Getting the most out of a QR Code Reader at #bbw12

2012-07-09T05:36:00.001-04:00

Greetings from NOLA! I'm here attending Blackboard World this week. I'll be cross posting some things between my regular blog and this blog this week.

Surprisingly, my most viewed picture on Flickr (of the more than 8000 in my account), is this one of a QR Code, last year at Educause. The title of the photo is "QR Codes are the norm for poster sessions".

QR Codes...those tiny little blocks of black ink that look like a Rorschach test gone wrong...that you see popping up everywhere nowadays can hold text, links, phone numbers and more. You can make your own using a number of online QR Code generators like Kaywa QR Code generator. A QR Code that will link you to my Tumblr web site is shown below. It was made with the Kaywa QR Code generator.

Since the BBWorld posters are usually available during the opening reception that will be held tonight, I thought I'd share a little tip for getting the most out of your QR Code Reader while browsing the posters.

If you've been to a professional conference and tried to make your way through poster sessions, you know they are generally crowded and a little frenzied. I enjoy them though as you often get to talk one on one with folks who have spent a lot of time on big projects. However, the change to QR codes as a way to get more info on a particular topic, left me wondering how to keep a catalog of all the QR codes I'd looked at so I could reference them later when I got back home and could do something with them. However, you don't really have to remember them as most QR Code readers have a history feature built in. Just scan the code and move on. When you get back home, just open the app back up and scroll right back through the history to see what you've scanned.

I have an Android RAZR Maxx smart phone (LOVE.THIS.PHONE!! and it's AMAZING battery life). My QR Code reader/bar code scanner of choice is Bar Code Scanner. It's available for free from this link on the Amazon app store.

or you can get it here from Google Play. After scanning a QR Code you can send it by email, by SMS text message, or view it in the browser. They are also saved in the history which is accessible by clicking the menu button while you've got the app open. That's far faster than having to email each link back to yourself to remind you to look at them when you get home.

For iOS users, the "QR Reader for iPhone" app seems to have good reviews and also sports a history function. That said, I'm not a regular iOS user so I can't speak to that one specifically.

Have other tips for getting the most out of poster sessions?

Welcome to Edtechagogue

2012-05-25T19:49:00.000-04:00

Image by Peter Durand, aka Alphachimpstudio on Flickr, Creative Commons Licensed

Welcome to my "work life" blog. .

I have blogged personally since 2010 (first here, but now here) about the things in my personal life. But lately I've felt a need to add a blog about the types of work I do and about the more technical aspects of my life. My work as an academic administrator - the "formal" part of my job - really isn't all that exciting. And, I think a blog about most of that work would have the following of...well no one really.

However, the stuff I love to do at work and in the "professional" part of my life - talking with students and educators about how they learn and how they want to help students learn - and then figuring out how to use technology to make those pathways to learning more fun, more rewarding, and more open...that is what gets me all excited. That is the work I truly love. So, today, when I don't even manage to post regularly on my personal blog, I feel called to take on another blog...one to talk about the tech.

I want to use this blog as a forum to talk about how technology can be used. I will use it as a forum to publish some how-to's about using technology with learning. Because I spend a good part of my day logged into one or more Blackboard servers, I'll probably spend some time talking about how you specifically use Blackboard for these purposes. But, I'll talk about other tools too like the iPad, like plain, 'ole Microsoft Office, and like the odd and mysterious "cloud" (for those of you in the know...that's really just an ethereal word for "the Internet". We'll talk about security. We'll talk about mobility. We'll talk about copyright, fair use, and especially about creative commons. Most importantly...we'll talk...because it is engaging with one another - whether online or in person - that we learn.

We learn through our experiences and many times, the best learning experiences are simple conversations. I hope that we have those here.

Welcome to Edtechagogue!