RSS Aggregator

Prior to engaging with the courseware of this course Managing e.Learning, I had never heard of the term RSS Aggregator and had no idea as to what one was. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication and allows you to monitor other Blogs or Websites that have an RSS Feed" (Central Queensland University, 2009). As I had previously created a Gmail account in order to sign up to this blogging service BlogSpot, I decided that I would use Google Reader as my RSS Aggregator as part of Assessment One for this course as I would be able to use my Gmail account to access the service.

Although I had signed up to Google Reader and had found out what RSS standed for, I was still a little bit unsure of what exactly and RSS aggregator does, therefore, I watched the YouTube clip by Lee LeFever called RSS in plain English, and LeFever gave a very clear and concise definition of what the purpose of having an RSS aggregator is. After watching the clip and now knowing that an RSS aggregator acts as your home base on the internet and the information which you regularly follow such as news and blogs comes to you, rather than, you having to check each individual blog and news site that you follow, I strongly believed that an RSS aggregator would be a beneficial tool for me as I could see it saving myself time when using the internet and it allowed me to enhance my knowledge in relation to technology.

After checking out the Google Reader website in more detail, I figured out how to add a subscription, therefore, I copied and pasted the URL’s of my course colleagues into the site so that their blog posts would appear in my feed ready for me to monitor. So far I have found seven of my peers and have added them successfully to my aggregator, and over the journey of this course I hope to add more of them to my blog.

In regard to school learning environments, I think that the use of RSS aggregators and blogs would be beneficial for students, as it would allow them to receive feedback from their peers and teacher, along with, interact in a collaborative manner with students from a range of schools including their own, for example, if a student was required to keep a blog as part of an assessment for one of their key learning areas, their teacher could ask a colleague from another school if they would like to join their class in the process of creating and monitoring blogs. Therefore, RSS aggregator’s could be used to support the Relate-Create-Donate process of the Learning Engagement theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999), as the option of learning in a collaborative context is provided to students whilst ensuring that their experiences when networking on the internet is of a positive and safe manner.

Reference List:

Central Queensland University (CQU). (2009). FAHE11001- Managing E-Learning: Moodle site. Rockhampton, QLD, Australia: Scot Aldred.

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: a framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 16, 2009, from
http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

LeFever, L. (2009). Video: RSS in plain English. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU