"My Experience with RSS Feeds"

Feeding My Feedly

Siviero, M. (CC) 2013.

Do you ever wonder if you are the only one that just can not seem to get ‘things to work’ as simple as others make it sound? Well, that was my case this week until I read Jannett Ioannide’s blog (one of my peer members) who experienced the exact same thing I did. I just wish I read her blog prior to spending a couple of hours (or more) on trying to figure out why I could not get ‘Feedly’ to appear in my Firefox “Subscribe to this feed using _____” option toolbar, even after downloading Firefox’s add-on extension for Feedly. However, after giving up (later than sooner) I stuck with the simple ‘cut and paste the URL’ technique. This method allowed adding Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to my feedly.com account without any hassle.

WHAT IS AN RSS FEED?

The concept of an RSS feed allows websites such as blogs, to inform you when they’re updated. By using a RSS feed reader such as Feedly, you are saving time since you have a central location that informs you (or feeds you) of instant updates on your saved sites (RSS sites).

I must admit that before this week’s activity I did not know what a RSS feed was and as of today, I am still wondering how useful it is to a gal like me who does not like change. I like to think that my daily update on news is via my MSN homepage or my Facebook ‘newscasters’ (a.k.a: my BFF’s who like to spread the news before it is news).  Yet, I kept thinking “just try it – you might like it” and well, I won’t say that I am overly excited about using Feedly as a tool - however, it is user friendly (and free) and worth giving a trial-run.

[Online image]. Link

Feeding Feedly better be simpler than ‘tending a garden’, otherwise I am going to fail at using this tool – much as I do with my gardening skills.

GIVING FEEDLY A 60-DAY TRIAL RUN

Besides subscribing to sites that were recommended such as StudySuccessful.com and to personal favourites, TED Talks (which I highly recommend if you are an educator) and Chris Brown’s blog on Power-Up Social Media, it was to my surprise that I was most interested in the New York Times newsfeed. In particularly, it was an article posted by Courtney Rubin (2013, September 27) that caught my hungry eye. Her article gave some insight to one of my long-standing unanswered questions: Why do most students not check their student e-mails? I am sure you can relate to this – either as a student or as an educator.

Now, I have to be frank here, and say that it is not only because e-mails are boring to today’s students, as Rubin reports, but also because of some laziness and over-socialization (via social media) that occurs within today’s college generation. I think the analogy of where did we come from and where are we going – can be applicable in this case. Before e-mails how did teachers communicate with their students? Is it realistic to assume that text messages or ‘tweets’ from teachers to students will be the future of communication? Gee, I hope not! I already find that I get e-mail alerts at all times of the night from students who finally decide to check their e-mails the night before an exam only to question the e-mail that they should have read a week ago. Plus, I am not a 144 words or less kind of person.

From my perspective it was a relief to read at the end of Rubin’s article that students still prefer e-mails (thank goodness) over text messages or the use of social media. Either which way, educators need to be aware, alert and updated to what students are saying about technology. Using Feedly has proven to be advantageous in feeding my learning and will certainly be a tool to consider in updating my PLE.