Cercone TCC presentation_2010

Using RSS Feeds to Keep Informed http://iculearn.com/wp/rss-2/ Kathleen Cercone PT, PhD

Do you want to save time?
Do your students ask you about an email you sent several days ago?
Do you post the same information to 2 of the same courses during a term?
Do you ever hunt in your email for THAT ONE email with the information you need?

You will learn in this session:
How to use RSS
Communication into your Course Management System (CMS or LMS)
Using a widget
Embed into the Course
Other methods of use for students and faculty
Subscribing to feeds
Using a feed reader
Setting up a personal start page

RSS or Real Simple Syndication
Format for delivering regularly changing web content.
A simple and effective means of communicating
No invasion of privacy

RSS - a Web 2.0 tool
Also called
Feeds
RSS channel
NewsFeeds, Web Feed
Subscribe to a web site that updates its contents and provides RSS
Get updates instantly with all of the new content
The news comes to you!

What is syndication?
In the “real” publishing world, syndication means:
Arrangements were made so that another source could publish the same article
Popular newspaper comic strips, for example, are usually syndicated.
IN OTHER WORDS
CONTENT IS REPUBLISHED

Many sites are publishers of RSS Feeds
CNN is a producer or publisher of RSS feeds
You are a consumer of RSS feeds based on your interest.
You subscribe to get updated information using a feed reader or aggregator

Feed Readers = Aggregators
An aggregator subscribes to websites, and automatically downloads the updates so that the reader can review them when they have time .
Web-based feed readers:
Bloglines
Google Reader
Newsgator Online
Desktop-based feed readers:
Feed Demon (Windows)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Mac or Windows)
NetNewsWire (Mac)

Create your feed
Create a blog!!!!
Use Google Blogger
RSS feed created automatically
Easy to set up
Topic of the Blog is your course
Create a new one for each course/each term
Here is a step by step tutorial for starting a Google blog:
http://weblogs.about.com/od/creatingablog/ss/BloggerTutorial.htm
Other blogs work as well. Most blogs produce a RSS feed. That is what you need for this to work.

FeedBurner allows you to do many things with your blog and feed
http://www.Feedburner.com
Burn your feed there, and use their feed buttons
Get your email subscription link and put it on your blog! (See on next slide)

Feedburner email link on blog

Create the Widget to put into CMS

Example: Feed Widget in eCollege Announcement Section

Cell Phone Updates: Other Services
Google Blogger has a mobile update system you can use
http://www.cellspin.net/ GREAT FREE service that allows you to post where you want.
With CellSpin Mobile Application and SMS/MMS/Email service you no longer have to wait to get to your computers to post Audio, Video, Photos, Text to your favorite websites simultaneously like Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Live Journal and Live Spaces, with others to follow.
You can use SMS (text messaging) so you do not need a SmartPhone to send a message to your blog
Iphone has many apps that allow you to communicate from your smartphone to the blog

Personal Start Pages: Another tool
Netvibes http://www.netvibes.com
Pageflakes http://www.pageflakes.com/
Microsoft's Live.com http://home.live.com/
iGoogle http://www.google.com/ig
Netvibes and PageFlakes both have the ability to develop public pages
http://www.netvibes.com/kcercone#Home (see next slide)

Buttons allow posting and sharing

Collecting Student "Blogwork”
Instead of checking out 25 or more of your students' blogs every day, collect their work in your aggregator using their RSS feeds.
You can scan through class content in one place, make sure it's all appropriate, and click through to particular posts to make comments.

Targeted Searching
The idea of creating RSS feeds for search terms is especially interesting. Say you have a student that is doing a project or a paper on global warming. That student could actually create an RSS feed that would bring any news about global warming to his aggregator as soon as it was published.
4. Bookmarking
Through different websites such as and Delicious- you can save, annotate, rate, organize and share the best links you find on the internet. You can share them with students and they can share with you.

Collaborating on Documents
Using RSS you can track collaboration and team work to ensure that the activity is being done correctly. You can also identify the written portion of contributions by group members to the project.
Google Docs: Great resource and when a student makes a change to a document, you will know.
Each RSS feed lists recent changes to documents appearing on your Active Documents list.

Multiple Sections of the Same Course
If you teach multiple sections of the same course, you can use the blog as a method to update both sections. One blog will update with the same information all courses shortly after your post
If students ask the same question each term, you can be prepared term to term. You can reuse the information if you teach the same course in another term.

Additional uses for RSS
Obtain professional development notifications.
Get updated information in content area.
Maintain course web pages with current and relevant information
Add videos, YouTube videos, slideshows that other users have allowed for educational purposes
Create and track comments to specific issues with aggregator
Photo sharing

Want more?
My Sites: PLEASE Visit and comment- add info, etc.!
MY Blog: http://iculearn.com/wp/
RSS Tutorial on my Website at: http://iculearn.com/wp/rss-2/
NetVibes: http://www.netvibes.com/kcercone#General
Tutorial: http://rssgov.com/rssworkshop.html
http://www.faganfinder.com/ RSS based search engine
My Twitter feed: kcercone

Cercone TCC presentation_2010

by drcercone on Apr 19, 2010

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