Week 3-RSS

RSS FEEDS


Before this project began I had never used a Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeder, and I had very little understanding of what they were or how to use them. A very simple definition of an RSS feeder is, “A mechanism to syndicate content from an originating site out to many different locations (Fatcow.com). According to author Robert Vamosi, in an article he wrote reviewing RSS readers for Cnet.com he called RSS, “News you choose” (Vamosi, Robert). My concise definition after using two different RSS feeders would be, “a great tool to view all your favorite websites, and blogs in a short amount of time.” I use the web everyday to find the latest news, sports, and weather information available. The problem is to really open and read all the websites that I love to explore on a daily basis can take more than an hour of my time on average. I just got into blogging websites a little over a year ago regarding some of my favorite sports teams, and now I am addicted to checking those sites as well; this too has increased my daily surf patterns. I average between an hour to two hours a day reading new information on the web. As mentioned before, I had never used an RSS feeder prior to this assignment; I had heard of RSS feeders, and commonly seen the orange emblem on all my favorite sites, but I never made an attempt to use one.

This assignment has really opened my eyes to the time saving benefits subscribing to RSS feeds can provide. All last week I logged onto my Google Reader account, and used my Omea Reader 2.2 program to follow my daily blogs, and news sites. The results were incredible; I averaged around 30 min viewing and reading all of my daily sites instead of spending an hour or more of my time. Saving time in my opinion is truly the greatest value to using an RSS reader.

To setup, subscribe, and use a RSS feeder you must first locate and download a reader. Setting up an RSS reader to use is a pretty simple process if you do a little homework first to find a reader that best suits your needs. I went to Cnet.com and found an article concerning their favorite RSS readers that included the pros and cons of each at http://reviews.cnet.com/1990-10088_7-5143606-1.html?tag=txt. After reviewing their critique of each reader I chose JetBrains Omea Reader 2.2. Setup was a breeze, you simply follow the links, and download it right from Cnet.com. Based off of my experience, I believe setting up an RSS reader is comparable to setting up a Facebook account in the sense that once setup, it is very easy to discover all the basic tools and features all on your own and use the them without reading or viewing any tutorials.

Using an RSS reader has allowed me to expand my horizons and find educational blogs pertinent to my field, so I can stay up to date with all the latest tools and trends in teaching. One educational blog that I would like to share that I now read daily via my RSS reader is titled, Educational Technology. This blog helps keep me updated with all the latest news and technology that is coming out, and how it is impacting education. I enjoy reading the tweets and discussions posts that correspond with the various posts within the blog, and I like knowing what is coming up next as far as classroom technology is concerned. I subscribed to this sites RSS feeder, and now I can keep up with it along with my other sites in half of the time.

There are many opportunities to use RSS in education concerning the students; here are just a few that I came up with. One, research, having the students find websites concerning a specific topic and have them track news sites and blogs that will help them collect research over a period of time. The students will not only learn about their topic in depth, they will also learn how to use an important internet tool that will help save them time and help them narrow down on the exact information they were needing. Two, keeping up with blog journals, many teachers assign student blog projects, and what better way for all the students to keep up with one another by setting up an RSS feeder to track all the other students blogs within their class. Instead of going blog to blog the slow way, students could quickly read, and collaborate using their RSS reader. Lastly, data tracking, for some classes tracking current data is very important. For example a stock market project in an economics course. Students could create an RSS to follow all of their stock investments on a day to day basis and try to stay ahead of the game. Another example of data collection where students could use an RSS reader could be utilized for a statistics course where specific changing data could be tracked with ease. Now that I’ve given you a couple of examples of how students could use an RSS feeder let me share with you how RSS feeders could be used by teachers and administrators. Professional development is such an important part of teaching and education in general. What better way to stay ahead of the curve as a teacher, and always be on the cutting edge as an administrator by locating 25 or more blogs concerning your field within education and tracking them using an RSS subscription so you could always stay current and not waste tons of time.

Clearly the biggest advantage to using RSS is the time saving factor. Problogger.com agrees saying that RSS, “…provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published,” (problogger.net). Utilizing RSS on a daily basis gives you more freedom, and allows you to explore a topic more in depth.

References

Fat Cow Web Hosting (18 January 2011). Definitions. FatCow.com 2011. Retrieved from http://www.fatcow.com/knowledgebase/read_article.bml?kbid=5530

Rowse, Darren. (1 November 2010). What is RSS? Problogger.net 2011. Retrieved from http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss/

Vamosi, Robert. (15 July 2004). RSS, News You Choose. Cnet.com 2011. Retrieved from http://reviews.cnet.com/1990-10088_7-5143606-1.html?tag=txt

Open Source

I have a very basic and limited knowledge about Open Source, but here is a little about what I do know.  Open Source makes the source code behind an application available to everyone.  A few of the major differences between Open Source applications and Proprietary apllications are the cost and the availability of the access.  Almost all of free software uses Open Source and allows anyone to openly access them.  On the other hand Proprietary software gives legal authority to the creator, and the creator of the software can legally exclude users, control access, and distribute the software as seen fit.  It is my understanding that most OS applications use General Public Liscences which are free, and copylefted instead of copyrighted. 

There are two OS apps that I think are useful in education, that I have used so far.  One is Moodle (like BlackBoard only free).  I really believe online courses are the way of the future, not only are they here to stay; I believe they will take over colleges, universities, and secondary education as we know it.  Getting students ahead of the curve by using Moodle is a great experience for students.  I also have used Open Office.  Sure it is not quite as good as MS Office, however it is free, and very comparable.  Students who can't afford MS Office need to be directed to this free resource for their home PC's.  Just because you have MS Office doesn't mean your students will at home. 

Here are the links where you can download these apps:
 http://moodle.org/

http://www.openoffice.org/

Drop Box

Drop Box is one of my favorite tools.  Technically, Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc. which uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization (wikipedia-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_(storage_provider)).  To me it is a useful tool that I use so don't have to worry about losing a thumb drive with all my important data on it.  Not only do I use it for storing personal documents for school, work, and projects for my masters; my principals and teachers use it at my school to track students behavior, tardies, and attendance using a shared Excel document.  If we write a referral for a student we can open up our shared Excel document find the students name, and write a brief statement of what happened, the date, and any follow up.  Using this technology, anyone on staff can see all of our students and track their discipline, attendance, and tardies.  This allows all of us to work together, and be on the same page.  If I am having trouble with a student, I can look and see if other teachers are having the same problems.  This helps us identify students who need extra attention and guidance, and helps us to collaborate on useful solutions.  I can honestly say that Dropbox has helped our whole staff collaborate more efficiently. 

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Jeremy Cross and I live and teach here in Springfield, MO. My wife and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary, and we also just finished celebrating our son Isaac's first birthday.  Speaking of celebrations, I am also a huge sports fan specifically an Auburn fan (I have been since I was 5), so I am still celebrating our national championship run!  War Eagle!  It has been a great year so far. I am really excited about starting a new semester. I am just 4 classes away from finishing my masters; the end is in sight, and I am ready to finish strong.    I am looking forward to meeting and working with the other members of this class as well.  Have a great semester everyone!

 

The last good book I read was actually a book within a book.  I read I John in the Bible and it really encouraged me to be more loving, compassionate, and authentic in my faith.  I love books that challenge my mind and soul.  You can read I John here by following this link:  http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults2.php?passage1=1+John+1&book_id=69&version1=9&tp=5&c=1.