• QR Code Tools

    Creating QR Codes

    There are several websites you can use to create QR codes. Two that we particularly like at the IRC are:

    In certain cases, you may need to create lots of QR codes at one time. There are some options for this, too:

    Scanning QR Codes

    Scanning QR codes usually happens on a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, etc.) and requires an app. Again, there are several options for these, but in general, you want to look for free apps that do not include ads and require minimal permissions. Some recommended options are:

    Both of these apps have Android and iOS versions, and work well. It's not a bad idea to have more than one QR code reader app on your device ... sometimes one app can't scan a certain QR code while a different one can.

    Although QR code scanning typically happens on a mobile device, there are scanners available for desktop or laptop computers, too. Some options include:

    Several browser extensions (including the ones above) can also create QR codes right from your web browser with just one click.

    URL Shorteners

    The main benefit of creating QR codes is that it makes it easy for your students to access online resources. Another tool to accomplish this is a URL shortener which does exactly what it says: takes long URLs and makes them much shorter. For example, I could take a long URL like this:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/numbers-chosen-for-powerball-with-biggest-jackpot-ever.html

    and make it short like this:

    http://goo.gl/YkjCVy

    Both of these links go to the same place, but the second one is obviously much easier to share with your students! Using shortened URLs when you create a QR code is not a bad idea, either, because it makes the QR code easier to scan. Displaying the shortened URL alongside your QR code also makes it easy for all students to get to the resource, even if they don't have a mobile device or QR code app.

    Some good URL shorteners include:

    With both of these tools, you can create accounts that allow you to keep track of your shortened URLs, see how often they get clicked, use them again, etc. Since goo.gl is run by (you guessed it) Google, you can even use your existing Google account with their URL shortener, as well.

    TIP: With goo.gl, once you create your shortened URL, you can click on the Details link and it will automatically generate a QR code that you can right-click on and save! You can also see the QR code by adding ".qr" to the end of the shortened URL. So in the example above, http://goo.gl/YkjCVy.qr will display the QR code for that site.