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INTRODUCTION

RSS- What is it and why would I care? RSS, also known as Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, is a way to harness the power of technology to monitor specific sites for new information. You determine the type of information that you want to follow. This adventure gives you the opportunity to tour a learning object on RSS and experience one way you can include such feeds in your classes through WebCT. With a few "tweaks", this works in all learning management systems (Moodle, Blackboard etc.) There are other ways to harness this technology as well. You can use a simple program known as an aggregator which will pull your feeds together into your "Daily Me." Below you will find a sample RSS feed that will follow educational news from three different sources. I encourage you to visit this page several times over the conference and see what new information has been collected.

 

Adventure 1: Explore a custom feed on education
Adventure 2: Explore a learning object on RSS feeds
Adventure 3: Create your own RSS feed in WebCT
Adventure 4: Set up your own RSS feed aggregator through Bloglines
Adventure 5: Explore custom RSS feeds developed for different subjects

ADVENTURE 1

Objective: You will have a chance to read the latest education news from three different sites.

DIRECTIONS

This custom feed was developed using the process described in Adventure 2 below. Your task is to explore the very latest in education news as reported by the New York Times, Edutopia and Education Week. New stories from any of these three sources are automatically posted to this feed. This was created to make a resource for remaining current on the latest news regarding education. These feeds can be created around almost any subject.

 

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ADVENTURE 2

Objective: This adventure will walk you through a learning introducing the concept of RSS and a way that you can use it with a learning management system such as WebCT, Moodle or Blackboard.

DIRECTIONS

Simply open the RSS Learning Object and proceed through the videos and material. When you are finished, you will have a chance to actually create a feed in WebCT in Adventure 3

  1. Entire Learning Object
  2. What is RSS?
  3. Finding a Feed
  4. Placing a Feed in WebCT
  5. RSS Resources- Explore the possibilities
  6. Sample Feed Page

 

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ADVENTURE 3

Objective: Create an actual RSS feed inside a course shell of WebCT.

DIRECTIONS

The following instructions will walk you through the process of setting up a feed in WebCT.

Use the following WebCT account information to build your feed:

  1. WebCT at Greenhill School http://webct.greenhill.org
  2. Click (Log in to myWebCT)
  3. User Name: naisdemo
  4. Password: password
  5. Select the RSS Sandbox course from the list of courses.

Creating the Feed

  1. Log into WebCT and create an organizer page in your course for the feed. This is done by clicking on the Control Panel button followed by "Add Page or Tool" and Organizer Page (on left of panel). The feed can be placed on any page that can be edited in the html mode.
  2. Open page as a designer
  3. Enter a title for the page as a upper text block
  4. Open another browser window and locate your desired feed. You can use this feed address (http://feeds.chronicle.com/chronicle/wiredcampus?format=xml) for this exercise or find your own.
  5. Copy URL (address) of your feed using <Ctrl C>
  6. Open a third browser window and launch Feed2JS (http://feed2js.org/index.php?s=build)
  7. Paste URL of feed in line for URL using <Ctrl V>
  8. Click desired options. The following options are recommended:
    • Show Channel = Yes
    • Number of Items to Display = 5 to 10
    • Show Description = 1
    • Show Posting Date = Yes
    • Open Links in New Window = Yes
    • You don't need to worry about any other settings
  9. Click Generate JavaScript (button to the right)
  10. Highlight and copy ALL of the code in window. There should be about 10 lines of code and should look something like the example below. Use <Ctrl C> to copy.

Sample Code

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://feed2js.org//feed2js.php?src=http%3
A%2F%2Ffeeds.chronicle.com%2Fchronicle%2Fwiredcampus%3Fformat%3
Dxml&amp;chan=y&amp;num=5&amp;date=y&amp;html=a"
type="text/javascript"></script>

<noscript>
<a href="http://feed2js.org//feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.chronicle.com
%2Fchronicle%2Fwiredcampus%3Fformat%3Dxml&amp;
chan=y&amp;num=5&amp;date=y&amp;html=y">View RSS feed</a>
</noscript>
  1. Navigate to your WebCT course. A link to the open page should be at the bottom of your window.
  2. Click in the larger window just below the page title in your upper text block.
  3. Paste the JavaScript code in this window.
  4. Click Add to save changes
  5. You should now see your feed. You can click on student view to see how your students will view the feed

 

You have just successfully setup your first RSS feed in your WebCT course.

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ADVENTURE 4

Objective: You will set up your own bloglines account and add your own feeds.

DIRECTIONS

  1. Go to www.bloglines.com and set up a personal account (it is free)
  2. When completed, watch the short video on how to add feeds to your bloglines account
  3. Find and add feeds to your account.

 

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ADVENTURE 5

Objective: How can this be used in your class?

DIRECTIONS

Explore the sample WebCT course on RSS feeds. This demonstration course will show you several feeds for several courses. Each feed provides a little background on the course or intended audience.

Use the following WebCT account information to view the sample course feeds:

  1. WebCT at Greenhill School http://webct.greenhill.org
  2. Click (Log in to myWebCT)
  3. User Name: naisdemo
  4. Password: password
  5. Select the NAIS RSS Demonstration Course

Explore the three feeds that are supplied. How could you use this type of technology and pedagogy in your school, in your classes?

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