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Students’ Response to the Use of QR Codes to Encourage
Participation in an Introductory Programming Module
Greg Foster
Department of Information Systems
Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South Africa, 6140
+27 46 603 8437
g.foster@ru.ac.za
ABSTRACT
In today’s digital age, more and more students are expecting their
educators to use technology to engage them in the learning process.
The widespread adoption of mobile phones offers much potential
in using these devices to augment and support the learning process.
One of the more interesting applications of mobile phones in
education has come with the introduction of QR codes. In this
study, the experiences of Information Systems students enrolled for
an introductory programming module in which QR codes were
used to encourage student participation is reported. Results from
the survey indicated that the use of QR codes provided a positive
learning experience in which students felt engaged with the course
material.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
K.3.2 [Computer and Education]: Computer and Information
Science Education – Information system education
General Terms
Documentation, Human Factors, Languages.
Keywords
QR codes, mobile phones, introductory programming, student
participation, active learning.
1. INTRODUCTION
In today’s digital age, more and more students are expecting their
educators to use technology to engage them in the learning process
[4]. In this regard, it is not simply a case of being technology-
driven, but rather that technology is used in a relevant manner to
enhance the learning experience [20]. With the wide-spread
adoption of mobile devices (in particular mobile phones) [16],
many researchers have realized the potential advantage they offer
in augmenting and supporting the learning process [6, 12, 21, 22].
In fact, it has been suggested that mobile devices are likely to be
the most important technology in the future of education [13, 22].
Today’s tech savvy students increasingly rely on their mobile
devices for everyday access to information and resources [11]. As
such, they are more likely to be stimulated when using mobile
devices to engage with academic activities than by traditional
classroom activities [5, 6]. Unmotivated students can easily disrupt
a class, however, using mobile phones successfully during a class
can stimulate interest and motivation in students [28].
One of the more interesting applications of mobile phones in
education has come with the introduction of QR codes. The
combination of QR codes and mobile phones is being advocated as
a productive option for the technology-enhanced classroom [18,
19].
In this paper, the students’ experience of using QR codes and
mobile phones as a means of encouraging active learning in an
introductory programming module is reported. Studies have shown
that active learning (getting students involved) improves student
performance in programming courses [14, 26]. As such, the
intention was to encourage students to actively find information
during class rather than passively listening to a lecture.
2. RELATED WORK
2.1 QR Code
A QR code is a 2D barcode (Figure 1) that can be encoded with
data and then decoded rapidly, hence the QR which refers to “Quick
Response” [23]. It was developed by Denso Wave in 1994 and is
now used extensively in business and industry.
Figure 1. QR code example
QR codes have the ability to store numerous characters that can be
used to display text, link to an URL, or even send an SMS [23]. A
mobile phone with built-in camera and QR code reader software
can decode the QR code to quickly access its embedded data [17].
Since the technology is in the public domain, there are many free
QR code encoders available via the Internet to produce these codes
at no cost. Similarly, QR code readers are also available at no cost
for leading mobile phone platforms.
2.2 QR Code Use in Education
The use of QR codes in education is gaining momentum with a
number of studies highlighting its successful use as a supporting
technology.
Yusof et al. [27] reported on the use of QR code-driven activities
to enhance learning in an Elementary Statistics module. While,
Chen et al. [3] successfully used QR codes to provide
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SACLA 2014, 25-26 June, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
supplementary learning material to support a Business English
class. In particular, they found that scaffolding questions were of
great benefit to student understanding of the subject matter. Ozcelik
& Acarturk [15] further demonstrated that QR codes have the
potential to effectively complement printed information. Huang et
al. [7] observed that students who received procedural scaffolding
support via QR code and mobile phone achieved better learning
outcomes with a technology-supported environment.
Tseng et al. [26] have also used QR codes to effectively replace
RFID technology which was previously used to provide access to
supporting material during a PC assembly practical.
Susono & Shimomura [24] have used QR codes for formative
assessment by enabling students to answer questions and send
comments to teachers and fellow classmates. Similarly, Law [9]
also used QR codes to obtain student feedback during lectures.
Likewise, Chaisatein & Akahori [2] used QR codes to support
classroom activities.
Besides the classroom environment, QR codes have proved
successful in outdoor educational contexts. Ceipidor et al. [1]
demonstrated that using QR codes for a museum treasure hunt
game in which learners had to solve riddles was very effective.
Similarly, Lee [10] effectively used QR codes in a biology fieldtrip
to create a QR code fact sheet that learners could access via their
mobile phones for further information on identified species. This
fact sheet effectively replaced the heavy traditional illustrated
guidebook.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Study Setting
The study was conducted with 160 undergraduate Information
Systems students at Rhodes University, South Africa, enrolled for
an introductory programming module. The module covered the
fundamental concepts of programming and was taught with the C#
programming language. Students took part on a voluntary basis and
the study complied with the ethical requirements as stipulated by
Rhodes University.
3.2 QR Code Preparedness
A preliminary survey was conducted to determine: i) if students had
mobile phones that could process QR codes; ii) if students were
familiar with QR codes; and iii) if students were prepared to spend
their own money on data for class activity downloads. A
questionnaire was distributed during class for students to complete.
3.3 QR Code Experience
The main study took place during the 6 week programming module
during which QR codes were displayed as part of the lecture slides
(Figure 2). The QR codes were utilized to provide links to websites
and text to support critical programming concepts and practical
examples. Those students who did not already have a QR code
reader installed on their mobile phone were encouraged to install
the BeeTagg QR code reader (http://www.beetagg.com) as it
supported many mobile phone platforms. QR codes were created
using Kaywa’s online website (http://qrcode.kaywa.com). Students
were required to access the Internet via their mobile phone
operator’s network in order to download information.
Figure 2. QR code displayed during lectures
At the end of the module, a questionnaire was distributed in class
to evaluate the students’ experiences of using QR codes. The aim
was to determine: i) how appealing students found scanning QR
codes to find information during lectures; ii) what the students’
experiences were, both positive and negative.
4. RESULTS
4.1 QR Code Preparedness
A total of 87 students completed this survey which equated to a
54.4% response rate. Most students were in the age group 18-20
(59.8%); and were fairly evenly distributed in terms of gender
(Table 1).
Table 1. Student demographics
Age Group:
18-20
21-23
>23
59.8%
37.9%
2.3%
Gender:
Male
Female
49.4%
50.6%
Most students were experienced mobile phone users having owned
a phone for longer than 5 years (69%) (Table 2).
Table 2. Mobile phone ownership (in years)
< 1
1
2
3
4
5
> 5
6.9%
5.7%
3.4%
2.3%
4.6%
8.0%
69.0%
Nokia (42.5%), Blackberry (31%) and Samsung (17.2%) were the
dominant mobile phone brands (Table 3). Analysis of the mobile
phone brands revealed that the majority (95.4%) had a rear camera
and were capable of processing QR codes either via natively
included software or 3rd party QR code reader apps.
Table 3. Mobile phone brands
Nokia
Blackberry
Samsung
Other (HTC, LG,
Sony, iPhone)
42.5%
31.0%
17.2%
9.3%
The majority of students (90.8%) indicated that they use their
mobile phones to browse the Internet. Interestingly, most students
(74.7%) indicated that they were not familiar with QR codes, and
were unaware (81.4%) of whether their mobile phones had the
software needed to read QR codes.
Finally, the majority of students (89.7%) indicated that they would
be prepared to spend their own money to access the Internet for
class activities, with the majority (78.1%) indicating that they were
prepared to spend R10-00 or less on data bundles for these activities
(Table 4).
Table 4. Mobile phone data spending (in Rands)
< R10
R10
R20
R30
R40
> R40
44.8%
33.3%
10.3%
2.6%
0.0%
9.0%
These results confirmed that it would be feasible to use QR codes
during lectures as most students had devices that could access these
codes and were willing to spend a small amount of their own money
on data downloads.
4.2 QR Code Experience
A total of 67 students completed this survey which equated to a
41.9% response rate. The majority of students (68.2%) found
interacting with the QR code technology during lectures appealing
(Table 5).
Table 5. Appeal of participation with QR code technology
Very appealing
31.8%
Appealing
36.4%
Neutral
22.7%
Not much appeal
4.5%
Not at all appealing
4.5%
Students’ experience responses were analysed and the following
positive aspects summarise what emerged from the survey:
participation in class keeps students awake and
concentrating
makes lectures interesting
integrating mobile phone technology in class is seen as
fun
searching relevant information when needed aids in
remembering the content
there was a desire to find out “what’s behind the QR
code”
it was easy to access information as no typing is needed
it was regarded as a good concept for teaching and
learning
Similarly, the students’ experience responses were analysed for
negative aspects which are summarised as follows:
internet access is sometimes slow which made it
frustrating waiting for information
difficult to read QR codes from side and back of class
camera quality impacted on ability to read QR codes
projected
students who could not read the QR codes felt left out
some students that did not have “smartphones” felt
embarrassed about only having an old mobile phone
some students found it annoying to have to take out their
mobile phone to access information
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The results indicate that students responded positively to the use of
QR codes in lectures and that they encouraged student
participation. The introduction of mobile phones in class created a
“buzz” which further encouraged student participation. However,
the issues which caused the most frustration in students were when
they were unable to read the QR codes or information downloaded
very slowly. Being unable to read QR codes was mainly attributed
to their mobile phones either having a poor quality camera or their
position in the lecture venue (sides or very back of class) relative
to the projected QR codes. It is likely that as mobile phone
technology advances these issues will become less problematic.
Overall, the positive feedback suggests that this teaching method
has merit and that the novel application of QR codes should be
explored further in introductory programming modules. In
addition, future work should also concentrate on empirical
investigations to validate if learner participation with QR codes will
contribute to improved academic performance.
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning
(CHERTL) at Rhodes University is thanked for their financial
support.
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