Educational Application of RSS Feeds

RSS is a great tool. Before I started this class I did not have RSS page. I think I will be a frequent user of RSS Reader page. Instead of checking 10 different websites everyday for different information, I can open my RSS page and have the information in front of me on one page. I even can get a shorter version of the whole article! I can even share the links with anyone who I think might benefit from the page. For example, I get feeds from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with most recent updates on immigration forms and fees. Once I see the update I can share the link with my colleagues.

RSS Reader Screen Shot

I subscribed to The Rapid E-Learning Blog http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning. Since the office where I am working is trying to use different e-learning tools to provide workshops, presentations, and newsletters, I thought the blog about Why E-Learning is So Effective was very interesting. It talked about how E-Learning supports the Organization's goals (improved training costs, decreased material cost, improved productivity) and how E-Learning supports the learner's development (real-time access, freedom to fail, improved retention). I posted a comment to this blog: "I really liked the article about the effectiveness of E-learning. Since I am working at a university, I think it will be effective to offer workshops through e-learning. I like the real-time access part. Some of our students cannot attend the workshops offered at a specific time so if we offered e-learning course, they would be able to access them from anywhere and anytime."

I really like The Rapid E-Learning blog since you can get so many useful tips on how to use different technology tools. I just learned about free screencasting tool Screenr How to Use This Free Screencasting Tool for E-Learning. I think I will be using this tool in my presentations at work.

I thought the article was very interesting on how very little technology and education can produce such big results in a school in a city of Cape Town in South Africa (ISTE Connects article
South Africa Visit Shows Power of Education to Change Lives).

I have also subscribed to my classmate blogs, therefore when I log in to Google Reader, I can see if anyone posted anything recently. That way, I do not have to sign in to Blogger every day.

I have been checking the feeds almost every day for the past week. I found that there are more feeds posted on weekdays rather than weekends. Also, some sites have more feeds than others. NPR Topics: Education site and Techlearning has always the largest number of feeds. I have also subscribed to a few sites that provide most recent updates on what is going on in the world of immigration. I subscribed to USCIS Form Update site, Fragomen site, and Immigration Blog site. Lately there have been so many changes in immigration forms, fees, mailing addresses, therefore checking the reader for the most recent feeds on the above mentioned issues will be very helpful for my job. I can also inform my colleagues by sharing the appropriate link.

I already found very useful technology tools from Dzine blog, The Rapid E-Learning Blog and from The Educational Technology Blog that I will be using for my presentations and workshops.

I really like The Rapid E-Learning blog since you can get so many useful tips on how to use different technology tools. I just learned about free screencasting tool Screenr How to Use This Free Screencasting Tool for E-Learning. I think I will be using this tool in my presentations at work.