QR Codes in Education – A Study on Innovative Approach in Classroom Teaching

Abstract

Technology being an indispensable part of education has initiated mobile and online learning to integrate within classroom settings. QR codes not only make the material more interactive in the class but also captivate the attention of students enabling them to learn effectively. Various aims and goals can be accomplished through it. QR codes can literally hold any kind of information up to several thousand bytes. Coupled with a moderate equipped mobile device, it opens up a new horizon for many applications in the commercial world as well as in education. In our study we found that QR codes can support learning in different contexts. It is also found that QR code supports both collaborative and independent learning. This paper will primarily focus on using of QR code in Education to make smart learning. Our Paper will also encompasses on the (a) Introduction to QR code (b) The background of QR code development (c) Characteristic of QR Codes (d) Practical applications of QR Code in Business and industry (e) Innovative Use of QR Code in Education (f) the process of reading and making QR codes (g) Conclusion (h) Future Scope and Limitations Keywords: Quick Response Code (QR) , Mobile Learning, e-Learning, 2D Bar Code, Smart Learning, Creativity in the classroom I. Introduction QR codes were first created in 1994, to track vehicles during the manufacturing process at high speed. In 2002, when Japanese handset makers and others wanted to turn everyone's phone camera into a barcode scanner for marketing purposes, QR codes made perfect sense. With two dimensions to work within, QR codes can store several hundred times the amount of information carried by ordinary bar codes. They can contain anything that can fit into a maximum of around 4k (roughly one page of text). Quick Response (QR) codes are versatile. The QR code, short for Quick Response code, is a kind of matrix barcode (Wikipedia, 2011). The reason for its quick response is that the code could build a bridge between online information and offline materials. It can be decoded quickly by a specialized application, called QR code reader. QR code readers could navigate users to an abundant online information resource, such as Uniform Resource Locator (URL), text, images, audios and videos, as long as the reader figures out what the code represents. In spite of its powerful function, the QR code has only several black modules arranged in a square pattern against a white background.