I decided to try something new for library orientation this year with my students. Instead of standing up in front of the students going over a boring PowerPoint Presentation about the library media center, I decided to create a QR Code Library Media Center Scavenger Hunt. I got the idea from The Daring Librarian Blog.
Usually, I would pull in the English classes to do orientation, but this year I used the Social Studies (Civics and Economics in my building) classes. I had each teacher schedule a full day to spend in the Media Center and I split the class period with the Computer Lab Manager who also set the students up with their school Gmails and Windows accounts.
With help from The Daring Librarian's QR Code Quest Table and my Library Orientation Powerpoint from last year, I had a clear direction of what I wanted my scavenger hunt to look like. It took a lot of work in the beginning: taking pictures, uploading them to Flickr, creating the QR Codes, creating the QR Code Clue pages, BUT it worked out really well in the end. The students enjoyed using the iPads and learning about the library a different way than they were used to.
REFLECTION AND THINGS I LEARNED...
- The QR Code Scavenger Hunt has to be specific for "your" library.
- After I looked at my Powerpoint vs. The Daring Librarian's QR Code Quest Table I realized that the scavenger hunt had to be specific for my library and I did have to create my own QR Codes.
- Have a clear path around your library for the QR Codes.
- After the first day I realized that the students didn't have a clear path or direction to go in. I had number eight in one location but number nine was clear on the other side of the room. That didn't work. So, I re-did my "table" and made a clear path from 1-14. One was near two. Two was near three, etc. Yes, it is a scavenger hunt, but don't make it too hard of the students to find the next one on the list because they'll spend more time "looking" around your library instead of "learning" about your library.
- Don't put too many QR Codes in one section.
- I moved the QR Code clues around a couple of times. I found that the students would "bunch" up in the stacks if two many codes were in one aisle of the library. So, I moved the codes around (still in a easy order to find) to create less congestion.
- Don't start every student at number one.
- Students also "bunched" up when I started them at number one as well. I found that alternating where the students started on the scavenger hunt and telling the students they "didn't" have to do the scavenger hunt in number order helped with the flow and it moved them along faster. For example, my numbers "two" and "three" were doing an activity at the computer so if I moved the students along to number four, or had them go "backwards" and start with number fourteen, helped relieve the congestion.
- If there is something you want to know about the students, get that done first.
- The first thing I had the students do was complete a survey. I didn't want them to just learn some things about the library. I wanted to learn about them too. I wanted to know what their hobbies were, what types of books they liked to read, how often they read for pleasure, how many books they owned at home, etc. However, with the first classes, I had the survey as the "last" thing to do. But, my some of the students in my first couple of classes didn't get to the survey. So, I had them do the survey first. When I changed my "table" I moved the the survey up from number fourteen to number one.
