EMILY RIMLAND: April 2009 Archives

Decoding Codes for Education

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As part of this year's TLT Symposium's, there's an exciting pre-game happening that I'm very excited about and this post is part of that game (Quest #3...and a very long overdue blog post).In the last month or so I've become interested in alternate reality games, so TLT's pregame is very timely and extremely relevant.

A technology that has recently caught my attention are 2D codes, aka QR codes. These are similar to bar codes but look a little different.  The concept and end result are to get the user to more information in one single swoop.  I don't want to delve too much into how they work because I think that's well covered here and here

In a recent  post by Christen  he described 2D codes as 'lifehacks'. What I'm wondering is, how can 2D codes also be put to use in education either as a way to increase learning or make learning more efficient (eduhack?)? A few thoughts might be:
  • leading to further information, e.g. a textbook offers a code to get to supplemental materials or problem sets online.
  • space scheduling:  schedules for group study rooms, video viewing rooms, equipment/media labs etc. could be quickly accessed using this codes
  • a way to explore a large space like the library: this could take the format of a self-guided tour, a scavenger hunt, or simply serendipity, but codes could be strategically placed in spaces of interest. Codes would lead users to more info about that space (history, use, etc.)
Since 2D codes have not yet been widely adopted in the U.S., I'm not sure how successful they would be right now.  However, the concept of simply and quickly getting to more information online using an input device that isn't a keyboard is an intriguing one.  I'd love to hear your ideas about other ways 2D codes might be used in education.



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This page is a archive of recent entries written by EMILY RIMLAND in April 2009.

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