QR Codes – Gateway to Ticket System for Classroom Problems

I picked up The Campus today and found a QR Code linking the paper version to the online version.  It got me thinking about how to use that to help solve a problem we are experiencing in the technology classrooms of people not reporting problems when they encounter them.  Could we use a QR Code to link a user through their phone to our ticketing system?

So I tried the concept:

First, I started with generating a qr code using the Scan Life plugin for Chrome which generated a nice little image

This will open the logon screen of our ticketing program.  Nice but not particularly useful as it actually takes longer to create ticket on a smart phone than it does on a computer.  (In other words a lot of energy with little reward.)

Next, I started wondering is there a way to connect directly into Web Help Desk without logging in?  The answer is yes, tickets get created automatically when an email is sent to webhelp[at]allegheny.edu.  Being that the only difference between a link to a website and an email address is http:// vs. mailto: I gave it a shot.  The ScanLife plugin would not let me hack that nor would the actual scanlife website.  As not to be deterred, I googled  for an answer and found it in Kaywa. I am sure there are others but it was the first one that allowed me to switch mailto: for http:// and it generated this

This worked well in generating a email but as I was looking at my phone’s email client, I realized that I do not have it configured for my allegheny account and to generate a ticket in this way the email needs to be from an @allegheny.edu account.  Grrr!  I need to figure out how do most folks have their phone’s client configured for their @allegheny.edu account or do that use the gmail app?

With all this being said, I realize that QR codes to report a problem is much more than the typical user will be ready for and that is ok as i see this a a piece of the signage that we should create to encourage the community to report problems experienced in classrooms.

I leave this post with the following questions -

1. What are others doing to promote and facilitate the reporting of problems with technology?
2. Has anyone attempted to use QR Codes in this manner that has some tips from experience?
3. Are new releases of WebHelpDesk going to have features that will make reporting problems from smartphones be easier than it is currently?

Throw your ideas in the comments field…

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