CEdO535 Week 3: RSS feeds

This week we took a look at online photosharing, such as flikr and Snapfish; continued our Twitter accounts and thought more about blogs and wikis. But, the predominant topic of this weeks' work had to do with RSS feeds.

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is an online tool used to streamline the process of collecting articles and resources online. As I learned about RSS, I set up my own Google Reader account to begin playing around with the tool in order to get a better sense of how it works. Right off the bat I could see how powerful this application could be for anyone who needs to eliminate time spent searching for information online. URL's can be entered into Reader as a way to subscribe to specific sites' feed. Also, keywords can be entered into Reader which then generates a list of related sites from which to choose.

Aside from the obvious perks of using RSS, I learned that educators can use it to monitor blogs used by their students which I think could convince more in the field to have their students create and maintain blogs in the classroom setting. I imagine that the idea of trying to monitor blogs for an entire class, or for 6 classes of individual students, could be a daunting task. Using RSS in this environment cuts down the amount of time necessary to go into each individual blog--the updates are sent directly to the subscriber.

Finally, I learned what a fantastic application RSS is for students to use in school. Not only does it provide students with the most up to date information on any topics they may be researching, but it also helps students develop the skills of being able to select the most relevant and credible information out of all that is sent through the RSS feed.

I can see using RSS both personallly and professionally. I think it is something the leadership of my company can use to stay on top of trends in education and educational technology. I also believe it is something we could introduce to our students; particularly at the middle and high school levels. The more we can expose our students to in terms of tools to help with productivity, the greater the edge they will have in their regular classrooms and beyond.

CEdO535 Week 1

This week we turned an investigative eye toward blog hosting services, which is something that is extremely relevant to my work at this time. Since beginning my coursework in the MEIT program last fall, I have been integrating what I have learned into the work I do as the supervisor of a Title I program. This year, we have been given the opportunity to work with 3 area high schools within the Milwaukee Choice Program. As a result, we decided to revamp our Strategic Reading / Study Skills program to integrate additional technology. My goal for this year has been to include a wiki or blog component where the students could contribute in an online format. We have started by using PBWorks and are piloting this format at one of the schools this year, but I am a firm believer in learning about other options available and trying new things if there are better tools available.

I am very excited to learn more about the variety of blog hosting services that are available and to gain more perspective on how they could be used in our Title I environment!