RSS
Class discussion March 10th, 2009RSS is referred to by Will Richarson as The New Killer App for Education. What are your thoughts? Did you find it difficult to set up a feed? What have you subscribed to? If you have not subscribed to any feeds, why not?
March 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I started a Google reader after Alan November’s talk in the fall. I have a folder for Darfur, a folder for technology in education, and a number of news feeds from publications that I imagine myself having time to read: The New York Times, The Cape Cod Times, Time Magazine. As always, I wish I had more time to read. Unless I sacrifice human ftf conversation, I only get to read about 30 minutes a week of my googlereader.
I assigned my AP class to set up their own reader, then I substituted reading class work for reading 1/2 a day from their reader and 1/2 hr from an independent reading book, following which they could do blog entries (basically reading logs on a personal blog). After a week of that, I asked them to do a certain number of comments and counter-comments on classmates blogs, which were all accessible via my edublog blogroll.
This assignment went well, with particular hot zones of interest and some technological malfunctions that were overcome with students simply hand-writing or facebook messaging me their comments because the comment feature didn’t work on all the blogs. In class, we highlighted and extended the exchanges that had been of greatest interest in addition to our usual English class stuff.
This sounds exciting, but I do want to note some drawbacks.
1. While all my honors and AP students could successfully navigate their way through the ins and outs of usernames/passwords/page set ups, only 30% of my level two students had that luck.
2. Even w/the hot zones of interest springing up around otherwise dormant areas of intellectual interest brought to life by appropriately set-up google readers, we still had the “free-rider” problem in which many students only passively involved themselves with the most stimulating aspects of the learning activity. E.g. 10 students left posts on an issue, 24 students were present for in-class discussion (w/4 absent), 12 students spoke out in debate on the given issue.
3. Another aspect of the free-rider problem unfolds at about this point (or higher in a post) in which the classmate reading the post notes, “Wow, that’s a lot to read” call it quits and leaves a simple response.
4. A good portion of the on-line debates that sprung up displayed the same sort of problems you find in newspaper letters–tone gets easily miscontrued and lots of energy is spent trying to properly parse out what the other responder actually means (time gobbled up in a second in a face to face conversation w/a smile or a shrug).
March 11th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I did set up one feed, to receive information about autism. I have not checked it yet this week.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I have used RSS feeds for a while now, I remember learning about them in Grad school. It is nice to see that they have come such a long way since that time…
March 12th, 2009 at 8:02 am
I signed up for a couple RSS feeds but really don’t have time to read them. I don’t see this as a tool that my fourth graders would be able to use.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I have way too many feeds!!! I subscribed to art, bikeing, design, wine , recipes and I feel overwhelmed! I have not had the time to read all of them. Maybe april vacation I can get through some of them. I am not sure how I would use these with my classes.
Sandy
March 12th, 2009 at 9:09 am
The reason we learn about RSS is to know of its existence. I don’t know whether a fourth grader will ever have the need to use it. Not now, but who knows what the future of technology will bring and it is probably wise, as an educator, you know about it.
As for students having difficulty navigating menus, usernames, passwords and page set-up, that tells me that our students are not getting enough classroom experiences with these tools. These tools for collaboration and communication are not going away, they will just become more sophisticated.
Our students will be competing with people from all over the world for jobs because of these tools. Like it or no, a design team in New York can send a project to Pakistan at 5PM and have the project completed by 9AM when they walk back into their offices…and done cheaper! We have a lot of catching up to do!
March 12th, 2009 at 10:02 am
There are some great science RSS feeds for kids. Here’s one for Science News that elementary teachers could put on their blog. Students can see updated facts about different things in science that may interest them. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/pages/rss.asp
March 12th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Here’s another good science RSS feed for kids that’s science related: http://www.surfnetkids.com/
As you can tell I’m having fun looking for sites that I can use in the classroom. Hope you find this helpful. The one problem I have is an over abunadance of feeds and finding the time to read them.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
When Alan November came I was absolutely floored by the possibility of feeds…but I guess as he pointed out during the day, people tend to take incomplete notes; that was my case. I went home and tried setting it up but did not get anywhere.
During class last week I set up a few. I also posted a powerpoint and several genetics’ puzzle for my students to explore on my blog. Of my RSS feeds I value most I would say that NASA, NOAA and EOL are very nice but my favorite at this time while I am covering the unit on Genetics would be NHGRI on the Human Genome. I showed my students some of the genetics text(stem cell research and vitamin B12 synthesis) that were just published and watched as they told me in amazement that they understood some on the complicated text.
(Of course most of it was over their heads but the point was to expose them and hopefully sparks self-esteem and interest…it worked).
As I read the posts, I find a common acknowledgement of a huge lack of time…it is a lot of pressure to keep up with the kids and technology when our days are streched already so much. I am enjoying the discovery of all these gadjets and I am slowly incorporating them into my life. One huge revelation in my family life has been the calendar which now all the members of my family (husband and 3 sons ages 11 to 15) update daily. Everyone knows when the concerts are, CCD, music lessons, soccer practices, mom’s class even what is for dinner if nobody thought to plan the previous day…they all know young and old to go there and they will find the answers…if it is not posted then it’s not scheduled!!!!
That’s it!!!!
March 12th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I’m with Jeff as far as feeling frustrated that students are interested in quick reads and only read what either doesn’t have a lot of posts, or they write very simple text that doesn’t necessarily have to do with my original post. I find middle school students also have a very hard time with the 3 things you must enter in order to post. Kids who were finished early with a quiz had to go to my blog to comment and they were very unhappy with me requiring it. It was obvious to me that many of them had no experience with blogs and they whined that they didn’t know where to go or what to do.
Feeds are a great way to keep up with sites that you want to know about, but the feeds that I set up are not the typical New York Times things. My are pretty cheesy, so I’m not telling you what they are! I definitely see how they can be overwhelming and make you feel like you are so far behind when you check in only once in a while and see that there is a lot more you could have read.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
The feeds are great. I’m exploring the many possibilities. Right now, as the author suggests, it looks like more work rather than less… To manage all the sources, this is a really awesome tool. I can imagine setting up a resource guide for a particular project, or a syllabus for an entire class.
Useful for my students are the usual: NY Times, The Motley Fool, Boston, and a couple of others that might entice. I’m looking for some scholarly publications that explore some of the timeless queries into causes and effects of historic events. I’ll let you know what I find.
Feeds are a fabulous way to expand one’s library. Publications I actually FEAR subscribing to (mostly because, largely unread month to month, they pile up and mock me!) are available.
My students seem reluctant to blog; rather than fun, they view it like an assignment. As “frenchy” notes, their lack of interest in the academic nature of the activity holds them back. I’m not sharing my personal running blog with them, however!
In general, I love the idea of blogging and skyping (Did you hear about Google’s about-to-be-launched “Google Voice?” ~ now we won’t need Yahoo). It’s exciting to see the capability for real-time communication with others around the school or around the world!
I’m needing some remedial help. First, though, I need hours just practicing!
March 30th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Like many others, I enjoy surfing and finding feeds, but haven’t figured out the best ways of using them with my class. Other than having feeds available on the smartboard when the kids come in each morning, or accessing a particular feed as part of a lesson, I don’t know how/when to have my fifth graders use them in class. Those who have tech supportive parents could easily get their weekly news stories from RSS feeds.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:54 am
At the moment I have my google reader going for personal interests-book reviews, news, mental health issues and home and gardening articles.
I envision utilizing RSS feeds for students regarding current events and perhaps assign students to read and either create journal responses to events or latch on to a particular ongoing event and follow it for a while with the end goal in mind of creating a letter to the editor on the basis of some prolonged reading/studying the topic.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Many great ideas on setting up feeds. They could certainly bring in great information and I could see referencing that information in the classroom. I do feel like I have taken in so much information in so many different areas recently, that I am not sure how much more I can take in or process. Also, keeping track of all the tools, deciding which one to use – wikis, feeds, blogs, and getting students registered to use them seems to be an issue for me. All that aside, does anyone have a good rss feed math suggestion ?
April 8th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I have set up a couple of feeds through google for myself, although I don’t know if they’d be feasible in a second grade classroom.