RSS FEED in education

RSS feed stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is the kind of format used to syndicate the content of a website. When it distributes the content it is called a feed .One part creates a content and it is published in the web .This is what syndication means .Think of it like this : one tv channel broadcasts a show and it is shown in many other channels . Syndication helps in bringing audience to your content .It is a form of content socializing .Several internet users are no longer willing to be just passive consumers of content , they rather want to be able to save, share and tag it .When you create a high quality content in your site it stays there , it even stacks , but when you have a news feed powered by RSS feed ,it becomes possible for your content to travel all around the world .When you syndicate your content you also help search engine in easily crawling it and updating it more often . The Rss feed icon looks like this :

What kind of feed are there in the web ?

Feeds are divided into two main types : Full feed and partial feed .

            Full feed

It includes the whole content of an article , if you create a full feed for your website or blog , then subscribers to your feed will get the full article you post into their feed readers and they don’t need to get back to your site to read the whole of it

         Partial feed

This kind of feed includes only a title or headline and a short summary of the content and a link back to the place of the original content.

RSS feed in Plain English

What is the importance of a feed for internet users ?

Rss feed is a service that is very important for every internet user to have and especially educators and teachers for :

• It keeps you updated , you just need to set up your preferences and the content will be coming right into your door.
• It is time savior : as you know , in our fast-paced world with loads of information out there for you to select from , feeds save you the time to go  about wandering from site to site looking for information .
• It organizes and saves your internet work for you no longer need to bookmark sites for future reference if it happens that you didn’t forget where they are .How many times we read an important piece of information somewhere in the web then in the next day when we want to get back to it , it is gone , we just can not remember where we found it anymore. With feeds it is the content that will be tracking you and not vice versa.

Are feeds different from emails ?

When we talk about content delivery methods , emails are no longer opted for . People are more and more afraid to give out their email addresses for fear of spam and junk mail. Email subscriptions are not trusted anymore and the alternative that fits in the void is the RSS feed. It is rather a secure delivery method and subscriptions are anonymous so no need to give out email addresses and in case the content is not relevant to you anymore they can very easily unsubscribe .

How can I read feeds ?

To be able to receive Rss feeds you need a news reader or content aggregator .In the same way that you need a phone to get calls you also need a feed reader to get the feeds


To read and get the most out of your post you need to select a very good feed reader , one which will allow you to customize and organize your search and categorize articles .I personally use Google reader and I have even written a post about it called Google reader in education , I trust google reader so much because google is worthy of every internet user 'trust. However , there are other good readers too and if you want to try some of them then check out this list :

• FeedDemon
• Newzcrawler
• OmeaReader
• Bloglines                                             
• Blognavbigator
• SharpReader
• NewsGator online
• BlogBridge
• FeedLounge

So once you set up your reader with your preferences , it will start delivering the feeds in a continuous updated way just right into your inbox .
To learn how to subscribe to a feed and how to find feeds you want to subscribe to read How to subscribe to RSS Feeds

Applications of RSS feed in education

You need to introduce RSS feed to your students and explain it to them , show them its benefits and how they can use it to keep track of feeds related to what they are learning . Encourage them to have readers and exchange their feeds between each others and with you as a teacher .It all starts with a simple idea . Remember students are creative and imaginative , take the first step and they will amaze you .
That’s all about RSS feed in Education .
P.S : Please read the post Google Reader in Education as it completes this post and will consolidate your general understanding of how  these two tools work together .

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