JR Fleming Uses RSS Technology to Help Bring History to Life in "As The World Turns"

Perhaps you have heard of it-RSS. RSS stands for “Real Simple Syndication”. It is a type of technology that allows you to receive dynamic content from a web site, blog, wiki or podcast. This is powerful technology that is really easy to use and implement in your classroom. If you teach a course that would benefit from immediate access to current relevant information, RSS is for you. There are several ways that you can use RSS. JR Fleming is one of the more recent converts to RSS technologies in education at Greenhill. He used this technology in two forms: feeds integrated in his history course through WebCT and through a simple process that uses something known as an aggregator. The tool he used was Bloglines. Here is what he has to say about his experience.

“I began using Bloglines in my As the World Turns class. This has become an indispensable tool in this current events class, and would be in any class that wants to periodically check on current news pretty much anywhere in the world.

Using RSS feeds from news organizations around the world kept both the class and me in touch with what was happening on a daily basis. The students found it fascinating as well. Many of them set up their own accounts and said they checked their news feeds on a regular basis. It was especially interesting to look at one particular story and how it was being covered by different news sources. I used government news agencies, conservative and liberal bloggers, the BBC and CNN just to name a few of the sources. This is just a great way to bring the world into the classroom. It also has the benefit of being extremely easy to setup and use.”

I have created a demonstration of RSS in WebCT where you can see how his feeds were setup in the course. You can access this through http://webct.greenhill.org. Click “Log into My WebCT and use the following credentials to view the course shell: User Name- rssdemo; Password- demo

You can also learn more about how to set up your own Bloglines account in the demo course. Simply open the Bloglines folder. You can access a learning object (this is a stand-alone lesson that resides on the web) to learn more about RSS technologies and how you can set them up for your class. The link is in the WebCT course or you can visit the RSS learning Object here.

Enjoy the wonders of RSS now.