Journal #7 "Mining for Gold" by Chris Bigenho (NETS 5)

Bigenho, C. (3/2009). Mining for Gold. Learning and Leading With Technology, Retrieved March 21, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/Current_Issue/L_L_March_April.htm

This article was about how teachers can use an RSS feed to manage information for lessons and receive notification when a student posts on their classroom blog. Using an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed, the information comes to the user, rather than the user going out to search for the information. Once you subscribe to an RSS feed, a program known as an aggregator, such as Google reader, or Netvibes collects new information posted on the Internet. The new desired information will be periodically sent to a central location to be viewed at the user’s convenience. An RSS feed can also be used for lesson planning, for example, if a teacher is doing a unit on the presidential election, he or she can adjust their feed to pull all of the information on the Democratic and Republican candidates that becomes available, either through media sites or conservative and liberal blogs. Another advantage of using an RSS feed is that by subscribing to students’ blogs, a teacher does not have to visit each blog every day to see if the student posted something because the aggregator will notify teacher of any new posts made.

RSS readers or aggregators are divided into two types, the client side and Internet hosted. Recent operating systems have integrated aggregators and some browsers have options for feed readers. The advantage of using an Internet hosted reader is that you can access your feeds from any computer. So, if you move between work and school computers, this is the best choice.

1. How can students use an RSS feed for classroom work?
A classroom teacher can post material on the school’s learning management system so students can access the information before coming to class. Students can also add to the information because they will be using a social bookmarking site to manage topics. This will also help ready students for college and the workforce. Many sites are now adding RSS feeds to their websites.

2. How can a student use an RSS feed along with social bookmarking?
There is so much information on the web that may or may not be reliable, if you use a social bookmarking site, like Delicious, many people have already scanned for reliability and have narrowed down the results. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for your desired search so that all subsequently marked Web sites tagged will come to you as well. If a student uses a social bookmarking site to manage and categorize entries, the tagging structure will be available to their classmates as well, creating a collaborative environment.