Learn With QR Codes! 22+ Apps, Web Tools and Activities

“The whole art of teaching is the only art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.” – Anatole France

QR codes, Quick Response barcodes, inspire curiosity in our learners. QR codes get learners out of their seat scanning to discover what the knowledge they will uncover with their mobile devices. QR codes are mostly attached to websites or text, but we can also attach QR codes to audio, video, games, polls, or multimedia presentations. Below are a few ideas on how to make your QR codes more interactive. Once you are comfortable implementing a QR code activity, try getting your learners to create their own QR codes. Below are a few tips and resources to get your students started with learning with QR codes. Feel free to download the slides as a pdf and find the bookmarks here.

Learn with QR Codes

Create QR codes on your mobile device with the Quickmark app, which allows students to scan and create QR codes with an iOS, Android, or Windows phone.
Scan QR codes on your mobile device with the I-nigma app, which allows students to scan QR codes with an iOS, Android, or Windows phone. Create QR codes on the web with at the I-nigma site.
Make colorful QR codes with images with Visualead, Unitag, and QRstuff.
The QR Code Treasure Hunt generator by Classtools will help you easily create a series of QR codes for assessments, scavenger hunts, and treasure hunts.
Install the QR Code Bookmarklet to easily and quickly create a QR code attached to the url you are visiting.

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The following web tools allow you to create QR codes that go beyond text and get learners to do more with the learning:

With QR Voice type in up to 100 characters in several languages and a QR code is generated that will create an audio of the text.
Use Vocaroo to create a QR code attached to a listening or recorded audio. First, record the audio of any length then click QR code on the bottom. Print the generated QR code for your learners to scan and listen.
Padlet allows teachers to create a QR code attached to a web wall where students add links, thoughts, images, and videos about any topic.
Edubuncee lets you create QR codes embedded into a digital poster with videos, images, stickers, and audio.
PollsToGo is a site for creating a polls attached to a QR code.
Create your own scavenger hunt with QRWild.
A good way to introduce students to QR codes is to get them to notice the QR codes around them.Students collect QR codes they see outside of class on cereal boxes, coupons, the mail, or pamphlets.In small groups, students share these examples with their peers to scan and discuss the following: What did the QR code link to? Where was the QR code found? How would you make the QR code more engaging or interesting?
Student can jigsaw with QR codes. One student’s QR code has the information matched to another student’s QR code. In Learning to Go, I provide a lesson plan and template where one student has a joke and the other has the answer to the joke.One student can have a question and another peer have the answer.One student can have a vocabulary word and search for the peer with the definition.One student can have a character description and search for the peer with the character’s name.
Put QR codes on objects to get students out of their desks moving and engaging with the objects.The PE Geek has a wonderful video with his learners scanning a skeleton with QR codes.Students can scan the QR Code Periodic Table of Elements and find videos for each element.
Students can create QR codes for the library.QR codes can be to their own book trailers of various books.QR codes can be next to a book to offer recommendations of other books their peers might enjoy. For example, a recommendation for someone who enjoyed the Twilight series might be books by Anne Rice.
Students can create QR codes for science fair or poster projects.The QR codes can direct the audience to a Works Cited or Reference list.The QR codes can be attached to interactives or multimedia that supports the research topic.
Work with a national or state park or other landmarks or museums to create QR codes of exhibits which do not currently have QR codes.

Challenge: Try one of these ideas to get your students curious about your topic with QR codes.

If you enjoyed these ideas, you may want to get your copy of The 30 Goals for Teachers or my $5.99 ebook, Learning to Go, which has digital/mobile activities for any device and editable/printable handouts and rubrics.