MONTHLY FEATURE
MONTHLY FEATURE
STUDENTS INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY WITH LEARNING
(From the Richmond County Daily Journal)
In a world where technology advances by the day, educators must seek new resources to engage students in a 21st century learning environment. At Hamlet Middle School, one teacher is embracing the mobile app phenomenon to supplement lessons in marketing and technology — and with it, expanding the barriers of classroom education to others around the world.
According to teacher Julia Roscoe, it all began with an idea.
“I’m always looking to include engaging new web tools or other technologies into my lessons plans,” Roscoe said of her sixth, seventh and eighth grade Computer Apps classes. The classes are part of a Career and Technical Education curriculum with an emphasis on the business field.
Roscoe explained that she discovered a new web tool that she felt would keep her students interested and engaged. The QR code — or Quick Response code — was first invented in 1994, when it was used mainly to track parts in vehicle manufacturing. However, as of 2012, these codes have taken over many parts of the marketing world as well.
“A QR code,” said seventh grader Brock Bartlett, “is a series of squares that an app or a computer can recognize and read and pull something of its own. It can perform functions like opening a web page.”
After a brief introduction to the QR code, Roscoe discovered a website known as Visualead, which allows students to create their own codes in interesting shapes, patterns and colors.
“Their smartphones were no longer music players but tools for learning, at last,” Roscoe wrote in an explanatory blog post.
Students began to create their own QR codes in the classroom and around the school.
“I thought it was cool because we were able to use our phones for schoolwork,” said eighth grader Rania Alfaqui.
“It was a good way to incorporate business into the classroom,” added Kelsye Butler, another eighth grade student in Roscoe’s class.
Many teachers praised the breakthrough on social networking websites such as Twitter, and the recognition soon gained attention from Ari Fuld, Visualead’s social media and content manager — who also happened to be a former educator.
According to Roscoe, she and Fuld first spoke via Skype; an online video chat service that allows phone calls to be made both nationally and internationally.
“I was honored to hold the Skype meeting with him personally but when two educators talk, great things happen, so we also held a Skype session with my students,” Roscoe wrote in the blog post. “They were amazed when they found out we were talking to someone across the globe!”
Students commented on how interesting it was to sit in a Hamlet classroom and see the Israel skyline just outside Fuld’s window.
Fellow teacher Teri Jo Watkins also participated in the Skype session, and said she was amazed at what she saw.