Hi,
The embedded “Plain English” YouTube clip below I think explains RSS aggregator and how to set it up quite well. I hope you find it useful.
I believe this is a very handy tool if wanting to remain up to date with all the happenings on your favourite sites, blogs and wikis. I setup my RSS reader through Google Reader and since setting it up have found it very useful. Instead of visiting ten different places I can go to one place to see what has changed or occurred on these sites.
I think in the classroom this can be a very valuable tool for teachers if following blogs and wikis of every student in the class.I think for students this tool can be useful in following sites that are of importance or relevance to them.
I recommend however that everyone have a RSS aggregator setup to allow easy website, blog and wiki following.
Kelly.
Thanks for posting that youtube video. i didn't have a clue what an RSS agregator was until i watched that. it's amazing how many tools are out there to help minimise time wasting. im going to set one up, and see if it helps me. do u know if u can link facebook or your email to it? and just wondering, what sites would you want your students to follow? have you got a list of educational websites which might be useful for your grade 6 class? just a thought :)
ReplyDeleteps. what does RSS stand for? :)
Kelly, i just went onto the google reader and I didn't realise how easy it was! It had already added the blogs that i am following. it even had a tool to rename them because some of the blogs that i am following have the same name. (it's in the manage subscriptions button). but, i am a little overwhelmed by it and when i went onto a couple of websites i couldn't find the RSS button so i just added it through my google reader "add subscription" could you please show me an example of a website with the RSS button on it?
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteSorry it has taken so long for me to reply. I am glad that you found it easy to set up your RSS. I know when I was doing mine I was quite suprised.
Below are the answers to your questions, I have numbered them to make it easier to follow.
1. I don't know if you can set up your email or facebook through RSS. However I know you can set up your email accounts to all go to your Google email account so you are accessing all of your email accounts in the one location. To set up your uni email for this I think you have to go through the uni email settings,I have not done this.
2. I think that in the class you might want your students to follow explorers or researchers that work in the same content area that you are studying during the term. For example you might want students to follow the website of an Antarctic explorer if studying a unit on Antarctica.
You may also want your students to follow each others blogs, just as we have done during this course.
3. No, I haven't got a list of education website which might be useful for my grade six class but I think this is a good idea. From here I think I am going to create a list of useful websites for their current Antarctica unit.
4. I was not sure what RSS stood for when you asked me but after conducting a search I think it stands for Real Simple Syndication.
5. I have been setting up my subscriptions in the same way as you but after you asked my this I decided to go and look for a site with the RSS button on it. If you visit this ABC services website http://www.abc.net.au/services/rss/subject_Education.htm you will see there is an option to click on the logo to subscribe to the website. Sorry Sarah but I was not sure how to link to this website as there was no option, you will have to copy and paste the website.
I hope this helps.
Kelly