Some time back, I approached our art teacher with an idea for using QR Codes. We could video students talking about their work, upload the videos to YouTube, and create QR Codes that could be placed next to student art for the Fine Arts Showcase. The art show would then become interactive for anyone with a smart phone. She loved the idea, but I wasn’t sure whether she would have the time to pull it off this year. She and the students shot all the video, and she asked for help in creating the QR Codes. I went to her room and showed her how to edit clips in iMovie and upload to YouTube. Then I showed her how to create a QR Code. I only helped once, and she was off and running. Our drama teacher created a quilt with photographs and QR Codes, and she showed me a site where you can create color QR Codes. I didn’t realize you could print on fabric, but she showed me that, too. The quilt is wonderful, as was the students’ artwork. When the school publicized the art showcase, they made sure to recommend that smart phone users download a QR Code reader. I was told that the QR Codes were a big hit on the Fine Arts Showcase.
I’m not sure if you can see this video, as it’s on the Weber School’s Facebook page, but here is a link. The video includes several pictures of showcase attendees using their smart phones to view the material embedded in the QR Codes. Let me know if the video doesn’t work for you. We are on Passover break, so I won’t be able to ask about possibly uploading the video to YouTube or if it is OK to take pictures of the students’ artwork and post it here. You can, however, view the videos linked to the QR Codes on our art teacher’s YouTube channel.
Helping teachers integrate technology will be an important part of my work next year, and I was pleased with the outcome of this early experiment.
I really like this idea. I am going to share this blog entry with our art teacher and our music teachers (band and chorus). Great idea! (The video worked for me. I went to the art teacher's YouTube site, and I'm curious as to why the videos are sideway???) Thanks for sharing!
I think that happened when she took them with her iPhone and perhaps didn't tilt them over when she edited them. Of course, on a smart phone, you can just tilt the phone sideways, and I am not even sure that she used all of the videos in the show. If you want to see some really cool ideas for band and chorus, check out PS 22's YouTube Channel (Staten Island, New York). Talk about leveraging social media and using technology in the arts! That teacher is amazing.