Using QR codes for learning.

Quick Response codes, more commonly known as QR codes were originally developed by a Toyota subsidiary to track automobile parts as they passed around the factory. Despite its industrial roots the overwhelming use for QR codes is in advertising. Thanks in part to free licensing, QR codes can now be seen on anything from billboards to Coke cans. By scanning these codes, consumers are linked to the websites, vouchers, videos, and more.

Unfortunately the desire of companies to appear tech-savvy has resulted in the over-use of this technology and has meant that many consumers have been put off by QR code's negative association with selling products. Accessing QR codes is also not without its dangers, with evidence that malicious QR codes been used to access the sensitive information contained on unsuspecting users phones.

QR in education

Despite the perceived downsides of this technology, it's use in educational situations has proven to be a bonus to both staff and students. At the Unitec campus in Auckland, faculty members have been using QR codes to allow students (using mobile devices) to access job-aids (detailed how-to guides) during practical lessons without having to wait for the tutor. While seemingly a small innovation the cleverness of this approach is that it allows students of differing abilities to access as little or as much information as they like. More advanced students can scan the documentation and carry out the task, occupying less of the tutor's time which can now be spend on tutoring less able students.

Given the increasing availability of mobile devices and cheaper mobile internet have QR codes outlived their usefulness? Their predominant use as a physical hyperlink means that they are always in danger of being superseded by new technologies - the most obvious being the mobile 'app' (mobile software applications).  Well designed apps offer a tailored solution to education; allowing students to access job-aids as well as task schedules, formative assessments, competency logs, portfolio recording, and the list goes on. The downside of new-tech solutions such as apps are the substantial financial and organisational commitment required to implement them.

Despite being simple in comparison, QR codes are are significantly easier (and cheaper) for an individual tutor to introduce to the classroom without necessarily having organisational oversight. This grass-roots approach means that QR codes can be used by tutors that have an interest in the technology rather than being forced upon them by a higher governmental or organisational requirement.