Rubi's+RSS+and+Readers+Wiki

Two decades ago, the worldwide web offered a one-way flow of information and it impacted the classroom in ways unimaginable before. The advent of Web 2.0 technologies has once again redefined the teaching-learning process. It has revolutionized how students obtain, use, and publish information (Vance, 2009, para 5). One such technology is RSS.
 * RSS and Readers **

“RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.” [What Is RSS?] [|whatisrss.com]

RSS also, alternatively, stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. Feed readers, also called news aggregators, collect and display the feeds selected from different online sources for your perusal without having to go to the individual websites (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2011, p. 267).

Linking websites to an RSS feed reader has never been easier with various forms of applications. All of these are at your fingertips. “Hypermedia encourages the consumer of electronic information to become an active participant in the quest for connections between related pieces of information” (Donnelly, 2009, para 6)

** Educational Uses of RSS and Readers ** (RSS & Readers):
 * Keep abreast of current events in news, education, politics and professional organizations.
 * Powerful research tool.
 * Receive updates to your favorite blogs.
 * Subscribe to and network with educational bloggers in your field of study.
 * Share your feeds with other educators. View their feeds.
 * Make announcements to students after class.
 * Track student blogs and wikis.
 * Subscribe to Podcasts.
 * Students can track each other's blogs.
 * Students can share their feeds with each other, creating a collaborative research environment.
 * Students can become more globally aware by subscribing to news and current affairs sites.
 * Helps break down the walls of the classroom to provide connections to the outside world.
 * Subscribe to other people's social bookmarking accounts, and discover new websites everyday. (Web2Tutorial, 2011) web2tutorial

** How RSS enhances student learning: ** o Students can subscribe to specific websites that keep them abreast with recent developments in a chosen field of interest. o Students can also contribute to the collection of feeds and sharing these feeds with the class. o RSS can make the exchange of ideas and knowledge more efficient. o Students can subscribe to the blogs of their classmates and easily see when they have been updated. o When students write for the web, it offers them the opportunity to craft their writing in the form of a news feed (often only a headline and brief “blurb”).
 * More current than a textbook:
 * Easy reading and commenting on blogs:
 * Thinking differently about writing in/for a digital world:
 * A class blog site can function as a news aggregator (RSS), a one-stop-shop, and a hub for the following: assignments, announcements, student blog posts, news updates, and social bookmarks. (VTmtngrrl, 2007). [|Presentation on uses of RSS in the classroom]

**Links to popular RSS feed readers:** [|Google Reader] [|Bloglines] [|Rojo] or [|Blogs.com] [|NewsGator] [|FeedShow] [|Pageflakes] [|Netvibes] [|RSSOwl] [|NewzCrawler] [|Awasu] [|SharpReader]

**Links to sites for additional reading:** [|RSS 2.0 Specification (version 2.0.11)] [|RSS in Plain English] [|Blogging and RSS] [|Information Avalanche Rescue: RSS Feeds in the Classroom] [|Blogs for Learning] [|How to Use RSS Feeds] [|Learning Tools: RSS Readers]

**Reference List:**

Carlson, S. (2005). The net generation in the classroom. //Chronicle of Higher Education,// 52(7). Retrieved from EBESCOhost.

Common Craft. (2011). //RSS in plain English.// Retrieved from []

Donnelly, M. (2008). Hypermedia in education. //Research Starters Education.// Retrieved from EBESCOhost.

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. B. (2011). //Teaching and learning with technology.// (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Tschabitscher, Heinz. (2011). //Top 9 windows RSS feed readers and news aggregators.// Retrieved from []

Vance, N. (2009). Web 2.0 in the schools. //Research Starters Education.// Retrieved from EBESCOhost.

Vmtngrrl. (2007, February 13). // Presentation on uses of RSS in the classroom. // Retrieved from []

What Is RSS? RSS Explained. (2011). Retrieved from []