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Sunday 26 January 2014

10 Ways to Teach Innovation | MindShift

problem-solution



By Thom Markham
One overriding challenge is now coming to the fore in public consciousness: We need to reinvent just about everything. Whether scientific advances, technology breakthroughs, new political and economic structures, environmental solutions, or an updated code of ethics for 21st century life, everything is in flux—and everything demands innovative, out of the box thinking.
The burden of reinvention, of course, falls on today’s generation of students. So it follows that education should focus on fostering innovation by putting curiosity, critical thinking, deep understanding, the rules and tools of inquiry, and creative brainstorming at the center of the curriculum.
This is hardly the case, as we know. In fact, innovation and the current classroom model most often operate as antagonists. The system is evolving, but not quickly enough to get young people ready for the new world. But there are a number of ways that teachers can bypass the system and offer students the tools and experiences that spur an innovative mindset. Here are ten ideas:
Full article in:  
MindShift


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Saturday 25 January 2014

Sir Ken Robinson : The Art of Teaching

from Learning {RE}imagined



That’s why I always say that teaching is an art form. It’s not a delivery system. I don’t know when we started confusing teaching with FedEx. Teaching is an arts practice. It’s about connoisseurship and judgment and intuition. We all remember the great teachers in our lives. The ones who kind of woke us up and that we’re still thinking about because they said something to us or they gave us an angle on something that we’ve never forgotten.

Sir Ken Robinson

Learning {RE}imagined – Noam Chomsky on Technology & Learning

As far as technology itself and education is concerned, technology is basically neutral. It’s like a hammer. The hammer doesn’t care whether you use it to build a house or whether on torture, using it to crush somebody’s skull, the hammer can do either.

Noam Chomsky






this article in Learning {RE}imagined

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Far Beyond Test Scores, What We (Should) Value In Students | MindShift





2013-05-22_1603

Jackie Gernstein
From Jackie Gernstein’s resource-rich site comes this sweet infographic depicting the skills we’d like to instill in our students. The post also includes a long, helpful list of resources for everything from how to help students develop hope, to encouraging empathy and social and emotional skills, to how to foster grit, tenacity and perseverance: an educator’s guide.



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Friday 24 January 2014

6 Blended Learning Models & Platforms





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6 Types of Blended Learning - in TeachThought

Blended Learning is not so much an innovation as it is a natural by-product of the digital domain creeping into physical boundaries. As digital and social media become more and more prevalent in the life of learners, it was only a matter of time before learning became “blended” by necessity.
That said, there’s a bit more to Blended and “Hybrid” Learning than throwing in a little digital learning.
6 Types of Blended Learning
  1. Face-to-face Driver
  2. Rotation
  3. Flex
  4. Online Lab
  5. Self-Blend
  6. Online Driver
The following infographic takes a different approach to the concept, labeling it “Disruptive,” and even offering an interesting matrix. One interesting prediction? By 2014, 50% of all post-secondary learners will take a class online.




Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

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26 Teacher Tools To Create Online Assessments

This is a useful reshare







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Intel debuts education tablet and laptop | Education Dive





  • Intel Education Solutions on Wednesday at Bett 2014 debuted the new Education Tablet and classmate PC.
  • Both devices are built specifically for education and are durable — capable of withstanding 70 cm drops from desks, as well as being water- and dust-resistant.
  • Included on the devices are the Intel Education Software eLearning suite, which includes the Kno app. Intel acquired Kno in November.
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Thursday 23 January 2014

Mobile,bandwidth &the internet of things are going to change people's lives



                                                  @MarissaMayer


Government is considering using MOOCs in classrooms, says Gove (Wired UK)

 by KATIE COLLINS (Wired UK)





Credit: Flickr/educationgovuk



Massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, could soon be used to augment the depth and variety of the curriculum taught in British schools, said education secretary Michael Gove speaking at the BETT conferencein London today.

The key to introducing new opportunities provided by developments in technology and the free, open courses now offered by universities around the world into the classroom will be to leave schools in charge of deciding how they will respond to the changes, Gove said.
"Precisely the wrong way to react to the transformative opportunities offered by educational technology would be for government to try to dictate, from the centre, every last detail of how schools should respond," the education secretary acknowledged.
The government is currently looking at responses to aconsultation on the new accountability arrangements designed for 16- to 19-year olds, in which it has asked about the possibility of using MOOCs to support the education of students within this age bracket.
A partnership between exam board OCR, Cambridge University Press and the Raspberry Pi Foundation has already resulted in the creation of a MOOC specifically designed to build upon OCR's GCSE Computing curriculum. It can be used by students in their own time, or by teachers to augment the experience in the classroom -- or, for that matter, by anyone else who's interested.
As part of the Rutherford Physics Partnership, the government is also providing funding for Cambridge University to develop a MOOC that will support the transition between A Level physics and undergraduate physics, engineering and maths. This should please lecturers who frequently complain that A Levels do not provide rigorous enough preparation to study these subjects at university level.
"These courses are an unparalleled opportunity for the brightest and best education institutions to open their classrooms and their content to more people than ever before -- democratising education for the 21st century," said Gove.
Incorporating MOOCs into mainstream classrooms would allow students to access a broader syllabus than could possibly be offered by the staff of a single school, and would mean that teachers could facilitate and support the learning of small groups of students with specialist interests.
"Teachers will be in the vanguard of this change -- not just equipping young people with crucial computing skills and knowledge, but inspiring them with the incredible possibilities opened up by science and technology," said Gove.
The government is investing heavily in making sure teachers are equipped with the requisite expertise to teach children advanced computing skills as well though, he was keen to emphasise. He pointed to improvements in teacher training schemes and professional development for existing teachers, along with the government's intention to recruit 400 "master teachers" who are right at the top of their fields in computer science.
Gove was also keen to point to the increased use of 3D printers in schools. "Over the last few years, they have developed from an expensive, experimental toy to a tried and tested technology," he said.
"Our new design and technology curriculum -- backed by world-famous British inventor Sir James Dyson -- has been redesigned to enable students to master the skills needed to create new products with 3D printers alongside other advanced technological skills and techniques, including robotics."
Unsurprisingly he neglected to mention that the first draft of the new D&T curriculum, which was published in February 2013, was widely criticised by industry experts and was reported by Matt White, assistant director of the DfE's national curriculum review, to have been drawn up bureaucrats with no outside consultation.
Fortunately that wrong has now been righted, and Gove seems to be fully on board with the idea that the UK curriculum cannot be designed in Whitehall, or based purely on thoughts from his own head. He pointed out that like the D&T curriculum, the new computing curriculum has been "drawn up not by bureaucrats but by teachers and other sector experts, led by the British Computer Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, with input from industry leaders like Microsoft, Google and leaders in the computer games industry."
Bringing in education and industry experts who will be educating and one day employing British schoolchildren is obviously the right and proper thing to do, but it would also be encouraging to see the government examining its own procedures for dealing with the rapidity of the changes we are currently seeing in the technology.
"Government regulation cannot keep pace with the scale of change technology brings," said the education secretary, in what -- no doubt unintentionally -- sounded like he was washing his hands of the responsibility.
Unfortunately Gove's words reveal a universal truth, and not just one applicable to education policy. The government is proud of the education system it has designed, but perhaps its next task could be to apply what it has learned while drawing the curriculum to itself, so that it too in future could operate based on a system that is "open, creative and adaptive -- which is open to innovation, which can use technology creatively to advance learning and which is structured flexibly to adapt to change."

We Day: There is no ‘me’ in ‘we’ - Virgin.com

“It doesn’t matter the cause, it matters that you care.” Proud #dad as Holly launches #WeDay UKhttp://virg.in/eSJEi

Author Image for Holly Branson

Holly



"It’s astonishing to think that only two years ago, I was standing on the We Day stage in Vancouver thinking how amazing it would be for young people in the UK to have the opportunity to be part of such an inspirational event... and now I have the honour of announcing its launch in the UK this March!

With just six weeks to go before the big day, I had the privilege of speaking alongside my co-chair, Lord Rumi Verjee, John Coles, CEO of United LearningCraig Kreeger, CEO ofVirgin Atlantic and Craig Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children, at the We Day UK school launch.

And we weren’t alone. From teachers dancing in the aisles, to inspirational pupils sharing their personal stories, there was one common theme – a passion for change. Attended by over 480 students, the launch was a great way of building some momentum and engaging with the true change makers of the project: our young people."



We Day is part of a comprehensive active citizenship programme called We Act, which helps transform the inspiration of We Day into tangible action by supporting schools and youth groups to make a difference in the world. It brings people together to lead global change, defy apathy and celebrate the change they are making in their local and global communities.

The project was initiated by Free The Children, who began working in the UK in 2010 to deliver free active citizenship and leadership programmes and has already reached over 500 schools and more than 125,000 young people.






Check more in:



Find a Virgin Company



and

http://www.weday.com/uk


Google releases New EDU Learning Center


http://www.google.com/edu/training/

Aaron Gumz originally shared to Chromebook EDU 



Google releases New EDU Learning Center: http://www.google.com/edu/training/  to support the training and professional development of teachers globally. Thanks +Emma Fish and Team~!

Learning Center Highlights:
New online lessons on Google tools providing the What educators should know about our key offerings, and most importantly How to apply in the class.

New exams and certifications:
Basics Exam to show fundamental understanding; for educators in developed and emerging markets (super for staff, students and parents as well)

Google Educator certification - scaleable, online certification for teachers

New and updated courses and supporting exams
New teacher resources with 100s of how-to videos, best practice guides, lesson plans, case studies and more... built by teachers, for teachers

What Needs to Happen for More Women, Minorities to Get Into Computer Science | Entrepreneur.com

As computer science becomes even more important to US growth, see how 4 leaders are trying to break down barriers to entry for women and minorities in science, tech, engineering and math.



What Needs to Happen for More Women, Minorities to Get Into Computer Science

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code.



A PayScale report ranked computer science careers among some of the most in-demand and lucrative professions in the United States. But recent figures on high-school students who took the College Board's Advanced Placement Computer Science exam last year paint a picture of a field is failing to progress with the times.
For one, there were two states - Mississippi and Montana - where not a single female, African American or Hispanic student took the AP Computer Science exam. In fact, in Montana, only 11 students total took the exam, as not one high school in the state offered courses in AP computer science. Perhaps most alarming: In Wyoming, no students took the Computer Science exam at all.


Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230961#ixzz2rDvlAGFk




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Know Your Limits, Your Brain Can Only Take So Much | Entrepreneur.com

If you've ever hit information overload, you know all too well that your best thinking is not about to take place. Hey, your brain has left the building! But with these tips, you can spot and even stop some of those noises from getting to you in the first place.



Know Your Limits, Your Brain Can Only Take So Much

Image credit: Airik Lopez



Don't go out and buy a new day planner or learn a five-step decision-making process -- they won't work. If they did, we would all be much happier and more effective. The truth is that to improve our thinking abilities, we need to understand the root of our problem -- our brains.

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230925#ixzz2rDul5XAa


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Tuesday 21 January 2014

Five lessons on happiness & entrepreneurs - Virgin.com

Who's the boss - getty



Yesterday, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor published their annual snapshot on entrepreneurialism around the world. And this year, they had a special focus on the ‘subjective wellbeing’ of entrepreneurs – in other words, how happy they are in comparison to everyone else! 

Here are five things we learned about happiness and entrepreneurialism that you could apply in 2014…
Read all in: 
http://www.virgin.com/unite/entrepreneurship/five-lessons-on-happiness-entrepreneurs

9▶ Episode 1: 2014 The year of the Entrepreneur - Prof. Alan Brown (Surrey Business School)





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Video analysis: is Richard Branson correct in saying 2014 will be the year of the entrepreneur? - Virgin.com




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Cloud-Based LMS: Is Your Data Safe In The Cloud?




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With Over 7.1 Million Students, the Prospect of Online Learning is high




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Monday 20 January 2014

Are Moocs the best chance we have to satisfy a global thirst for education?

Infographic: How to Search for Open Educational Resources | Enrollment Builders

How-to-Search-for-Open-Educational-Resources-Infographic


Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path | Scoop.it

social media competencies



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10 Social Media Skills for The 21st Century Teachers | Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Teaching With QR Codes

40 more maps that explain the world







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Tecnología educativa y roles de profesores y alumnos en un mundo 2.0 By .@juandoming






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9 Mistakes Teachers Make Using Technology in the Classroom





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Make Your Mark! Helping Children Think Creatively





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10 Ways to Remember Martin Luther King, Jr.




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Friday 17 January 2014

'Share the internet' plan to give users free access to other people's wi-fi - Independent.ie

Profile of a businessman with a laptop
Customers will be able to use tablets in other homes. Photo: Thinkstock

CUSTOMERS with UPC will be able to use smartphones and tablets to hop on to each other's broadband connections in a new initiative to "share the internet".

The company insists that the so-called 'Horizon WiFree' initiative, which is set to be rolled out to 150,000 homes by the summer, would not compromise the security of UPC customers' accounts.
UPC's broadband customers will get the added service for free -- they will have to register on the operator's website and get a secure pin number to use the service.
If they are in the home of another UPC customer, or in the vicinity, they will be able to effectively hop on to their internet connection and access online services.
However, a different channel is used to the main user, so that their internet security is not compromised.
"One of the things we locked down first was the security and quality of enabler-homes' broadband accounts," said UPC's head of consumer products Ronan McEvoy.
"So the channel used to allow other UPC users to access the home's broadband is completely separate and is limited to 2.5 megabits per second."
Mr McEvoy said that the service was only available to other customers of UPC.
He said that around half of UPC customers have the necessary modem to allow others to use their broadband freely, and that those who owned the account could opt out of allowing the service to activate.
"Frankly, we don't expect many to opt out as we think it's a beneficial service," he said.
Mr McEvoy said that the service was typically targeted at people who were visiting friends' homes and who needed to access an internet service but did not want to ask for their host's wifi password.
He said that up to five people could use the service at any one time and that any internet-enabled device would be capable of using the service, including smartphones, tablets and laptops.
UPC recently increased its business users' broadband speeds to 250Mbs.
"Our network has the potential to go far beyond the speeds we currently have in place," said Mr McEvoy. "But Horizon WiFree is a way of giving secure broadband access to UPC customers outside their own homes."
Irish Independent
independent
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Thursday 16 January 2014

Ensina: Portugal's new Educational Portal


Portugal's state-owned TV channel RTP, together with the Ministry of Education and a few Portuguese universities ( with relevance to Open University Portugal) launched a new educational open-source site in the language of Camões, Pessoa and Saramago called "Ensina" ( =Teach), a valuable resource for teachers, parents and educators in general. This will largely benefit the huge Portuguese-speaking community of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, S. Tomé and Principe, Portuguese communities in Goa (India), Macao and the vast number of emigrants and  2d and 3rd generation spread all over the world adding up to circa 480 million speakers (290 million native, 155 million second-language and 35 million other non-native) (source Wikipedia)



Videos, audio, infographics and photographs produced by the different channels of Radio and Television of Portugal over the last eight decades are available initially. In addition to short excerpts of interviews or programs, there will be some great documentaries with great relevance for certain school subjects.

The area of ​​contents is divided in the main subjects of Art, Portuguese Language and Literature, Science, Citizenship, etc.. Under each theme results are filtered by content type, education level or sub-theme. Some of the published articles are aggregated into files, which offer us the whole existing order on a given subject, or sets of episodes in the same series. The children's area is intended for pre-school audience.

http://ensina.rtp.pt/

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Wednesday 15 January 2014

Coursera Blog • Welcome Fudan University (复旦大学) to Coursera!

From the Coursera Blog


Please join us in welcoming Fudan University as Coursera’s 108th partner! A highly competitive institution located in Shanghai, Fudan is one of China’s leading research universities with more than 2,678 full-time professors and researchers and attracting 35,000 on-campus students. Fudan University is excited to open its doors to Chinese-speaking students in its home country and around the world who can benefit from access to their world class education.
Tapping into its prestigious faculty, Fudan will offer a range of courses beginning with “Big Data and Information Dissemination” taught by Professor Cheng Shian in Fudan’s School of Journalism. This course will explore the science of communication using data analytics to study the dynamics of online communities.
Fudan, in joining three other university partners offering courses in Chinese on Coursera, will have a great impact on our continuing efforts to expand accessibility in China. In addition to our partnerships with universities, we are also working with several other companies and organizations in China to improve online access by translating and distributing Coursera’s most popular courses.
Fudan University has a wealth of learning opportunities to offer, and it is an honor to help them bring their expertise to the Coursera platform!

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Can You Start a Successful Tech Career Later in Life?


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▶ Top 5 devices we liked from CES 2014



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▶ Sony CES Press Conference 2014



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▶ CES 2014 Recap



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Introduction to Startup Entrepreneurship - Course

General Assembly
 +General Assembly and +Google Australia  

Intro to Startup Entrepreneurship  free course

"Creating and launching an online business idea is more accessible and easier than ever - if you know how. Let us introduce you to the simple tools and information you need to make your Startup idea a reality. 
Industry experts share their experience and advice on the best methods to turn your concept into a well-tested, finely tuned, and competitive online product. Convenient, free, and packed full of exactly what you need to know." 


To know more about General Assembly go to
 https://generalassemb.ly/


Monday 13 January 2014

▶ Earth from Space: Bissagos


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▶ Stanford Business:Are China's Manufacturers and Suppliers Innovative?



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Gamification in Education



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What’s the Difference Between Games and Gamification? | MindShift

What’s the Difference Between Games and Gamification?

Perhaps the best way to think about games in education is not to automatically call everything that 
everything that looks like fun a “learning game.” Lumping all digital game approaches together makes no more sense than a toddler’s inclination to call every four-legged animal a “doggie.”
Game interest is definitely on the upswing in K-12 and higher education. It seems almost cyclical: every several years, almost in sync with the acceptance of new technologies (such as multimedia CD-ROM, then online, then mobile), there’s a surge of activity with games in education.
But everything game-like is not a game. And while game purists may wince at this simplification, it helps to consider games in education in terms of gamificationsimulation and (simply) games. The three approaches aren’t always exclusive – they’re more of a continuum, or a Venn diagram’s overlapping circles – but they are notably different.
More in MindShift
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Stanford Center for Professional Development | Stanford University Online

Graduate and Professional Education

online | at Stanford | at work


The Stanford Center for Professional Development connects professionals worldwide to the research and teaching of Stanford University faculty in the School of Engineering and related academic departments. Qualified individuals may study for master of science degrees on a part-time basis, pursue graduate certificates and professional certificates, take individual graduate courses and professional courses, participate in workshops, view free online seminars and more. Courses are delivered online, on the Stanford campus in the heart of Silicon Valley, and at the work site.
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Friday 10 January 2014

The 5 Degrees Of The Future - Edudemic

degrees

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Rafiq Dossani: India embraces MOOCs, but what if it is a 'lousy product'? | Business Standard

Rafiq Dossani: India embraces MOOCs, but what if it is a 'lousy product'? | Business Standard

One hundred engineering colleges around India will rely heavily on virtual instruction under a new programme funded by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development () that kicked off on January 2.

The Quality Enhancement in Engineering  () programme, as it is called, relies on the use of the online teaching model known as MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course. About half the students' courses are to be delivered over .

Thursday 9 January 2014

Larissa's Languages: 7 ways to use INFOGRAPHICS in the English classroom


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Apps in Education: Making and not just reading QR Codes - Apps in Education blogspot

in  http://appsineducation.blogspot.fr/2014/01/making-and-not-just-reading-qr-codes.html

Posted by Greg Swanson in Apps in Education

I saw a couple of great images yesterday on Twitter where a teacher was using QR Codes to share book reviews in one corner of the room and biographies of famous people from history in another. I know a lot of people are doing this but it was the combination that got me thinking about the ability of the students to generate their own QR Codes. I think they would love the opportunity to QR Code their work, their assignments or even a link to their next video. Here are a couple of apps that would let students create their own QR Codes - some allow the integration of images and coloured QR codes while others are more basic but free for students to download.

Generate Colorful QR Code: $1.99 AU
Generate Colorful QR-code of any photo or image that you select. This would be super cool in my art class but would work equally well in any subject area. Imagine using the kids photos as QR codes for their assignments. I can't wait to give this to students to see how else they will use it.


Kiasu QR Photo Tag Generator: FREE
QR code with your own Photo with Sharing capabilities? KIASU QR is invented to redefine QR experience! It is a QR-Photo Tag Creator! You can use it as QR code scanner or reader too! Snap, encode, select and share - that easy.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/kiasu-qr-generator/id518646183?mt=8



Microsoft Tag: FREE
No need to type long URLs simply scan a 2D barcode wherever you see one. Tag recognition technology transforms traditional marketing, such as print advertising, billboards, packaging and LCD displays, into live links that immediately access info, videos and other materials online.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/microsoft-tag/id298856272?mt=8


Fancy QR Code Generator: FREE
QR Codes were cool but the problem is that they are all boring and anonymous. Make you QR code stand out from the crowd using colors and images! With this amazing app you can finally make them YOURS by using your logo or other image you like, or just pick on elf the different colors!

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/fancy-qr-code-generator/id552823669?mt=8

EmbedCodes: FREE
EmbedCodes is a simple utility that allows embedding and decoding of QR codes inside photos. With embed codes you can create your own QR code with customized color, embed it into a photo and save it to your device. From there you can share it via email, text and more.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/embedcodes/id659239588?mt=8


QR Reader - Scan Create and Read with Logo: $0.99 AU
Just point at the code you want to scan and give it a few seconds. The code will automatically be recognized and scanned. Right, no button needs to be pushed, nothing. I doesn't matter what code you are scanning, QR Reader will recongnize it, be it QR, EAN, standard barcode or other formats.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/qr-reader-scan-create-read/id416340726?mt=8


Quargo: FREE
Quargo uses augmented reality to achieve their goal. The codes used are QR codes but they can be personalized to allow you to create your own, unique codes. AR is then used to bring the codes to life and allow you, the user, to mix the virtual with the real world.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/quargo/id636612374


QR Code Maker: FREE
QR Code Maker creates and scans QR codes. Create and than save to your photo library so you could use it! It's great if you want to promote a product through posters or website. Create SMS codes, Phone number codes, normal text codes, and websites links.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/qr-code-maker/id513617634?mt=8


Bar/QR Code Maker:
Make, share and print QR codes in a single app. There are lots of programs that read barcodes and QR codes but nobody allows you to generate both in one app! The codes created are stored for reuse whenever you want. You can create QR code lengths up to 4296 characters and bar codes with text.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bar-qr-code-maker/id604812114?mt=8


Quick QR Code Reader/Maker: FREE
The quickest and most efficient QR Code reader and creator. Now with this quick QR Code scanner and generator, you can easily and quickly discover the magic of QR code. Besides scanning and reading, you can also create your own QR code, share them through email or microblog.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/quick-qr-code-reader/id651355383?mt=8 
Preview

eLearning Project Officer interested in Computer Integration, Web 2.0 and engaging students in their own learning through innovative technology and collaborative classroom practices.

regswanson@gmail.com

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