Like me, you may have noticed a bright orange icon (featured right), when visiting blogs or websites, but haven't been sure exactly what it is or what it is used for. It is an RSS icon, and as I have learnt, RSS aggregators and feeds are extremely helpful for online users, teachers and students alike.
RSS is an acronym for 'Really Simple Syndication.' RSS enables users to easily follow frequently viewed blogs, podcasts and websites using an RSS aggregator. Prior to RSS, web users needed to firstly remember, and then visit each website or blog of interest to check for new information. However, thanks to RSS feeds (a ‘behind the scenes’ code generated by blogs and websites), updates can be brought directly to your computer and accessed via an RSS aggregator (Pearce & Bass, 2008, p. 2).
In my ICTs course, I set up an RSS aggregator in Google Reader to follow the blog postings by my colleagues, education professionals and websites related to the course content in ICTs. The process of setting up an RSS aggregator is user friendly and would be easy for both upper primary and secondary school students to use. To follow the RSS feeds/ postings of my peers, it was simply a matter of creating a Google account for my blog, accessing the Google Reader website, logging into my Google account and copying and pasting the feed URL of blogs I chose to follow into the “Add a subscription” field in the top left corner of the Google Reader page (as show in the image below) and then clicking “Add.”
With a list of subscriptions in place, I have since been able to monitor, link to, and comment on the blog postings of my peers, all from one point – my Google Reader page. Without RSS and an RSS aggregator, I would have needed to record my peers URLs separately and continually check their blogs to see if new postings had been made. Thus, RSS has made the process of following blogs much more efficient.
Using RSS and an RSS aggregator in this course has prompted me to consider how RSS technology can be utilised by teachers for their own professional use and in the classroom with their learners (and other stakeholders in learning process such as parents).
Professional Applications
Firstly, RSS is an invaluable aid for professional development online. An aggregator such as Google Reader allows teachers to keep abreast of the latest in pedagogical practices and technologies world-wide by following the blogs of other professionals and leading technology/ education websites. RSS can also be used to monitor sites for upcoming professional development opportunities, as many presentations and conferences are now conducted or available online. Google Reader is ideal for this purpose as it can be accessed from any computer and allows you to sort sites you are following into categories, and view a list of updates or an expanded plain text summary. RSS aggregators also make the process of following the reflective blogs of colleagues and other professionals simple, and aids in the establishment and maintenance of a ‘community of practice’ for teachers.
Classroom Applications
RSS aggregators can be used in much the same way to keep up to date with student work and their progress. The process of tracking a set of class blogs or wikis can be done via an RSS aggregator and teachers can easily link to a student or groups work to read further or leave a comment. Imagine how difficult the task of tracking your learners posts would be, if each student in your class (or classes), had a blog as a part of their assessment. RSS aggregators would also be of benefit to staff, students, parents and the community following a school of class webspace. Parents for example, could subscribe to your class’ RSS feed and easily keep track of class activities, daily updates and timetables.
Many students already use RSS in their everyday life (for example through Facebook) and some will use RSS feeds when they enter the workforce. It is therefore essential that students are given the opportunity to apply RSS technology in their school work. This is also important since understanding and using a web application like RSS is great for learners to enhance their digital literacy skills as they discriminate, monitor and manage feeds in an RSS Reader. On a practical level, RSS could be used by students as they engage in collaborative activities such as developing a wiki space or to follow the learning blogs of their peers. Teachers could also use RSS with their learners to ‘feed’ information about homework task, timetable changes or due dates.
