It's a first at Sutherland Public Schools: using QR Codes to advance learning. 

Third grade teacher Briana Hawks says the "Quick Response Codes" are just a fast way to get extra information.  She has set her sights high.  She says, “My eventual hope is to have all thousand books have QR Codes on the back of them, so it might take a while for us to do that, but the kids really enjoy being able to scan things and use technology in our daily school life."

The black and white patterned QR Codes are popping up everywhere, from restaurants to coupons to third grade classrooms.  According to Hawks, “The kids can scan it and then get information. We've used it in all kinds of ways in the classroom. We had flashcards instead of our normal flashcards, they had QR Codes so they scanned the codes and they had to match it with the word."  She continues, “Students will be writing a book summary basically of why they liked a book and a QR Code will go on the back of each book and when kids are thinking about whether to check out a book, they can scan the QR Code and see why someone else possibly liked that book."

QR Codes are new enough that teachers are still experimenting.  Hawks says, “I had the opportunity to present at our national technology conference in Omaha using QR Codes, so there were several other teachers that were using that and sharing that and I had a chance to share with fellow colleagues around the state.”

Hawks shares her excitement about QR codes, and so do her students.  “I just think it's coming a long ways and it's something that a lot of people don't know about, so the kids are excited when they get to go home and share about QR Codes and be able to tell people about QR Codes."