It’s time for Back to School organization! One thing I absolutely hate doing is collecting homework. See my earlier post here: No HW assignments for 2016? Can it be done? Assuming you assign homework, what should be done with it? Collect, Grade, Every day? The paper piles up!
If your bag is stuffed with student work, you may want to check out BerryWing’s Scan to Spreadsheet smart phone app which sells for a few dollars. This could be your new workflow:
- Walk around the class, verify assignment completion.
- With your phone, scan a QR code taped to each student’s notebook to record credit.
- Email the created excel spreadsheet to your work account.
To easily create the unique, student QR codes, go to the BerryWing.com and type each name into the QR code generator.
After each QR code is created, it can be copied (screenshot) into Word and printed for distribution to each student. Students can tape the code onto their notebooks. My example class has only 2 students.
Next, using your phone, set up your spreadsheet. My example covers assignments for three days in September. With September 5 checked, I am now ready to record that day’s homework compliance.
Now your ready to walk around the your classroom and scan the QR codes of students who completed the assignment. The app will make a pleasant noise verifying the data is collected. (If you are recording who didn’t do the assignment, you might want to turn the sound off!) When your done, email the Excel spreadsheet (XML file) to your work account or send it to cloud storage.
Paperless homework! Love this!
Magnificent! Just a brilliant idea; cannot wait to use in my classroom, thx!
Thanks Jim! Let us know how it goes once you try it!
[…] Use your phone to record who did the homework. Don’t collect all that paper if you only have time to verify who completed the assignment. See our post on a scan to spreadsheet solution. Got the Homework Blues? […]
Love this idea, but I think I’ll print the QR codes on label stickers
Thats a great idea! I’m about to get started. Love this!!
Good idea! They could go on a notebook or on an ID card.
How do you set up for when you scan their code to go into the spreadsheet?! Is there a special app needed for that part?!
You can set up spreadsheet on your phone. BerryWing has a how-to video on their site. I export the finished spreadsheet to the excel format, email it to myself and open it on my desktop computer.
[…] Scan to Spreadsheet: An app for recording homework! See our post: Got the Homework Blues? […]
I love this! May I link to this post in a workshop that I am teaching so that others can find this great info?
Hi Melissa! Thanks so much for your support!! You can absolutely post this we would be honored 🙂
I have the link all set to distribute to conference attendees! One thing I’m struggling with in the app is….How to label the spreadsheet by date or assignment to retrieve so I can scan missing or absent students when they hand in the work. Do you have any insight? Many thanks!
I usually go by date but your question is making me rethink it. Maybe numbering the assignments is better.
This would work for just scanning those who did not finish correct? The scan prints with their name on it correct?
Yes, with names. I send the data to an excel spreadsheet. It is certainly easier to scan those who don’t do their homework, but you may want to take the sound off.
Do you have to buy the spreadsheet app from Berry Wing or is there a free one that works?
The Berry Wing app is $2.99.
Is there a way to add comments to certain students? I like to take points off of homework, especially math, when they don’t show work or maybe they partially complete it.
I love the idea of the program; I just need to find the best way for it to work for me.
Thank you!
I have never used comments. You might be able to give student 2 QR stickers (JaneDoe_fullcredit, JaneDoe_partial), and scan the first one for full credit and the second one for reduced credit. You would probably want to print them in different colors.
For $2.99, this is so worth a try. I love it. I was thinking of putting all their QR codes on a page based on class. I can walk around with a clip board with the QR and scan who has it or maybe who doesn’t. Thank you!
Thank you for recommending Scan to Spreadsheet.
We have updated the app with new features. Also the barcode generator on our web site has vastly improved.
Please email us anytime if you need any technical support.
I’m not having any luck generating different barcodes for each student in Google Sheets. I’ve spend hours trying to follow the video tutorial from Berry Wing, but it will only generate the same bar code. My engineer-husband who works with spreadsheets every day can’t figure it out either. Do you have any suggestions?
Don’t copy and paste. copy and drag it down. Check that the part of the code that says A1 matches the row you are in… if you copied A1 for each student ti will use the same data for each QR code/Barcode
I used this one: https://qrexplore.com/generate/
but had to drag them to a google doc one by one. Wasn’t too bad.
Try contacting the company – the email is aberry@berrywing.com
Can you add more columns (assignment days) once you get to the last column T? Or would you have to create a new template of the same class?
Only 20 allowed (up to column T) as far as I know.
Hello, I am having trouble trying to find out how to set up the spreadsheet for attendance using the QR codes. Please help!!!
Select + start a new spreadsheet. Highlight the default template and then select the arrow at the top of the page (right). You should see rows A through T. Click on the letter to change the heading. Hope that helps!
I really would like to use this idea as it would simplify my home documentation procedure. I am having troubles in trying to connect the qr code to a spreadsheet. I attempted to follow the video that Berry Wing has but because it has no written directions, it is hard for me to complete the task. I am learning how late in life lol. Would you be willing to email instructions to set up the spreadsheet? It would truly help. Thanks
If you scan the ones who have done their homework how do you know who has not with taking a whole Other step? I teach third grade this has to be quick!