RSS Feed

A class discussion question:  What is an RSS feed and what is its relationship to podcasting and other content delivery? How can it be leveraged in an online environment for teacher-made content?

In essence, RSS feed is a set up to allow access to other sites.  Literally, RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”.  Instead of checking different “favorite” sites each day for refreshed, updated or new information, these articles, blogs, podcasts or other means of communication will be sent to you.  What is needed is a site though, to send this information to, which you need establish.  This is where a “reader” comes into play.  It sounds simple, and in many ways it appears it is (RSS in Plain English).  There are many readers to choose from.  Some readers are free and some aren’t (How to explain RSS…).  With my server, the RSS symbol is part of the toolbar.  When the symbol displays, it has detected a feed for the site I am on.  I would click on the symbol and follow the instructions.

How RSS can be “leverage” in an OL environment is it allows the information the facilitator provides the students to be current.  An example is where a RSS can be set up to a trade magazine.  When the reader receives the headline about a new type of tamper resistant GFCI outlet, access to the specific article can be retrieved from the reader (↓below↓). 

This would be useful for all curriculums.  This would be particularly useful for OL courses or F2F courses which doesn’t use textbooks.  This way the information provided to students is as real time as possible.