I attended the VAASL (Virginia Association of School Librarians) conference this past fall, November 2019. I cannot even begin to list the myriad amazing ideas, books, and makerspace projects I encountered, and one of the highlights of the conference presentations for me was that the presenters often offered QR codes so that their audiences could access copies of their presentations. While I recognize that this isn’t new technology, it was the first time I’d used it, and I found it to be revolutionary. It completely changed the way that I was able to take in the information when I wasn’t struggling to take comprehensive notes. In fact, I still have several presentations saved on my Google drive for reference. My personal favorite was Survival Guide: The First Year Librarian by Rebecca Thomas and I’ve referred to it several times since November!

When I considered how I’d like to use a QR code with my students, I realized that having them use their devices to scan a code for a database that they can use outside of school would be very helpful, as PebbleGo, Gale, and several other research databases we use are only available in school and not if students are working remotely. I really like the Ducksters Education Site and decided that this would be an excellent resource for elementary and middle school students. One example of a way to use this would be to create virtual lessons about ancient civilizations, which is a 3rd grade standard, and allow the students to research answers to specific questions using this website. The students could then fill in a Google form with the answers they’ve researched so that I’m able to examine their results.