials in this way taps into the variety of different learning avenues that can help people master techniques. Tildee is a great resource for educators who are trying to learn some new software or for students who are struggling with some content. Writing a tutorial on Tildee would also be a great culminating activity for students as they finish up a unit. A teacher could assign students to write tutorials to demonstrate how to solve a combination circuit in a physics class or to explain the economical implications of raising the debt ceiling. Since the tutorials would be shared through Tildee, the students would be authoring new content that would be shared with the world.
I often talk to teachers about integrating technology into their classrooms to support and assess student learning. One of the concerns that people express is the amount of time that needs to be dedicated to teaching students how to master whatever application is being used. With sites like Tildee, an educator can provide resources to help students learn how to use a software application without taking away valuable class time.
To learn how to use Tildee to create your own tutorials, be sure to watch this short video:
I need to start by saying that I haven’t been one of the lucky ones. I haven’t actually received my Google+ invite yet (although I know several people have invited me). Google has been experiencing tons of issues with meeting the demand of Google+ so they stopped sending invitations last week. So, most of this post comes from checking out Google+ videos (which I’ve included), reading about Google+ and checking out reviews from others. For those of you who are not spending your summer months tuned to the happenings of the technological world, Google+ is a new social networking platform that was released a few weeks ago. I know that many educators are reluctant to use social networking with their students for one reason or another but I think some of the features in Google+ might convince the naysayers. In this post, I’ll share my thoughts of some of the most promising features and how I see those features being used educationally. To get a sense of what Google+ offers, however, take a quick look at this overview video.
Circles: One of the most promising features is Circles. With Circles, Google+ users can designate different groups of people (called circles) and share different items with those Circles. With Facebook, most of the information people share is with all of their “friends.” For instance, if I just wanted to send out a status update on Facebook for a group of students, I couldn’t do this easily. This is one of the reasons that many educators avoid Facebook completely or create separate professional and social Facebook accounts. With Google+, however, I can create Circles for different classes and share different posts with the different classes. I can even create separate Circles for my friends and share more personal information with them.
Hangouts: Hangouts are billed as impromptu get-togethers online with the people in your Circles on Google+. The real value with Hangouts is that they occur through video and each Hangout can handle up to 10 people. A few weeks ago, I reviewed different video conferencing options and I am optimistic that ultimately Hangouts will be able to compete with all of them. While Hangouts doesn’t seem to support screen sharing or offer any presentation options, it will allow educators to hold online office hours with groups of students and conduct synchronous discussions with them. Students could also use Hangouts to meet outside of the classroom to work on group projects. Integration with Google Docs would be a real plus, but maybe I’m asking for too much.
Sparks: Google+ says that Sparks allows users to “nerd out, together.” Imagine you’re doing some work online and you come across something (a website, a journal article, etc) that you’d love to share with a group of colleagues or with the students in one of your classes. With Sparks, you can share that information with a specific Circle and track the conversation that ensues. Sparks would be a perfect feature for fostering discussions amongst students in an online class.
Instant Update: The world is becoming more mobile and so should our classrooms. Google+ has loads of mobility options with apps planned for most phones and mobile devices. With Instant Update, unlimited photos and videos can be uploaded instantly to your Google+ account and shared with specific Circles. While the iOS app is not yet available for iPhones and iPods, I envision students in an English class producing digital stories on their iPads and uploading them to share with their classmates through Google+. Or students in a Biology class capturing photos of wildlife out in the field on an iPod Touch and sharing them with the class. The mobile options with Google+ are really exciting but Instant Update offers some great sharing options with photos and video.
Imagine you’re working with a team of people and you want to create a ToDo list that the whole team can see and contribute to. Your team needs to check out FolderBoy. FolderBoy is a new service that is built on the idea of “collaborative organization” and couldn’t be easier to use. Simply create a list and start adding your ideas. To share the list with others, just click the icon and the list can be shared with anyone with an email address. You can even use FolderBoy’s chat feature to discuss the list as it’s being built. FolderBoy has some unique listing features that I wish other service would appropriate. For instance, lists can be moved to other locations so that ideas can be networked together, rather artificially segmented into some discrete, disconnected manner. Also, lists can be moved easily by dragging and dropping items from place to place.
Educationally, FolderBoy would be a great way to help students organize their thoughts as they begin a research project, especially if the project involved working classmates. FolderBoy would also be a nice tool to incorporate into a class where multiple activities need to be tracked and organized.
To see check out FolderBoy, be sure to watch the following tutorial:
hieroglyphic-looking images. I’ve seen them in magazines, at the grocery store, and even in a conference presentation or two. But what are they? Those images are called QR codes. QR stands for “quick response” and they’re sort of like UPC symbols on steriods. Unlike a traditional UPC which only relays information through one dimensional coding, QR codes transmit information through two dimensional coding and can send more complex data. QR codes work with smart phones allowing people to quickly scan the code and visit a website, watch a YouTube video, send a text message, add a contact or so much else. The great part about QR Codes is that they’re really easy to create. There are a bunch of websites where someone can create a QR code for free. I used QR Code Generator from the ZXing Project to create the adjacent QR code (which will link you to the 8 Blog!).
