Thursday, April 17, 2014

Google Docs + Bitly = Great QR Codes!

A 7th grade physical science teacher recently asked me how he could easily share study guides and other documents with his class. When I asked if he was familiar with Google Docs, he answered that he has an account and uses it at home. Perfect!

I demonstrated how to upload existing document to Google Drive and benefits of converting them to a Google Doc afterwards. (We made sure to share the documents with "anyone with the link".) We decided that his best delivery method would be QR codes for his group of students. I pasted a Google link into Kaywa and asked what he thought about it. He impressed me by telling me that the code was too pixelated to scan well. Bingo.


Now comes a tool in the middle: a URL shortener. There are plenty of options out there with tinyurl as probably the most popular. My favorite is bitly. Want to know why? Check out the four minute video below to learn all about it!