Here are some great new FREE apps to add your iPad toolbox. I am discussing  QR (quick response) codes and AR in this post because I feel they are  closely related.  With all AR and QR apps there is some up front “programming” time that has to be spent.  What I mean by “programming time” is that you will have to take some time to link the QR codes to physical link or content that live somewhere on the web or iPad.  Once this upfront work is done you can create some fun activities for any type of client you are working with.  So let’s jump right in and check out these apps.

QR Jump

Free for iPhone and iPad

This is a QR scanning app with a twist.  It is designed specifically for classroom use and is the first app that I have come across that links physical content on your iPad to a QR code. You are able to link a QR code to a song/audio or video that is located on your iPad.  You can see where this could come in handy when working with students with varying abilities.

The setup for linking your song/audio and video is fairly simply:

1)  Make sure your song/audio is synced to your iTunes library

2) Head over to your favorite QR generator ( I recommend http://qrcode.kaywa.com/) and create a text QR Code with the word “audio” in front of the file name, which would look like this “audio Old MacDonald”

3) The song/audio should begin to play automatically.

I had  a bit more trouble with getting the video to work properly. I played around with a few different video formats however when linked the app states that it can not locate the video.  So I will continue to play around and post any updates I get it working.  In the mean time if you want to link videos just create a QR code with a YouTube video link and QR Jump will open it up for you.

QR Jump can also be used to open links, text, and pictures. The difference with this app and other QR scanners is that your content w  opens up within the app itself and does not open up say a new Safari or YouTube window. This is helpful by keeping everything in one place as you can enable Guided Access and lock the user in the app.   The following pictures are examples of using QR Jump with a picture URL, YouTube link, and plain text.

AR Overlays

Free for iPad

If read Part One to this post you will remember that I discussed the app Aurasma which is very similar to AR Overlays but as Sarah Ward would say “they are the same but different”.  Aurasma and AR Overlays  allows users to create real-time overlays to be applied when you scan an image. Unlike Aurasma, AR Overlay doesn’t allow video or animations, however it does allow for free drawing, texts, and stickers to be added to your picture once you scan it. Let’s take a  look at an example of what this looks like.

AR Overlays seems to be a little less technically and pairing the picture to the overlay that you would like. Here is an example of using a SuperDuper If … Then… card. If you have used these cards before they can be a little cheesy and somewhat boring so pairing them with an AR Overlay can make them a little more appealing for those reluctant children out there.

To add an overlay here are the steps:

1) Make sure the image is visible int he view finder and tap on the Green PLUS.

2) Crop the image area.

3) Now you can add text, images, and stickers to your image!

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Here is another use for the app. In the picture below I used it to identify the correct answers on a worksheet. I simply circled the correct answers using the draw feature.