Quotations to Live (Teach) By

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

Albert Einstein


Wednesday, February 7, 2007

RSS implications for the classroom

I read the RSS Chapter in Richardson's book (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, for you first time readers). It's a great summary on the hows and whys of using RSS feeds in the classroom. Of course, we just had Robert Rozema, in our class last week, so some of the information felt slightly redundant and a little pale. The book was published in 2006. I am only half-joking when I say it needs a new edition to bring it up to date.

I'm thinking ahead to the next time I teach my writing methodology class, and the wheels are turning. I'm sure I will add to and otherwise alter this list, but off the top of my head (and fresh from stealing from Richardson), here are some ways I might use RSS feeds next semester:

  1. Course Readings. Imagine a set of readings for a class that, not only don't need to be printed and copied, but aren't even decided upon ahead of time. I can create an RSS bundle for students to subscribe to and this will become our weekly reading for class. I am not suggesting that I get rid of texts in book form, but RSS bundles could make highly relevant and completely up to date supplementary reading.
  2. Student-Guided Readings. Why should I do all the work. If students discover interesting feeds in their research, they can share those feeds with the rest of us.
  3. Aggregated Blog Reading. As Richardson suggests, the aggregated reader is a great way to keep on top of student blog posts without having to go to each site individually to check for updates.
  4. Student Research. Wouldn't it be great if our research came to us? Oh, yes. This passive, pushed research can't take the place of active research, but it could certainly supplement it.
  5. Student Publication. Finally, RSS feeds will allow my students to make their work more visible on the web.
RSS, like any other technology, will not prove to be a golden bullet for education. It's a tool. Unlike blogging, this tool is meant to increase efficiency, but won't necessarily change the way we think about the way we teach.
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2 comments:

Lindsay said...

I'm curious to know what you mean when you say that RSS Feeds won't change the way we think about the way we teach. Could you elaborate on that a bit more?

February 9, 2007 at 11:25 AM
Todd Bannon said...

Well... I guess I was seeing RSS feeds as something different than wikis, blogs, threaded discussions, and even podcasting. When I think about wikis, I think, "wow, this might change how I teach a class; this would really encourage student collaboration." When I think about blogging, I think, "this would be an excellent way to get students to write analytically, but in a casual setting." However, with RSS feeds, I am excited about how research could be streamlined, but I don't see me changing the way I teach because of them.

February 22, 2007 at 1:53 PM

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