RSS continued

RSS can be a difficult concept for some to grasp right away - what questions do you have? It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of blogs out there - how do you handle information overload and how do you think RSS might help with that? Find anything in your searching that you'd recommend to others?


My understanding is that RSS stands for Rich Site Summary.

Instead of searching online for my favorite personal or company blog, Google Reader sends them to my account when a new post is added. Blogs can be organized into different files to help the list be easier to navigate. I could even delete subscriptions to blogs when necessary. Since I'm going to use my blog for both personal and professional reasons; being organized is key with the many blogs I've subscribed to. My RSS subscriptions are in two folders. Personal Interests and Teaching.

Many features on google are wonderful in that it can be bookmarked onto different websites. I have my blogger website linked with my google + account. This way I can share and post videos easily on multiple websites to increase the volume of my readers online.

RSS - Subscription

The subscription method that was easiest for me was the copy/paste url. What was awesome to learn about is the Google reader - settings- subscribe as you serf option. This is convenient and easy to set up which will save time in the long run! At the click of a button it can be fed into my Google reader where I could "save" it for later reading.
I will use RSS in both my personal and professional life. Learning can be achieved by searching online while sorting through the riff-raff of possibly tainted material is another challenge. These tips about tools that bring information to us are vital in in today’s tech(ie) age. Learning about RSS can be a cool skill to teach students in technology class. It is a tool they can use outside of school when they are online.

Importance of Blogging

A blog can support my teaching and learning experience in many ways. It is an excellent way to document my learning experience about teaching!

 

I would use a blog with my students in a year long assignment. This would be flexible and self paced. This would be most appropriate for high school students but could be used at the middle school level. They would be able to upload and import photos, class writing assignments and be creative in their blog layout.

Some writing assignments could include: Autobiography, designing a family tree, creative writing, science fiction/horror etc. This would be personal to them and they would need to demonstrate researching skills for some of the assignments. They would need to correctly site photos and quotes they find online. I would observe their individual blogs periodically and grade on content that is posted.

My concerns about educational blogging are the privacy and confidentiality factors. I know stories of people posting on Facebook about certain students and parents finding out. That would be an awkward and uncomfortable situation!! Being discrete and respectful is crucial in the educational blog world!