Easily Shorten a URL

Have you ever tried to direct all of your students to a specific website but the URL is so long that half of them type it incorrectly? Some of them will get there right away while others will take 20 minutes. Meanwhile the students who are there get frustrated and by the time everyone finally gets to the right place you have a class full of disgruntled students. Google has the perfect solution! Goo.gl is a URL shortner that is so easy to use. All you need to do is copy the URL and go to goo.gl and paste the address  in the box then click the blue "Shorten URL" button on the right.

As soon as you shorten the link some cool things happen. First, a short link is generated for you. You can write this link on the board or print to give to your students or anyone who you need to share it with. As long as you are signed in the you will have a few other options. If you click on the Details button you will notice that you can track how many times someone has used the link as well as which browser they were using and which country they visited your link from. Perhaps the neatest thing of all is that a QR code is generated when you shorten the link.

What can you do with a QR code? There are lots of things!

• Twelve Ideas for Teaching with QR Codes
• Things to Do With QR Codes on Back to School Night
• QR Codes in Education
• 40 Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom (pdf)
• Kathy Schrock's Guide to QR Codes
• Ways to Use QR Codes in Education