Sunday, October 24, 2010

Unit 7: RSS Feeds

I find I spend a lot of time searching through my favorite websites and reading all of the new and available information. With RSS feeds and the use of Google Reader, all of the updated information is in one place. I still spend time reading through everything, but the major topics are already highlighted. This way I can choose whether to read them now or to take a look at them later.

When students complete research, they are also bombarded with tons of information on topics even if they try to narrow down the search. When students subscribe to RSS feeds, some of the research is completed for them. At least the collection of sources can be narrowed down. With more and more news sources producing feeds for aggregation, the breadth of current events and topic specific research could go along way in assisting them with research or further study (Richardson, 2010). I would still be concerned that inappropriate material or advertisements may get through, but most of these sites would hopefully be blocked by the school’s content filter.

Reference:

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms, 3rd. ed.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Posted by at

4 comments:

  1. Darlene KellnerOctober 26, 2010 at 2:20 PM

    Time is a critical component of everyone's lives. The Internet has so much information, it is physically impossible to look at it all. Even with RSS feeds the information can be daunting.
    Richardson (2010) states, "many times you may just have time to scan what’s in there and save the good stuff for more close reading later" (p. 75). RSS feeds save time without giving up garnering information we need as educators to keep up to date for our students.

    Have you used RSS feeds with your students?

    ReplyDelete
  2. gpattisoned614October 28, 2010 at 3:10 PM

    I like that RSS feeds keep us up-to-date, but I find that too much information can be overwhelming. I have not used RSS feeds with my students. I don't know if I will until I feel more comfortable with them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bethany JuneOctober 28, 2010 at 9:22 PM

    Gayle,

    I worry about student internet safety as well and also do not feel comfortable sharing RSS with my students yet. I wish someone would create a RSS feed designed strictly for elementary and the middle school.
    Bethany

    ReplyDelete
  4. gpattisoned614October 29, 2010 at 3:15 PM

    Bethany,
    That is a good point. I wonder if anyone has or is in the process of creating an RSS feed just for elementary and middle school students?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)