RSS Readers

This blog has been created as a continuation of a presentation I gave a few weeks ago to some of my colleagues from the language departments here at Illinois Wesleyan University. In that presentation I shared what I had learned from the different conferences I went to during the last academic year. Something I wish I could have done in that presentation was to go into depth about each one of the tools I presented. I decided to create this blog so we all can share some of the technology we are using in our classes, how we are using it, and why we think it will be helpful for us as scholars, as teachers and for our students.

I would like to start reviewing how to use an RSS reader. I know that this might sound very technical but it isn’t. First, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which means that you will receive information from websites you subscribe to. It works in the same way any subscription does. For instance, two of my favorite magazines are: The New Yorker, and National Geographic. Let’s say I am not subscribed to any of these magazines. This means I would have to go to a bookstore weekly for The New Yorker and monthly for National Geographic to buy a copy. The problem becomes bigger when, for any reason, the bookstore gets those magazines on a day different than I am expecting. If this happens, I would have to go two, or maybe three times, to the bookstore hoping each time I would find the magazine I have been anxiously waiting for. But I don’t have much time to do this, so I decided to subscribe to these magazines. What this means is that these three magazines will get delivered to my house whenever they get published.

An RSS reader works in the same way. Instead of me going to different websites to see if there is something new or if they have been updated, my RSS reader would receive a notification every time the websites I subscribed to get updated.

You can also watch this great video about what RSS readers are and how to use one.



The question now it’s how could we use a RSS readers in our classes. There are many ways but I am going to talk about how I use it in the classes I am teaching.

Wikis: In my Advance Grammar and Composition Class I am using wikis (we will have a post about this tool in the feature.) My students need to type their responses for my questions related with the short stories we read in class there. If I used the old way, I would have to go to our wiki to check if they have done their homework. But since I know now about RSS readers, I have subscribe to our wikis, so every time my students post anything I get those post on my Google Reader.

Chinswing: In the same class I have an oral activity for my students. I use a website called Chinswing (we will have a post about this tool in the feature.) I record some questions for my students and then their record their responses. If I used the old way, I would have to go to Chinswing often to listen to my students’ responses. But I have subscribed to this website, so every time my students record their responses; I get them on my Google Reader.

Blogs: There are some blogs to which I am subscribed. One of those is from one of my favorite Colombian writers. Every time he posts something new I get it on my Google Reader.

News: I could also subscribe to specific news from my most trusted resources. I am subscribed to the “The New Yorker Online Only,” “NPR Topics: Books,” “NPR Topics: Technology.” In this way my Google Reader will get the articles from The New Yorker I don’t get in my magazine, and I will get articles from NPR about the topics I am more interested.

That’s all for now.

Please let me know if you have any questions either by posting a comment or by an e-mail.

Nos vemos.

Jaime.