Monday, April 21, 2014

My Spring Break "Project" - QR Code Dice

Leading up to spring break, I was so looking forward to some time off.  I had so many things I needed to work on - conference presentations, applications, cleaning, errands, etc.  I kept telling myself I'd get it done over break.  Soon, my list was a mile long and now that I'm back at work, I only got about half way through it.  Well, maybe only a third of the way through it....  Spring break is always too short!
Work in Progress - Just need the sixth side "Mod Podged" on.


On the last day of school before spring break, I saw a tweet for a blog post called "Roll the Dice on QR Codes" by Krissy Venosdale.  Krissy made QR code dice which linked to six different Google presentation slides.  So with one die, you can change and edit the Google presentation at any time to change up the dice.  The uses for this are endless!  Check out her blog for more information and great ideas.

The examples Krissy listed seemed to be best suited for elementary school students.  But I can imagine using this in my high school science classroom in so many different ways.  I can use it as a unit review and have six different questions or topics for students to review.  The dice can be used to give out articles for students to read and then practice writing arguments with claims and evidence.  My students could use the dice to roll for assignment or project topics, and then get into a group with other students who rolled the same topic.  And the best part, once making the dice, you can use them for all these different activities.  After seeing this blog post, I knew I had another project that I had to get done over spring break!

First, I created six different Google Presentations.  But I didn't want students to see the entire presentation page when they scanned the QR code, I just wanted them to go straight to the presentation in "play" mode.  So I chose to publish the slideshow.

Then I needed to make the QR codes.  I used goo.gl to do this.


I was then able to paste the QR codes into a table on a Word doc.  I printed them out on cardstock, and then used Matte Mod Podge with a foam brush to adhere them to 1.5" wooden blocks.  The Mod Podge works really well to adhere and protect the paper so they can be used for years in the future.

Here's a video I found with instructions on how to use Mod Podge to adhere paper to wood.


I am so excited to use these with my students!  Thanks Krissy for sharing such a great idea!  I am sure there are a ton of creative uses for these QR blocks that I haven't even thought of.  If you have any cool ideas on how to use these with students, please share in the comments.




3 comments:

  1. This is an awesome idea! Now I just have to find a teacher I can talk into trying it. >;-)

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  2. I just stumbled across your blog - very cool ideas in here! I'm curious - how have you used these in your classes?? Or did you possibly post about that somewhere as a follow up? Oh - and did you have to do six different presentations in Google so they couldn't see all of them? I'm not a huge google drive user (yet) - we have a personal cloud storage device that I prefer and our school wants us to use OneDrive from MS. Please respond if you have a chance - thanks! Jennifer

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    1. I've used these with review questions for exams, then the students pair up with others to share what they answered. I've also linked each die to different collaborative docs for students to brainstorm answers. I've had links to current event articles that relate to what we are learning, and students practice writing arguments with claims, evidence, and reasoning, then use what they learn in a socratic seminar. Each side leads to it's own presentation. Students can see all if they scan all sides of the die. There are tons of ways you could use these. :)

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