Tune in, Turn on and Aggregate

When in Doubt Start with Will Richardson

According to Richardson, the amount of content on the web is exploding. So, we need a tool to organize all of it and to access what we really want. RSS, or Real Simple Syndication, is a news feed or a web feed. The big advantage is that the content comes to you instead of you going to it. Plus, you just get the information you want, not lots of ads or other distractions. If you no longer need or want a particular feed, all you have to do is just delete it from you aggregator. Wait! What’s an aggregator? Richardson describes it a type of software or “feed collector” which “checks the feeds you subscribe to…and collects all the new content from those sites…”. I like his description of an aggregator as “a personal information filter”. This is one tool that will only grow in importance as the content on the web continues to multiply. The advantage is that you can then open up your aggregator at your leisure and read the new information from your subscribed sites. Some examples of aggregators include Google Reader, Netvibes, bloglines and SharpReader.

Other aggregators Richardson recommends signing up for are Technorati and Moreover. He calls Technorati “a leader in indexing Weblog content.” Technorati itself proclaims that it “collects, organizes and distributes the global conversation online”. I like how Time Magazine describes Technorati – “If Google is the Web’s reference library, Technorati is becoming its coffee house.” This is definitely worth a more in-depth look. Richardson states that Moreover “offers a huge list of predefined topic searches” organized into categories. You can even determine their relevancy by ranking them. Finally, he suggests Pageflakes and Netvibes. I have heard of Pageflakes, which helps you to “group together a whole bunch of different RSS feeds onto one page. So, Pageflakes is actually another aggregator. I checked out Will Richardson’s Pageflake page. I like that it is more visual than text heavy. The same goes for netvibes – it has a very visually appealing user interface.

Getting Set Up

At first, I wondered, ‘Should I set up a Google Reader account in addition to my blog or is this a repetition of functions/services’? Richardson says that if you are already on Blogger, then you already have a reader account. Hey! He’s right! I just checked my blog and there it is. I already had my RSS feeds set up from the beginning of my blog experience, but didn’t realize that I already had Google Reader within my blog. I forgot that I also already have an RSS reader within my Firefox browser that I added on at the beginning of the course – it’s called Simple RSS Reader. I initially added Will Richardson’s blog, my blog and CBC news. I have now added all of the professional blogs that I was following in my own blog, plus Technorati, which will hopefully keep me up to date on what is happening in the world of blogging. Now, I can just scroll through them without having to go to my blog.

Richardson also recommends that the best way to find information sources and other teachers with common interests is to “follow the links in the sources you find interesting or relevant”. He says that in this way “links are like recommendations”. This makes sense to me. He also recommends using an organizational system such as folders, which will quickly become a necessity for RSS consumers.

Branching Out on My Own

In my own online searches, I checked out the official blog for Google Reader, which includes ‘News, tips and tricks from the Google Reader team’. Wow, their latest update – automatic translation!!! In addition, The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies - Knowledge, Skills and Tools for the Learning 2.0 Age has ranked Google Reader as one their top web 2.0 tools. It has earned high praise and is touted as one of the top 25 free learning tools that “every learning professional should have in their toolbox.”

After following the trail fire for the blog RSS Bringing What’s New to You, I discovered that Google has a blog search function. So, after searching for blogs relevant to my current teaching assignment, I have subscribed to a blog search feed for ‘French Immersion’. How awesome is that! I also did a Google blog search for ‘Teacher Librarian’ and whose blogs popped up? None other than my classmates, Cynthia and Rhonda! The web really isn’t that big, is it?

Educational applications of RSS Feeds and Aggregators

I was actually surprised to see how many educational applications there are for RSS feeds and aggregators. Here are some great ideas:

Student Research - If kids are researching a particular topic, a teacher or student could create an aggregator of relevant feeds. This would greatly cut down on time wasted scouring the Internet.

Student Weblogs - Teachers could also have all of their student weblogs fed into an aggregator instead of having to go to check each one individually. This is a good way to track what is going on in student blogs.

Study Guides - In the article Academia Adds RSS Feeds to Their Teaching Tool Kit, the author suggests creating RSS feeds that contain daily questions. Students could check out a word or problem of the day related to what they are studying in a particular subject.

Updates & Reminders – In the blog post Educational Uses for RSS Feeds, the author suggests that teachers “set up RSS feeds for class updates and reminders” regarding homework and projects. I can see the kids squirming now as their parents subscribe to these kinds of feeds. The old “I was away” excuse will vanish into cyberspace. Another use could be no-hassle updates for teachers or students working on collaborative projects using wikis.

Not just for teachers – Parents could subscribe to a school feed to keep up to date on school events. I know that our secretaries would welcome this change with open arms – no more adding each family’s email address to the school list for mass newsletter emails.

Coaches Rejoice – The article Academia Adds RSS Feeds to Their Teaching Tool Kit suggests that players and parents could stay on top of new information regarding school sports teams’ practices, games and results by subscribing to a calendar update feed.

Principals like it too – Principals could easily communicate with staff regarding professional development opportunities, educational articles and relevant sites Yay! No more photocopies! No more attachments! Yes, it looks like email’s dominant position in communications may be slipping.

Where to Now?

My first step will be to start checking out my current RSS feeds more regularly than simply glancing up at the toolbar once in a while. I would also like to explore aggregators like Pageflakes and Netvibes as I like their layout and organization. As well, I will take Will Richardson’s suggestion of finding new and relevant links by searching for links on the blogs I already follow. Finally, I am going to start my own edublog for my future students and parents. All they will have to do is to subscribe to my blog and voilà.