Hey everyone.
I wanted to share a fun and interactive way to engage with students. Over the past two years, I have been working to place NFC tags all over my woodshop. My goal is to add NFC tags behind each one of my woodshop machines safety posters so that students can tap their phones against safety posters and instantly download safety worksheets, access machine demonstrations if they need a refresher before using a machine, and take quick quizzes to gauge their knowledge before using machines.
My goal is to make information readily available to students in an interactive format that scanning a QR code doesn’t deliver. By having students touch their phones to posters and instantly seeing handouts, videos, and quizzes pop up on their mobile devices. I hope to reduce anxiety around machine use in my class and create a safer space for all learners. Furthering the creative mindset, my students have thus expanding their mental toolboxes.
Check out this Blog for more ideas.
Hi Anton – I LOVE this idea! I am a Foods teacher and it would be a great way to have students quickly be able to find out more information on measurement, equipment uses, sanitation, etc. I will definitely be checking this out. Thanks for the idea!
Meg.
This is a great safety idea for your woodshop! I really like that your students can access the information, etc. on an as-needed basis. This is a great way to personalize their learning, while helping them to be safe and comfortable with the machinery. What a great use of mobile technology for on-demand learning!
NFC tags sound like the perfect solution for a situation where you have a learner entering a specific environment. Your post did an excellent job of connecting NFC tech to practical use!
It made me think about situations where the learner isn’t entering a specific environment. For instance, someone in my family went for a covid test yesterday (negative! phew.) and the handout they received had two QR codes on it. How could we avoid using the paper, as Britt Hack suggests in her comment, and still connect a user to the information?
I wonder if the future of QR codes -> NFC -> ? is a sort of geo-tagged NFC. For instance, I don’t have to be in the same city as my student, but the next time they walk by city hall they get information on local politics. Perhaps an extension on the NFC scavenger hunt?
I wish we could tag other bloggers in the comments because I’d love to hear Toby Beck chime in here.
Hello Anton,
I am very curious about this tech. I researched it a bit more and realized that to use NFC tags you have to be a few inches away whereas a QR code can be from a great distance. Are there any features that an NFC tag provides that a QR code does not?
Other than being able to pass them around in class and that a person can physically “tap” to get information, not necessarily. They also can be coded to lead users to a URL like a QR code. BUt can also guide you to a search engine, download files, exchange contact information, or even let you access a wifi point without having to search or enter a password. I have found NFC tags to be quite a bit more versatile than QR codes. There is also quite a big limiting factor. That is if a person does not have an NFC capable device. There is no way for them to be able to retrieve the data on an NFC card.
One argument that I have been hearing over and over again is the need for society to have less of an environmental footprint with the 4th industrial revolution, hence Industry X. The concept of using NFC tags over paper handouts appears to me also a good lesson on environmental sustainability and stewardship.