This is a reflection on Chapter 5 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson, and a review of my experiences implementing the use of this web tool.
I imagine my mornings start very similar to most people in modern civilizations with access to first world technology. Upon waking, I check my email, text messages and twitter feed from my smartphone, a routine that propels my conscious back into reality from a nights sleep. More often than not, this conditioned process drives me out of bed and to my laptop where I investigate more about some piece of news or communication I've just come across. Through a series of web bookmarks and google searches I spend at least 30 minutes "surfing" the web. I don't know how else to think about it other than this routine evolved naturally as I grew with the Internet in my life. Given the enormity of the Internet, it's quite naive for me to say that I've never felt that I was missing out on something with my routine, but that's how I've always felt. My relationship with the Internet has been kept at an arms distance. I engage with the World Wide Web at my own pace, directed by my own interests. I think I've got it down pretty well. What could possibly make my routine more interesting and efficient? Then I met RSS.
To be fair, I'd heard of RSS years ago. I just never took the time to fully understand what the little symbol that looks like a Wifi signal meant as I browsed articles, journals, and message boards. On the surface it all seemed kind of redundant. How do I benefit from information presented to me in a simpler format if I'm already going to the source itself to consume the same information? Alas, that is where my acknowledgement of RSS and its functionality ended. What I didn't realize is that RSS is designed to bring information specific to my liking from areas of the Internet where I'd never explored or imagined I'd find.
I've now set up an RSS feed reader through Feedly.com, and my overall impression so far has been mostly positive. At the time of this posting I receive feeds from a handful of websites and blogs about ESL education, teaching with technology, and science education. As I try to integrate checking my RSS into my morning routine I've occasionally found interesting information from these sources. The types of things I'm finding I probably would have only stumbled upon by chance. Now I have them compiled in a single place for more efficient consumption. From this perspective, RSS has been a very useful tool.
On the other hand, I've yet to experience anything significant that will substantially transform how I access and consume information on the Internet. This could be a product of the reader service I started with, but I occasionally find RSS to be cumbersome. I sometimes feel like I'm sifting through a haystack to find the needle - at least at this initial point of evaluating my experience with RSS - while my conditioned routine of checking familiar websites in my bookmarks bar tends to be more effective and rewarding. I use the term rewarding because I find a sense of satisfaction from having an idea, searching it out, researching the information, and sharing it with others to be more satisfying than checking a RSS feed programmed to show me things that I might or should be interested to see. I suppose finding a fantastic RSS feed to follow can elicit the same feeling of reward that I enjoy when coming across something spontaneously on the Internet, but I've yet to realize that experience.
The one area where I definitely see the value of RSS is within the classroom. Thanks to Richardson's text, I clearly see how using this web tool can be extremely effective for students. While I mentioned that my personal experience with RSS thus far has involved some frustration with picking through the feeds I've subscribed to, I strongly believe that a focused RSS feed can provide valuable resource for students and teachers in the classroom. I mostly imagine using RSS in my future science teaching practice. I think it would be a very useful and efficient tool for my students to compile and source information for reports and research projects. In this sense, I view RSS as a gateway tool for primary and secondary level students to learn about pursuing scholarly research. The advanced library databases can be confusing for even college-level students, and Google search results tend to be too broad for the maturing student. I see RSS as a middle ground between these two areas. With RSS, students are given - instead of searching for - focused material that aids them in their classwork without the need to be well versed in navigating library databases.
Another thing I thought about while reading this chapter was how RSS essentially removes all chance of accidentally accessing inappropriate material on the Internet. I realize that Internet search control settings are becoming more advanced, but a simple Google search still holds the potential to present results inappropriate for children and the classroom setting. This is really only a minor concern because well intended, responsible Internet searching is unlikely to result in undesired content, but teachers are still taking a risk with letting their students search the Internet freely under their guidance. Implementing the use of RSS feeds allows teachers to directly control what is being consumed in their classroom and ensures that students are focusing their Internet research on material pertinent to their coursework.
In summary, RSS is a web tool that I'm trying to integrate into my daily routine in an effort to understand its limits and effectiveness for my future teaching practice. It probably won't significantly change how I interact with information on the Internet, but it is a useful tool nonetheless, and I hope to find opportunities to experiment with RSS in an effort to become a highly effective educator.
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