Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #3:
Feedly Joins My PLE
Feedly Icon
Update: Feedly is
now up and running on my Firefox – the only problem – I have no clue how it got
there. I am going to assume that it was when I downloaded Firefox’sadd-on extension. The good news is that I can now see the Feedly icon on my toolbar and can
have instant access and updates to my selected feeds. The bad news is that I
still have to figure out how to customize Feedly’s preference menu in order to
have it work to my needs.
Prior
to this week’s activities, I usually bookmarked sites that were static in nature
such as journal articles that were useful in courses that I was taking. The
only problem with this technique is that most of the sites will eventually become outdated and thus probably will not
be as useful for my needs. This in turn, means that I am wasting my time in
deleting sites that are no longer of use instead of having the Internet work
for me. This is where I found RSS feeds to be an advantage. Having a tool that
frequently updates information – any information that I find of interest – is
going to be useful tool to ensuring that I am collecting information that is
current to areas that I find of interest. It is a great sense of relief that I
may not have to work as hard as I am when sifting through the vast results that
I usually get when using Google’s search
engine.
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Surfing the Internet [Online image].
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OVERFEEDING A RSS
I spent most of my week building my ‘feed library’ with resources that I found of interest. Before I knew it I had over 25 feeds before I decided to stop searching. I guess my question about if I would like Feedly became apparent in my overzealous actions of looking for the RSS feed icon on everything that I now open in my browser. Sure – this tool has many advantages but you still have to know the realities about how much you can read and how much you can actually use. I have discovered that in order for this tool to work within my PLE that I must first acknowledge the capabilities that this tool offers and make sure that it is fun and attainable in my learning. After all, working through tools that are frustrating will only have it sit on the side lines of your PLE – not a place where anyone or anything should be.
WHERE DOES RSS FEEDS
BELONG?
In my PLE of course! After reviewing my PLE from Week 2 I have come to realize that not only does my PLE need updating but it also needs some re-organization. With that being said, I am slowly working at adding and rearranging the categories to include useful digital tools that I find enjoyable to use – including RSS feeds. It was after watching Heidi Allen’s (2010) tutorial video on Feedly that it became apparent that RSS feeds are a type of aggregating tool that allow the user to collect information for personal benefits as well as to share and collaborate their interests (or selected feeds) within a personal learning network. In essence, this tool can benefit my PLE as well as others – others being my friend, colleagues, my students and even you.
“…PLE's only happen when they energize and fulfill you….The thing you're learning has to be your baby, not somebody else's that you're babysitting” (Haskins,2007).
RSS FOR EDUCATORS –
INFORMING MY OWN LEARNING
If you have been keeping up my blogs you will have read by now that my intent for taking this course is not only for a personal benefit but also to explore and implement useful digital tools for students of the net generation. In an ironic way, my learning is based on assisting others to learn and have those learners teach others and so on. Remember – sharing is the key to learning and that is what RSS feeds can do – share areas of interest for the pure intent of learning, either it be informal or formal, it is a digital tool that can be useful for educators and one that should be included in an educators PLE.
After
reading both, Will Richardson’s (2005) and Mary Harrsch’s
(2003) articles, I can visualize the benefits of utilizing RSS feeds for
students with or without weblogs. Richardson attests that educators can use RSS
feeds for more than just collecting and sharing student weblogs. Students can also
set up Bloglines, a web-based news
aggregator for reading syndicated feeds, that will allow collecting and reading
about current events and even topic-specific research that can assist students
with research or further study. In addition, “RSS provides an efficient way for
students to keep in touch with faculty, stay informed about coursework and
other academic activities, and follow developments in their fields of study,
which for many will be an important skill in their professional lives” (Educase, 2007).
Knowing
what digital tools that you want to implement in a PLE is not an easy process
since it involves learning constantly about the changes that evolve with
technology; however, change is needed to ensure that students are learning. Where
do you start? Easy, just set a goal to
implement a new digital tool, not just within your own PLE, but also within
your classroom setting starting now (nothing like the present).
The
value of a RSS feed in any classroom setting does exist. For instance, this
blog and others are being evaluated and read not only by my facilitator, but by
you and others who may take an interest in how digital tools can be utilized
for learning – and not just social play. The sole act of initiating this blog
has helped me discover the possibilities that this tool plus others, like
Feedly, can actually inspire in learning.
LAST WORDS
I leave this week’s session with visualizing how blogs and RSS feeds can be used for my personal and professional benefit. Putting aside the hassle of installing Feedly on my Firefox browser, I have discovered the benefits of RSS feeds and how news aggregator applications, like Feedly, can benefit learners and educators. In addition, using my own Feedly application allowed me to interestingly read about why students do not always check their e-mails (see my last post). Ironically, I am thinking about implementing blogs for my classroom where I can make updates more interesting and readily available for students. Hmmm, maybe I could title my first class blog as “Check your E-mails”.
