miji.beUnder the GIGA School Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), elementary and junior high schools across Japan have made progress in providing one device per student. While the devices have reached students, the traditional method of copying a long URL onto the whiteboard during class still remains. Typing a URL by hand takes time and becomes a burden within a 50-minute class. When it repeats in every class, that effort also builds up over the year. Combining short URLs with QR codes helps reduce this effort.
The reason short URLs are especially effective in schools lies in the physical characteristics of QR codes. The more characters a QR code stores, the more cells (black and white dots) it has, and when the printed size is small, reading accuracy drops. A 200-character URL requires QR code version 7 or higher (45 × 45 cells or more), while a 25-character short URL fits in version 2 (25 × 25 cells). The fewer the cells, the larger the area of each cell, so the code is easier to read even when printed in the corner of a B5 handout. Compared with a version 2 QR code with fewer cells, a version 7 code of the same size can be harder to read. Given the varying lighting conditions in classrooms and differences in camera performance, this gap shows up as a difference in how easily the code can be read.
In class, short URLs are used to guide students to teaching materials and reference resources. Teachers convert the URLs of websites, videos, and PDF materials into short URLs and put them on slides and handouts together with QR codes. Students can reach the target page just by scanning with the tablet camera. Using a QR code can also reduce the time spent typing a URL. The reason such a gap arises is that when URLs are typed by hand, even a single typo keeps the page from loading, which creates a "type, error, retype" loop that keeps the teacher busy helping students one by one. Scanning a QR code makes this loop less likely to happen.
URLs for quizzes and surveys made with Google Forms or Microsoft Forms tend to be especially long. Converting them into short URLs brings them down to a length that students can type easily even when written on the whiteboard. If you issue a different short URL for each class and set a naming rule such as "quiz.example/math-01" or "quiz.example/science-02", they become easier to manage for both teachers and students. Standardizing the naming rule on three elements, subject / unit / session number, shortens the time it takes to look for links to materials. A standardized naming rule is also used when organizing materials at the end of a term and when handing work over across school years.
In a flipped classroom, you need to share videos and materials for pre-class study with students. With short URLs, you can send concise links through Google Classroom or the school's messaging app, and also use them in notices to parents. If you issue a unique short URL for each unit, the click data serves as a rough indicator of the pre-class study completion rate and gives you material for deciding whether a supplementary explanation is needed at the start of class. Flipped classrooms are sometimes reported to improve students' test scores and their attitude toward self-directed learning. However, because the pre-class study completion rate depends on the home network environment and how much parents cooperate, one possible design is to build a 5-minute summary of the key points into the start of class for students who have not watched.
Short URLs are also used in corporate training and in-house education. Links to training materials, e-learning platforms, evaluation forms, and so on are managed in one place with short URLs, and a systematic naming rule is set for each training program (for example: train.example/onboarding-01, train.example/compliance-2025). In training that uses digital tools, how easily trainees can reach the materials also affects how easy it is to take the training. If you unify the distribution of new-employee training materials through short URLs, the unread materials that appear in the click data become clues for following up with people who have not taken the training. This is an advantage that traditional email distribution does not have.
For access control in schools, there is also a password protection feature. Content that only specific people should access, such as exam questions and grade information, can be shared through password-protected short URLs. Combined with an expiration date, access can also be blocked automatically after the exam ends. For regular exams, distributing the exam questions through a password-protected short URL and setting it to expire after the exam ends helps reduce the risk of the questions leaking outside. The reason this mechanism works is that, with the double protection of a password and an expiration date, access is blocked as time passes even if the password were leaked.
Let us also lay out the drawbacks and challenges honestly. The first is the gap in students' digital literacy. If some students are unfamiliar with how to scan a QR code or operate a browser, they will need individual support. The second is the limits of the network environment. The school's filtering may block the domain of the URL shortener, and one option is to consult the IT administrator in advance and add it to the whitelist. The third is privacy. If you collect students' click data, depending on local rules, you may need to explain it to parents and obtain their consent. Care is also needed in how learning logs are handled. The fourth is differences in behavior caused by different device operating systems and browsers. In classrooms where Chromebooks, iPads, and Windows tablets are mixed, browser behavior after scanning a QR code can differ, and one option is to check how it works in advance. The fifth is the increased burden on teachers. Because issuing / managing short URLs adds to teachers' work, one possible approach is to divide the responsibility by grade or subject.
From the standpoint of introduction cost, the free plan of a URL shortener may be enough in some cases, but you need to allow for training time for teachers (1 to 2 hours as a guide) and the work of creating materials with QR codes. After introduction, changes in securing class time throughout the year and in the effort of managing materials give you material for reviewing the effort. If you take up how QR codes work and how URLs are structured as teaching material, it also leads to basic education in information technology and becomes an opportunity for students to learn digital literacy.