Tracking QR Code Scans

Tracking QR Code Scans Header Image

I have already written about how QR Codes can be used on Chromebooks. In that post, I went over a few ways they could be used in the classroom. If you are interested, please have a read. Below is a great video that also shares some great ways QR Codes can be used in the classroom.

In today’s post, I wanted to introduce a scenario that popped up for a student. This student was in a Capstone Course and had created a project that utilized QR Codes. The student wanted to gather data about which QR Codes were being scanned the most. He looked into creating Dynamic QR Codes and quickly discovered that these services were not free. He didn’t want to pay a monthly fee for this service as it was for a school project. He ended up not tracking this data.

I have been thinking recently about this and I came to the conclusion that it is possible to do this, but it requires some app smashing. While this method doesn’t give the freedom a true Dynamic QR Code gives, it does allow for tracking data.

Quick Steps

  • Sign up for Bitly
  • Create links using Bitly
  • Use your Bit Links to make QR Codes
  • Track scans on Bitly

Details

To do this the student will need to first create links in Bitly. They will need to sign up for a free account so keep this in mind if your students are under the age of 13. Bitly is a great link shortener that enables long URLs to be shortened and customized to make it easier for people to remember. What this means is that a link that looks like this https://www.drshannondoak.com/2019/01/11/chrome-can-qr-codes/ can be customized to this http://bit.ly/DrDQRcodes. This is already a great tool that teachers and students can use to make links more readily accessible for others. What is great about Bitly is that they have a free account version that allows for the tracking of the links you create.

Link click data supplied by Bitly

Bitly also has a Chrome extension that makes creating links easy. Below is a good tutorial I found on Youtube on how to create links using Bitly.

After the student has their links created they will then need to create their QR Codes. As I mentioned in my other post about QR Codes, “My two favorite generators are The QR Code Generator and QR-Code-Generator. The best QR Code Generator and Scanner available for Chromebooks is called The QR Code Generator and can be found in the Chrome Web Store. The reason I say this is the best one for Chromebooks is that it not only enables you and your students to create QR Codes, it also allows you to scan them using your Chromebook. The QR Code Generator is also a web app so it can be used on any computer that has a web camera attached.”

Creating QR Codes is as easy as copying a link and then pasting it in the appropriate box in the QR Code Generator and then downloading or screenshotting the QR Code generated. See video below.

How to create a QR Code

If students follow these steps they will be able to track how many scans a certain QR Code gets without having to pay for the service of a Dynamic QR Code.

Thanks for reading

Dr. Shannon H. Doak