RSS In Education

RSS in Education

 

RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, is a tool for aggregating the information found on all of your favorite websites into one convenient, searchable location.  Instead of going from website-to-website daily to search the headlines for news and information that interest you, you “subscribe” to each site to have updated content delivered to the RSS reader of your choice.  Because all of the articles from your favorite sites now reside in one location, the time spent navigating between sites is eliminated, boosting the efficiency of your news-gathering process.

As a science teacher, connecting in-class content to its real world relevance and application is key to keeping students highly engaged in the learning process.  One way to use RSS technology to aid students in making these connections would be to imbed a RSS feed directly into my class webpage.   Because feeds can be tailored to be as general or as specific as the user would like, the filter can be changed frequently to suit the specific topic we are currently studying, e.g. solar power, batteries, molecular structure.  Students could be asked to search the articles to identify connections to in-class content and to present their findings in any number of ways.  Conversely, headlines could be used strategically to engage students in teacher-facilitated discussions on how scientists and engineers currently conceive of and apply the concepts we’re studying in class.  Regardless of how the RSS feeds are specifically incorporated, they will most definitely be a more focused and efficient way to add real world relevance to my classes than the current method of searching websites individually.

RSS feeds can also be used to improve and expand how I use wikis in my classroom.  In the past, I’ve used wikis primarily as a means for students to create collaborative review guides: each student is assigned one or two review questions to answer on a shared document to which they all have editing privileges.    Students would check the document periodically for the updates their peers had made.  However, making such collaborative documents RSS-enabled could fundamentally change how the students receive updates; instead of having to check back for new information, students could subscribe to the site and receive the updates in their RSS reader.  In addition to review guides, this would also improve the efficiency and utility of any sort of collaborative document that can be RSS-enabled, such as online discussions and editable reports and projects.  By lowering the barrier for receiving updates and edits from their peers, RSS technology will hopefully make student collaboration a more organic and authentic aspect of my class.

Finally, I would like to explore how RSS technology might improve the way I notify my students that new instructional videos are available for viewing.    Because I assign instructional videos that I make in combination with those created by other teachers, simply subscribing to my YouTube channel will not update students to all new videos that I would like them to watch.  By creating a RSS-enabled document to which students can subscribe, students will be alerted to any new links that I add, regardless of their origin or location.  This will allow me to continue incorporating videos from a variety of sources and perspectives without sacrificing efficiency.