The Fort Thomas Elementary Schools are taking a high tech step to enhance education for their students.
Within the Fort Thomas Elementary Schools, students are learning through the use of mobile devices as they scan QR codes that have been put into place to build on the education experience.
The three schools are allowing their teachers and students to use iPads that can scan the barcodes.
Students and teachers alike are using QR codes to help to make learning more fun and interactive at the schools. There are several different techniques that are being used in order to get the most out of what the iPads have to offer. This helps students to pay attention and find their lessons more interesting and appealing.
The QR codes have been applied in a number of fun and creative ways to build on the lessons.
For instance, at one of the three schools, Moyer Elementary School, the students within the third grade used their iPads while they were attending the Kentucky Wax Museum displays as created by the students in the fourth grade. It featured a number of famous historical figures from the state.
Each of the stations featured QR codes that could be scanned by the third graders through the use of the iPad tablet. These scans redirected the students to a website which included paragraphs written by the fourth graders that provided additional information about the individual whose likeness was displayed at the station.
According to Cindy Graves, a fourth grade teacher at the school, “This is just one of the ways we’re using QR codes”. She added that “The students really love getting to use the iPads and scan the codes, it makes learning fun for them.”
Another one of the schools, Woodfill Elementary School, saw its first graders using QR codes in a number of different ways. A teacher for that grade, Shelby Jones, said that the kids love to scan the barcodes, including those that were created for their own websites and blogs, so that they can share their work with others. She explained that by introducing the tablets and barcodes, this year, it has given the ability to further learning considerably.
This represents a considerable increase in the amounts that banks were spending on this IT last year.
An Ovum report has just been released, in which its results have shown that retail banks around the world will be boosting their spending on technology by 3.4 percent, this year, which reflects a serious growth in the mobile payments sphere.
This will bring the total amount that banks intend to spend on IT up to $118.6 billion, worldwide.
The Ovum industry analysts released their forecasts that said that North America’s retail bank spending on mobile payments and other technologies will increase by 3.3 percent. Europe would be seeing a rise in its spending by 1.8 percent. It is Asia that will see the highest amount of spending growth, with an increase of 5.1 percent.
In the mobile payments and banking report Ovum stated that the importance of this channel is evident.
The business trends report indicated that mobile payments and banking would become a “clear IT investment priority in 2013” for retail banks. It also indicated that the amount of spending for all online channels would grow by 6.2 percent this year. That included smartphones, tablets, and PCs, alike.
Also included in the report, was the speculation that data privacy and credit risk management would be among the primary drivers of technology spending in terms of 2013’s mobile payments and online banking. It stated that the worldwide MIS investment would hit the $6.4 billion mark before the year is over. It also pointed out that banks in North America would be spending $2.3 billion in this domain, and this will represent 5.1 percent of the overall spending within that department.
Ovum’s release indicated that within that continent, the growth in the spending for technology was an indicator of increased efforts to reduce costs and to place more concentration on various digital channels and marketing efforts that would help those financial institutions to boost their revenue growth alongside customer satisfaction.
Ovum senior analyst for financial services technology, Jaroslaw Knapik, explained the predictions about mobile payments and technology spending by saying that “Whilst regulatory compliance has certainly fuelled a significant amount of the investment predicted in the forecast, it is by no means the sole driver,” adding that “The level of investment in digital channels gives a clear indication that banks are fully cognizant of the growing expectations of their customers, as well as the opportunities they present.”
