NFC (Near Field Communication) tags have been around a while but have been rarely used in the field of education. They are cheap, designed for contact/touch with a tag and android phone. Short messages and event can be conveyed.
How could they be used in education?
Sending a sequence of instructions. I once knew a secondary pupil who had a problem with queues. He kick and push in a queue. He needed a discrete prompt. Without saying a word a TA could just put a tag under his phone and a message would appear.
How to behave in a queue?
- Stand in line
- Do not push or kick
- Your taxi will come in 15 mins
- Check your watch! Has 15 mins gone?
You need to send a discrete message to your support that doesn’t mean you draw attention to yourself. Again the pupil places the appropriately programmed tag that says:-
SMS Message
Text <phone number>
“I need your help now !”
You have a dropbox folder with lots of useful resources to share with a colleague who has an android phone . To save time a pre-programmed tag sends the weblink directly to his phone was the tag was placed under the phone.
Many things can be done. Switch on wifi when you come into the house. Remind yourself a routine job you need to do. ( of course you have to remember the tag you use) . Maybe its logging into your google account or dropbox account as a sequence of instructions can be sent. You don’t want anyone getting hold of that tag! So put the tags on a keyring!
Where can you get the tags?
First check what your android phone can use. You can search amazon using the make of your phone ( NFC tags only work through mobile phones) Here are a link to a generic site for NFC tags. Looking through NFC tags seem to be used with VR headsets as a way of setting them up. That sounds useful.
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