RSS - Real Simple Syndication

This was another great week for learning.  Some very good and some bad.  From the course aspect, the learning of the new technology and the excitement for what the future holds in technology, it was a great week.  I learned about feed readers and the syndication of websites, received much more practice on embedding video and inserting links and images and researched the benefits of using this technology in classroom.  I also learned - through a four hour mistake -  to do long posts in Google Docs, paste over to Blogger and then embed and insert pictures and videos.  The negative of the week was the use of Blogger and its inability to recover accidentally deleted posts.   Do not write long posts into Blogger as it has no way to recover deleted work.

RSS

RSS - Rich Site Summary - uses web feeds to publish frequently updated information: blogs, news and sports headlines, audio and video.  This means the user will not have to manually check the website for new content.  The reader monitors the website and informs the user of updates.  

In simpler terms, RSS is known as Real Simple Syndication.  Instead of us searching for updates and changes to frequently used website, the reader does it for us.  It collects updated information from our chosen websites and organizes them into categories so that it is easy for us to read.  Unlike a email subscription, we decide when to read the updated information.

There many ways to subscribe to a website but the symbol below is the most used method.  When you see this symbol on the website, click on the symbol and it will add the site to your subscriptions.

Below is a short information video explaining what RSS is and how it works:

Feedly

The feed reader used during this assignment was called Feedly.  I had no previous knowledge of this technology or this particular feed reader but it was very simple to use.  With the help of a video - which was created by a MET student at Boise State University - it was very easy to set up this website.  The video showed that adding websites into Feedly could be done by searching a category, searching the title of a website or by using the URL of the website.

Feedly - Set up

The reader then gave you the option of putting each website into a category of your choice.  After using all three methods of adding websites, I explored the website.  I found out how to organize, edit, delete and move websites from one category to the next.  

We were asked to add four websites using the URL method and then add our own websites to our reader.  I organized my websites into five categories.    Below you can see a screenshot of how I organized my website:

The categories I chose to create were EDUCATION AND TEACHING, TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NEWS and EDTECH 501 - the place where I added the learning logs of each of my small group members.

In an expanded view of the TECHNOLOGY section of the reader, it is easier to see how easy it is to organize your categories.  You can drag a section to reorder the categories.  You can edit and delete the websites inside each category and even move websites from one category to another.

Feedly - Navigation

The reader is very easy to navigate.  Notice below, that on the left is a list of all of the categories your have made and inside these categories is a list of the websites chosen to be in each category.  This example shows that the website chosen is the Calgary Board of Education. It is inside the EDUCATION AND TEACHING category. On the right is the updated information for the CBE.  No need to go to the webpage of the CBE, it is right there for you. It works the same for all of your subscriptions.

Educational Uses of RSS

“In a ‘socially mobile learning environment’, it is no longer sufficient to use online learning and teaching technologies simply for the delivery of content to students. A ‘digital literacy’ exists where flexible and mobile technologies must be explored for collaborative and (co)creative purposes, as well as for the critical assessment and evaluation of information.” (The Use of Blogs, Wikis, and RSS in education:  A Conversation of Possibilities, Duffy and Bruns, 2006).

Gone are the days of just searching the web to have students find information for a class project.  Even though we have much teacher apathy in regards to using technology, it is time to move ahead.  RSS is an option teachers and students can use to move ahead in educational technology and learning without feeling the pain of learning new technology.  

There are many uses for RSS in the educational setting.  These could include research, collaboration with teacher and student in a blended learning environment, professional development for teachers, class reminders about homework and long term projects,  communication with parents and the community and new teaching pedagogy.  Also, it can be used so students learn from each other through inquiry-based learning and formative assessment.

Future Examples in the Classroom

Financial Management - In my financial management class, one of our mini-courses (modules) is Investment Planning.  In this course, students are given $100,000.00 to invest into the stock market.  They must buy at least twenty stocks from one or a combination of the major stock markets in North America.  They must research their chosen stocks and keep abreast of how these stocks are doing.  They are also allowed to sell these stocks as well.  RSS could and will definitely be used in this assignment.  The students could set up their reader and subscribe to business and/or stock market sites - CNN, Globe and Mail, TMX, Nasdaq, NYSE.  They could then go to their chosen reader to research all of the updates in real time to see what is happening to the economy that may affect their stock prices.  

At the same time, students could be posting to their Investment blog about what is happening around the world and how their stocks are doing.  RSS will allow students to view other class member blogs about the world’s economy and the buying and selling of their stocks and give them the ability to make their own assumptions and decisions about their purchases.  The students would be able to comment directly from the reader to the class about information - through Googe+ - and help others share their knowledge on this topic.  The students could also post about their thoughts on the choices the others have made.  RSS would be involved with the sharing of resources, the use of class blogs, the collaboration on learning and the formative assessment of each student.

Social Studies - RSS could be used in our social studies classes.  Our curriculum has recently changed and has moved away from the teaching of history to the teaching of Globalization.  The students are looking at things that are happening in today’s world and how they affect our own communities.  RSS is a perfect match for these classes.  One of the requirements of the course is to keep track of current events on the international, the national and the local stage.  The students could set up categories inside of their reader for each of these.  They could subscribe to websites that they would frequent to find current news events and place them inside each category.  This would save time and resources.  Just like in financial management, the students could write about these issues in their learning blogs and comment on other classmates posts about issues pertaining to Globalization and its affect on Canada and Calgary.  Again, RSS would be involved in the saving time to research news, the use of class blogs and also the collaboration and formative assessment to learn.

Career and Technology Studies - Career and Technology Studies (CTS) is an area in our school that uses a lot of blended and differentiated learning.  There is such a cultural difference among our students so there is really no other choice.  Although the students are in the classroom in front of the instructor daily, much of the hands on work in done outside the classroom or at home.  Each teacher tries to design as many mini courses (modules) as possible as to give the students enough choice as to fit within their cultural make-up.  Assignments need to be different for many students in order to not jeopardize the equity of learning based on previous experiences and cultural beliefs.

Teachers try to use a variety of teaching methods.  One of the most successful is the designing of audio and visual tutorials which the students access from our teacher websites.  RSS could be used to subscribe to these teacher and school websites to help in their learning.  They could choose the video for a particular tutorial and use it for enhancement of learning or the teaching of a concept.  The students could also share these sites with other students and sit with them and go over the tutorials together.  Students could set up their reader to gather the updated tutorials and move ahead with their learning.  They could also set up their subscription list to include websites that are relevant to the program.  An example of this could be in photography.  Students can go to their reader and search photography and subscribe to these websites.

Professional Development - Another way that RSS could help in the teaching and learning of students is the professional development of the teachers facilitating the classroom.  Upon my return to school, I plan set up a blog and use my school website for others to subscribe to.  I could create the same type of audio and visual tutorials we create for our students and have teachers subscribe to my blog and our website for the learning of technology.  Teachers could also subscribe to the education and learning websites that have already created learning tutorials.  Examples could be similar to the short video presentations that were given to us in learning what RSS is and how to organize your reader.

Conclusion

RSS and Feedly (or comparable feed reader) are technologies that every teacher and student in every school should access.  It not only saves time in searching the web it serves as as a user - friendly tool for research, sharing resources, collaborative learning, formative assessment and professional development.  I look forward to bringing this knowledge into my classroom and to helping teachers in my department and school learn about this simple but important technology.

Resources

Andrew, Tammy. (2014). Educational Uses for RSS Feeds. Retrieved from
https://suite.io/tammy-andrew/zyk21q

Duffy, Peter and Bruns, Dr. Alex. (2006). The Use of Blogs, Wikis, and RSS in 
Education: Conversation of Possibilities. Retrieved from 
sprints.qut.edu.au/5398/1/5398.pdf

Housley, Sharon. ( 2014). RSS Specification: Everything You Need to Know About
RSS. Retrieved from www.rss-sprecifications.com/rss-and-education.htm

RSS. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS