Journal 7 - "Mining for Gold"

Bigenho, C. (March 2009). Mining for Gold. Leading & Learning with Technology, Retrieved April 8, 2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/

What is this RSS button icon that keeps showing up on sites all over the internet? Is it important for educators? Yes it is. RSS stands for rich site summary, or real simple syndication. RSS feeds are a great way to keep all of our online subscription information organized. “A program known as an aggregator collects new information posted on the internet. Users can then visit a single page to view all the new information in their aggregators” (Bigenho 2009).

There are two different kinds of aggregators: internet-hosted and client-based. Internet-hosted aggregators are convenient because they allow you to access RSS feeds from any computer with internet access, so you can view your feeds from virtually anywhere. Client-based aggregators are part of a computer’s operating system, and are therefore only accessible from that computer system. So how can educators use RSS feeds? Teachers can use RSS feeds to subscribe to student blogs, subscribe to social bookmarks, and feed content to HTML pages, just to name a few classroom uses. RSS feeds are new (and to some a bit scary) but this is a great tool for educators, and we should all be excited to learn to use this resource to our advantage in the classroom.

Question #1 – How can I use this new technology to my advantage as a future teacher?

I love the idea of subscribing to student blogs and having my computer alert me when there is new content to be viewed is an incredible concept. Teachers have so many responsibilities, writing lesson plans, grading homework assignments, keeping in contact with parents, fellow teachers, and administrators, and so much more. Knowing that there is a technology out there that can help save teachers even a little bit of time in their busy schedules is a great relief.

Question #2 – How can this technology help my students?

Many students have trouble keeping school things organized. With more and more educational tools coming up online, things are becoming even more difficult to keep organized. RSS aggregators can help with this. The ability to visit only one page to see all information gathered online rather than having to remember each individual site that a student visited. RSS aggregators are an incredible organizational tool that can help students become much more effective in school.