Middletown High School has tried hard this year to incorporate the use of phones and other devices into not only the curriculum, but in student life as well. Naviance was introduced in August to seniors and caused tons of unnecessary stress and confusion. Although the new “Bring Your Own Device” policy attempts to be more progressive, one thing in particular introduced this year has done nothing but set us back.
Since they made their debut when it was time to vote for homecoming court, QR codes have been used for all things voting at MHS. Starting out with high hopes to get more students to participate in voting for school events, QR codes still have yet to prove their effectiveness.
Students are used to getting handed a piece of paper when it comes to voting, but because BYOD has been talked up so much this year, paper ballots became a thing of the past.
QR codes seem like they should be a dream for us teens who are so dependent technology, right? Considering a good chunk of students are “team iPhone,” QR codes are more of a hassle than not.
As opposed to some androids, iPhones do not come with a QR code scanner. There are apps in the app store made to do so, but QR codes do not come up enough in everyday life to make having the app take up phone space useful.
QR codes are definitely a failed attempt of staff trying to connect with our technology-based generation. Students are less aware of when voting for events starts and ends because, let’s face it, seniors in particular tend to tune out the morning announcements sometimes. When paper ballots are given directly to a class for homecoming and prom court, SGA elections, Mr. Middletown, and so on, the chance they will fill it out is so much higher than if they are just told to scan the code whenever.
Students seem they could not care less about the use of QR codes. It is an inconvenience to get up and scan the TV during the morning announcements or at lunch, and therefore students do not want to get involved in voting.
For those who do not use the QR codes, there is always a link written under every QR code box, but it is hard to copy it down in the students still have to get out of their seats in order to copy it down.
Sure paper ballots might be harder to count, but passing out a tangible object for students to write on allows for more participation in voting, which of course leads to more accurate results. When it is up to the students to vote in their free time, they tend to either forget to do it, or ignore it all together.
I would definitely vote to stop relying on QR codes for student voting. QR codes are not exactly groundbreaking technology, and they have not proven to be more effective to get students to participate.
To students, BYOD does not mean using a QR code every now and then. Students go on their phones to use social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat – even though the Wi-Fi blocks the two latter. When it comes to involvement with technology, high school students do not want to be limited. If there is going to be an increase in votes through BYOD, then social media is a great way to get information to students. Remind101 texts have also proven to be pretty effective.
