SuzieVesper,COREeducation,2008suzievesper@gmail.com

RSS for Educators

Thisguideisintendedtohelpanyteacherthatwantstosetupafeedreaderfromscratch.IwillbeshowinghowtodothiswithintheFirefoxbrowserusingtheRSSreader‘GoogleReader’whichisfreetouse.

So what is RSS?

RSSstandsfor“ReallySimpleSyndication”Itallowsuserstosubscribetoonlinecontent.UsingRSS,readerscanhaveonlinecontentcometothem,ratherthanhavingtoconstantlycheckdozensofwebsitesforinformation.TheRSSsymbol(generallyorangebutcanbeothercolours)showsthatapagehasanRSSfileassociatedwithit

What is a Feed Reader?

AfeedreaderisaplacetogatherallofyoursubscriptionstositesthatuseRSS.IparticularlyuseittostayintouchwithblogsIfollow.Whenyousubscribetoasite,thatsiteisaddedtoyourlistofsubscribedsiteswithinthereaderwiththenumberofunreaditemsshowingnexttothenameofthesite.Youcanorganiseyoursubscribedsitesintofoldersinsidethereader.Whenyouclickonasitename,alltheunreaditemswillappearwithinthereadersothatyoucanreadthroughthemwithoutvisitingthesiteitself.Youwillstillneedtovisittheoriginalsitetoleavecommentsonablogpostortoseeanitemthathasn’tdisplayedwithinthereader(egsomeimagesdon’talwaysdisplay).Youcangototheoriginalsitebyclickingonthetitleofthecontentinthereader.

Why should I care about RSS as a teacher?

WideningyourperspectivesasateacherOneofthekeycompetenciesintheNewZealandcurriculumisto‘Manageself’andthisisexactlywhatafeedreaderhelpsyoudo.Therearemanywonderfulteachersbloggingabouttheirexperiencesintheclassroomandthelatestresourcestheyhavefoundontheworldwideweb.Asafelloweducator,youcanreadtheseblogsandengagetheauthorsindialoguethroughtheuseofthecommentfeature.Theblogsthatyoufindthemostuseful,youwillwanttokeepintouchwithastheyaddnewposts.Areaderhelpsyoutomanagethis.Youcanalsosubscribetootherthingssuchasadditionstoaperson’sdeliciousaccount,podcasts,onlinenewspapersectionsandadditionstoaFlickraccount.ManysitesonthewebnowhavebuiltinRSSfeeds.HelpingstudentstostayconnectedManyteachershavenowsetupaclassblogorindividualstudentblogswherechildrenpublishcontentandreflectontheirlearning.Youcansetupaclassfeedreaderaccountwhichissubscribedtoalloftheblogswithintheclassroomandblogsbystudentsinotherclasses/schools/cities/countries.YoucouldalsosubscribetotopicalcontentsuchasinformationonthelatestNASAmissionsothatthechildrencouldstayup‐to‐dateoraYouTubechannelsuchasNationalGeographic.

SuzieVesper,COREeducation,2008suzievesper@gmail.com

Feed reader options

OnlineFeedReadersGoogleReader(http://reader.google.com)Bloglines(http://www.bloglines.com)DesktopapplicationsFirefox,IE7,SafariandFlock–youcansubscribetofeedswithinthesebrowsersSharpReader(http://www.sharpreader.com)–WindowsapplicationtosubscribetoRSSfeedsNetNewsWire–OSXapplicationforreadingRSSfeeds

Getting set up with Google Reader

AsIpersonallyuseGoogleReader,thisistheonethatIamgoingtoshowyouhowtouse.ThereisareallyusefulFAQaboutGoogleReaderwrittenbyGoogleatthisaddress:http://www.google.com/help/faq_reader.htmlTogetGoogleReader,youneedaGoogleaccount.Thisisfreeandveryeasytosetup.Fillintheformatthisaddress:https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount Onceyouhaveanaccount,makesureyouaresignedin(thereisalways‘SignIn’optioninthetopcornerofgoogle.com–ifyouaresignedin,youwillseeyourusernameinthetoprightcorner).Thenyoucansimplyclickon‘Reader’whichisinthedropdownlistofoptionsunder‘more’onthetopleftsideoftheGooglepage.Thiswillcreateyourreaderaccountandtakeyouthere.

Subscribing to Feeds using Google Reader

IamgoingtofocusonwhatIconsiderthesimplestwaytosubscribetofeeds–throughFirefoxwhenyouareonasitethathasanRSSfeed.ThefirststepistomakesureyouhaveanupdatedversionofFirefox–earlierversionsdon’tallowyoutouseRSSreadersoutsideofFirefox.WhenyouareonasitethatcontainsanRSSfeed,youwillseeanRSSsymbolappearonthefarrightontheaddresswithinFirefox.Whenyouclickonthisforthefirsttime,youwillseeamessageappearlikethisone:

SuzieVesper,COREeducation,2008suzievesper@gmail.comIfyouclickonthedropdownmenunextto‘LiveBookmarks’youcanchangethisto‘Google’andthentick‘AlwaysuseGoogletosubscribetofeeds’.Ifyouclickthe‘SubscribeNow’button,itwilltakeyouintoyourGoogleReaderandthatfeedwillbelistedinthelefthandmenuwiththenumberofunreadpostsforyoutoread.TryoutscrollingdownthroughthepostsinGoogleReaderandnoticehowitchangesthenumberofunreadpostsasyouscroll.Youwillonlyseetheabovescreenthefirsttimeyousubscribetoasitethisway.Fromthenon,whenyouclicktheRSSsymbolintheaddressbaryouwillseethis:Choose‘GoogleReader’tocontinueaddingfeedstoyourlist.

Even easier way if you always want it to point straight to Google Reader

I’vejustfoundoutaboutaneveneasierwaytosubscribetoafeed.Followtheinstructionsbelow.UseGoogle’s“subscribe”bookmarklet.InGoogleReader,goto“Settings”andthenthe“Goodies”tab.Thereyouwillfindthe“subscribe”bookmarklet—dragthelinkintoyourbrowser’sbookmarksectionofthetoolbar.Anewbuttonwillbecreated;wheneveryouareonasiteyou’dliketosubscribeto,clickthebuttonandGooglewilllookfortheRSSfeedandopenitinReader.Thisisapreview;toadditpermanently,hitthelarge“Subscribe”buttonatthetopofthepage.ThisworksinIE7andFirefox,andlikelyotherbrowsersaswell.