Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Thing # 10 Searching for the USS (oops) RSS Enterprise


            Before starting this class, I had little knowledge about RSS or news feeds.  I have heard of ‘the wire’ though (when newscasters frantically say, “This just came in over the wire” and it ends up being something traumatic), but I never really connected the two.  Well, now I know what they mean.  RSS and news feeds seem to be a great way to stay informed about what is going on in the world, and is applicable for your personal and professional life.  It is a simply way to get information without having to log on to all the websites you like to visit every day.  It saves time since you do not need to sludge through information you already know just to get to the new stuff.  It is uncomplicated and hassle-free. 

            In my personal life, I can see using RSS feeds for a variety of things.  Since I love to bake, I am always on the warpath for a new/different recipe to try.  Rather than having to thumb through my cookbooks, or search online on my favorite cooking website, I can just get a daily recipe ‘fed’ to me from the site.  I signed up for the Betty Crocker RSS feed and I am looking forward to seeing what they will send me.  Hopefully I can concoct some amazing baked goods!  Good for my kids, but bad for my waistline.

            RSS and news feeds sound like excellent media applications for teachers and schools.  The most obvious would be that teachers could stay current on the changes that are happening in their specific field of education.  They can get up-to-date information that can impact their profession.  On a more useable level, RSS feeds would be very useful for receiving inventive lesson plans, practical project ideas, and creative twists to teaching techniques.  Students can turn to RSS feeds for current information on particular projects they are working on.  It is a perfect way to increase their resources when they are doing research. 

I can also see teachers assigning students RSS feeds to watch every day and report to the class on what they read.  This keeps the students informed in what is going on around them outside of their own world.  Although the world is getting ‘smaller’ and more accessible, many kids are still unaware of most things that happen which do not affect them directly.  Reading about news from other countries, and being informed about what is affecting other people, can really help kids be more aware of affairs and situations in other areas.

… (While writing this, my husband mentioned that feeds would be perfect for daily mini-debate activities if there is extra time in class.  Students could read feeds from sources that have opposing views, and have mini-discussions about them.  It would be a spark to get students thinking.  Good idea husband!)

No comments:

Post a Comment