RSS-Make+Your+Research+Come+to+You

Reader
[|Google Reader] is what is known as an [|RSS aggregator]. It takes feeds from other websites and monitors them for updates, then automatically publishes them to your Reader account. What that means is that you no longer have to go to the sites you want to read anymore--they come to you. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," and is essentially a free subscription to that publication. Love the [|New York Times] financial section but can't get to a newspaper? Google Reader will automatically have today's stories waiting for you when you open your account. Read several blogs and want to know when they are updated? Google Reader will tell you when they were updated.

As for student usage, we can design lessons so that the students are asked to track particular news stories over time. Take for example the atrocities that occurred and are occurring in Darfur. Students could use Google Reader to track what is being reported over time about Darfur by subscribing to an RSS feed that updates them on stories about Darfur. Sound complicated? Once you get rolling, it will surprise you that more people are not using this technology.

RSS feeds have been termed by some in the field of educational technology as the next big thing. How can you use it in your classroom? =Setting Up our Google Reader Accounts=

We are going to use Google Reader to track the RSS feeds for tags. So we must first set up our Google Reader Accounts. Let's do this by following these steps. = =
 * 1) Direct your browser to [|Google].Once there, you will notice a "Sign in" [[image:workshoponestop:google2.jpg]]link in the upper right hand corner.Click that.Now Google is asking you to sign into your account. If you already have an account, fill in your email[[image:workshoponestop:google3.jpg align="left"]] address and password. If not, then click on "Create an account now" at the bottom of the page.Once you do that, it follows like most other account sign-up sites.
 * 2) Fill in the necessary information and you will be directed to a page that is the home base for your account. [[image:workshoponestop:google4.jpg width="433" height="368" align="left"]]

3. Your page will list your services, of which you might not have many at this point. We need to go down to the section of the page that says "Try Something New"and click on "more." 4. This takes you to all of Google's services (which are really cool). Once there, look for a link that says "Google Labs"There, you will look for a link under "Graduates of Labs" called "Reader."

At this point, you can use this video to show you how to set up your Google Reader Account by adding feeds, = = or follow along below. media type="google" key="1930281686100055558&hl=en" width="400" height="326" = =

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5. Most blogs and news sites have RSS feeds. We are going to add a feed from the New York Times to practice so you can see what it looks like in action. 6. Go to the New York Times and look for this symbol at the bottom of the pageand when you find it, click on it. It will take you to a page where the entire newspaper is broken down into manageable parts. Find a section of the newspaper and head back to Google Reader. 7. Go to your Reader page and click "Add subscription" and paste the URL from del.icio.us into the space under "Add subscription." 8. Click "Add." 9. You will now see all the recent uses of this tag displayed in your reader. Now, let's go find some feeds! Remember to look for these symbols:

[|List of Teacher and Educator Blogs:] [| Weblogs in Education] For some real fun, use the RSS feature at [|Librarian's Internet Index] and see where that gets you.