The internet has long been valued by teachers
and librarians as a powerful research and communications tool, and in the
last 10 years, it has brought about a sea change in the way students
find, manage, and use information. But the promise of the Web as more
than just a readable, searchable resource has been slow to be realized ...
until now.
Two new Internet technologies, Weblogs and RSS
(Real Simple Syndication), are redefining the way students and teachers use
the Internet, turning them from mere readers into writers and communities,
and making it easier to filter and track the ever-growing number of
resources coming online each day. In fast-growing numbers, educators across
the country and throughout the world are finding just how powerful this new
interactive Internet can be.
Rich Site Summary/Real Simple Syndication
Weblogs in and of themselves are only a part of
the story. There is another "tool" that is built in to most blogging
software that many think will change the way we receive and process all of
the information we get from the Internet. This is what's known as RSS.
Depending on who you talk to, RSS stands for
Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication. Either way, RSS is a very
important technology that information specialists and educators would be
well advised to harness sooner rather than later. In simple terms, Weblogs
(and an ever-growing number of other sites) generate a behind-the-scenes
code in a language similar to HTML called XML. This code, usually referred
to as a "feed" (as in "news feed"), makes it possible for readers to
"subscribe" to the content that is created on a particular Weblog so they no
longer have to visit the blog itself to get it. As is true with traditional
syndication, the content comes to you instead of you going to it.
For instance, say you've found 20 or 30 (or,
like me, 120!) Weblog sites on the Internet that interest you. Finding the
time to click through to those sites on a regular basis is probably pretty
difficult. But what if you had to go to only one place to read all of the
new content on all of those sites? Wouldn't be so difficult, would it? Well,
that's exactly what RSS allows you to do by using what's called an
"aggregator" or news-feed collector. The aggregator checks the sites you
subscribe to, usually every hour, and it collects all the new content into a
folder that is just waiting for you to come and read it. Big deal, you say?
Very big, indeed, for a variety of reasons.
Take this general scenario, for instance: You
currently get the headlines from The New York Times via an e-mail
message that arrives each morning. But more and more, your e-mail box is
being clogged up by spammers selling everything from pornography to
mortgages. There are new virus warnings every day. Not so with RSS. The feed
your aggregator checks is virus free, and you know that everything in your
aggregator is something you want to read because you subscribed to it. No
ads, no spam, just new content from the sources you read. You can scan the
headlines, read the entire post, click through to the actual Web site, and
file the information away for later retrieval.
Subscribe to My Homework Page!
For educators, the potential significance of RSS
is huge. Think about how teachers and districts could use this syndication
process to communicate with students, parents, newspapers, etc. In the
classroom, teachers who have students create their own Weblogs can easily
keep tabs on what those students are posting by subscribing to their
students' feeds and simply checking their aggregators regularly. If school
Web sites were built on a foundation of Weblogs, as with Lewis Elementary,
parents could "subscribe" to different feeds that are relevant to their
children ... say, the feeds from the College Search page, the Board of
Education page, and Mr. Richardson's homework page.
Similarly, if internal committees used Weblogs
to post minutes and links, administrators could do a quick read in their
aggregators to keep abreast of what the groups are up to with the added
benefit that the work is easily archived for retrieval at a later date. Or,
if you teach, say, a media class and want to stay abreast of the latest
developments with the Federal Trade Commission, you can even subscribe to a
Google or Yahoo! search for that term so that any news on that topic is
delivered right to you.
This is fantastic news for the education world
however RSS response has taken the RSS Feed to a whole new level for
educators.
The main problem with blog feeds is that they
only deliver the last 10 or so posts on the blog so when a new group of
students come in they have to repost everything which is a lot of time and
expense.
What RSS Response lets you do is lay out all the
information in a systematic way so it can be delivered in sequence over and
over again with minimal time. The only thing the educator needs to do is add
or edit any uopdates.
Lets set up a situation.
Year one math's starts on the first day and will
run all semester and then a new group of students will start the program.
You can deliver in sequence each week or day the outline and requirements
for the course and time them to be delivered every Friday. The student will
add the feed from RSS Response autoresponder to their own personal reader
which are free and then on the Friday will be delivered the notes and
outline for the following week.
When next semester starts the same information
will be delivered to the new students in the same fashion. They simply sign
up and the system does the rest. You can time it to start on a certain date
and then deliver systematically after that till the end of the semester.
If you want you can also have the feeds posted
directly into your blog as another form of delivery. This opens up a whole
new world for educators.
For more information how you can use this system
and what we can do for you please use the contact form. If you are ready to
take all the stress out of delivering content to your students in a timely
manner then use the sign up for below to get started.
The full version of RSS Response is $19.95
a month
and provides you with Unlimited Campaigns, Unlimited feeds
and Unlimited Lists
Click Here To Sign up With Credit Card or Paypal Account.
