Good day fellow classmates!
It's ridiculous fun
managing a blog and uploading the cool tech stuff I find while I surf the net.
I sure wish these many options were available when I was a kid... God knows
this would have given me a good excuse to give my mom who was always nagging me
that I was talking on the telephone too long and too often. Nevertheless, this
week's research brings me to two impressive pieces of technology that can free
up more time and can aid in the collaboration and syndication of new ideas.
Read on!
RSS - Really Simple Syndication also known as Rich
Site Summary
In a world full of
information, RSS feeds provide a means for information seekers to redirect
information from weblogs and media sites to one convenient site. Through the
use of aggregator software, feeds from all over the world can be presented to
an individual’s specific interest. This technology frees users up from having
to access hundreds of blogs to get the information they are looking for thus
saving countless amounts of time. In addition, users protect their privacy and
security as they are not required to subscribe to the sites newsletters in
order to access the content.
Let’s recap some of the advantages of RSS feeds:
·
RSS feeds provide significant content that provides valuable and
pertinent information to business needs and personal interests allowing users
to stay abreast of global events.
·
Scan and quickly get to the information that you want without having
to review 20-30 websites reduce research and reading time
·
Help learners to identify pertinent information faster as they
train their eye to look for specific key words
Google Reader, a well-known and commonly used RSS feed was shut down in 2013 in Google’s attempt to improve services by not spreading themselves too thin. Other alternatives have since gained more popularity. I have included a couple of links for you to explore.
I
currently use a similar technology that allows me to customize the content I want
to read, magazines I want to browse through, and brings all of my social media
pages to me in one place. Meet FlipBoard. For those of you not currently using it,
I recommend you download the app, (available on android and apple products) and
start flipping!
Wikis-
A Dynamic tool for Collaboration and Innovation!
Next, I would like
to bring your attention to wikis as in “Wikipedia” - a fantastic tool that
supports global connection, group collaboration, and the syndication of ideas.
The work wiki stems from the Hawaiian word meaning “quick” (Richardson, 2010). This open source technology allows users to develop,
contribute to and edit comprehensive research. Richardson (2010) goes on to say
that the content contributed to a wiki becomes the best efforts of the group
and not the individual. In education, wikis are a way to invite learners to
collaborate on group activities while providing an authentic voice and unique
perspective on the assignment.
Take a “quick” look
at these two sites for more ways on how you can maximize this technology in
your classroom:
Wikispaces.com is a free resource for educators
Signing off for now,
Tech Girl!
Wiki's are extremely powerful tools in and outside of the classroom. The fact that learners can contribute to a growing database of information unique for each situation add a sense of "worth" as they continue to contribute to the collective good. I could not even begin to imagine how often I use Wiki's for Video game information, every day information, or as a resource to more concrete data.
ReplyDeleteI think that the ability fro individuals to contribute is one of the most essential aspects of the wiki. It gives substance to their thoughts outside of their own mind and can give people a sense of acceptance and belonging.
DeleteI completely agree with you. Nothing feels better than posting information and getting positive feedback from people on the usefulness of the information posted.
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