Quickly generate QR Codes with Bit.ly or Goo.gl
I was asked how to generate QR Codes at one of our forums recently and I mentioned QR Code generator sites like kaywa or delivr. I also mentioned a very quick way to do it if you’re encoding web addresses – use a URL shortening service like bit.ly or goo.gl.
The benefits are two-fold. You get a less complex QR Code (therefore faster to decode) and you automatically have access to the QR Code.
To do this just add .qr onto the end of any bit.ly or goo.gl shortened address, for example bit.ly/qrapps.qr Then right-click and copy the image into an application of your choice.
To get the QR Code plus some useful stats like number of times the URL has been accessed simply add a plus sign (+) on the end of your bit.ly or goo.gl address, for example bit.ly/qrapps+
Use an external mic to record lectures on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad…and other uses too!
I’m always looking for ways to extend the functionality of my mobile devices for teaching and learning. I’ve already blogged about using Bluetooth keyboards for note taking on mobile devices (iOS, Android). My next task was to find a way to use my own headset on my iPhone for use with Skype. This solution would be more comfortable and better quality than using the supplied Apple earbud/mic set. I also wanted to find a way to use my external mic to record lectures.
My solution was to build a breakout cable*. In this video I demo some ways to use the cable and then talk about how to make it.
Hardware demoed: Plantronics DSP400 headset and a Sony ECM Z60 microphone. A quick word about the mic. iOS** devices are pretty particular about mic characteristics. The Z60 is an electret mic which is what the iOS device expects to see so you don’t need to use the battery pack for the Z60 as the iPhone will provide enough power to drive the mic.
Software demoed: Skype, Voice memos and AudioNote. AudioNote is an audio note taking app for iOS devices which works in a similar way to a livescribe pen. It syncs your recorded audio with the notes you have taken.
Cable Schematic
Maplins Part List
3.5mm 4-pole jack QT65V
3.5mm stereo line socket FK04E 2 off
some single core screened cable
* You can buy ready made cables but that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun :-)
** iOS device = iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad.
QR Codes: Applications in Education
Today was our big annual Winter Fayre. Unfortunately we had to make the agonising decision to postpone it due to the incredible weather that has hit the central belt of Scotland and beyond.
I would have been doing a QR Code session today so I thought I’d make a short screencast of what I would have delivered.
I give a brief overview of QR Codes, a quick look at how they are being used generally then move on to more educational examples, show you how to create your own QR Codes and finally talk about some things to think about when using QR Codes institutionally.
And here are the slides with active links that I used in the screencast above.
If you’ve got any questions or queries about QR Codes please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re here to help :-)
Other related QR Codes posts on this blog
QR Code Icebreakers
Simplifying your QR Codes for Easier Scanning
Shorten your URLs with Goo.gl
QR Codes – For the easily amused: me!
Some external QR Code links which may be of interest
Tom Barret’s Interesting Ways to use QR Codes in the Classroom part of a user-contributed series on ways to use learning technologies
Don’t waste your time Blog QR Codes: In the Classroom
TechDis: Upwardly Mobile: Getting started with inclusive mLearning QR Codes
Using QR Codes in Libraries
Speaking at Future Technology Now: the 5th annual SLIC conference for Further Education library and information staff in Scotland. Talking about QR Codes in libraries. Here’s my presentation. I’ve also added a live mindmap. More on that later.
3 Quick Tips for Effective Searching on Delicious
Delicious is a social bookmarking site that lets you bookmark your favourite web resources or URLs. You can also search Delicious for resources. If someone has bookmarked a resource it’s usually because it’s useful in some way and we can use this to our advantage when searching for useful resources. You don’t need to have an account or be logged in to search Delicious.
In this short video I look at three quick ways to find information on Delicious
1. Explore Tags
On the Delicious Home Page, there’s an Explore Tags tab (1) which we can use to search for tags.
A tag is a keyword that users assign to a bookmark to describe the resource. So I’m interested in QR Codes at the moment so I’ll type in qrcodes (2) omitting the space. In delicious, tags don’t have spaces. QR Code related bookmarks could also be assigned tags such as qrcode and qr. You’ll get a feel for the various tags when you see the search results
You can also search for multiple tags so I could filter this search further by typing in education. So it returns all the recent tags with qrcode and education.
TIP: Each Recent and Popular tag search on Delicious has a handy associated RSS feed and if you’re familiar with RSS feeds you can subscribe to this feed by copying the RSS address into something like Google Reader and automatically be kept up-to-date with, in this case bookmarks being tagged with qrcode and education.
You can also search for Popular tags.
You can only search for one tag at a time but it’s a quick way to get a list of popular resources for the subject you are searching for.
2. Full Search
Delicious also has a global search facility and it will search not only tags but bookmark title and associated notes. You can refine your search in a number of ways. For example, restricting it by date, wrapping it quotes and filtering by tag. I go into more detail in the video.
3. Sort by Popularity
Finally, you can sort your results by the amount of times a resource has been bookmarked by using the Greasemonkey Firefox extension.
Greasemonkey lets you change the look and feel of web pages and here I’m using two scripts; AutoPagerize and Sort Visible Links. AutoPagerize lets you see multiple screens of information on one page. It saves you scrolling down the page and hitting the next page button. As soon as you’re at the bottom of the page it automatically loads the next page. Once you’ve got a few screens listed on the one page you can then use the Sort Visible Links script to sort the bookmarks into the most bookmarked resources.
