Thursday, November 22nd, 2007...1:19 am
The Problem with RSS
At an early family Thanksgiving gathering this past Sunday, a familiar issue came up. I mentioned RSS, and I was met with a unanimously blank stare. My family had zero familiarity with the concept whatsoever. This has also been the case with far too many teachers that I encounter. An example was my presentation at our state’s science educator’s convention, CAST, last Friday. 9 out of 10 folks in the room had no idea how useful this tool is. There is an obvious need to teach not only teachers, but the families they serve, just what RSS is, and how to use it effectively. This is absolutely essential, if our teachers and students are going to make the best use of many Web 2.0 tools.
So, the question (again) becomes, “How do we teach our parents and community members about RSS and other Web 2.0 tools?” A couple of ideas come to mind, but I’d appreciate any feedback:
- Participate in PTA meetings, sharing “Technology Moments,” focusing on a particular tool
- Encourage students, once they have learned the technology, to share with their families
- Create easily accessed video tutorials for the district website
Anyone else out there in the blogosphere have experience sharing these concepts with parents?
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6 Comments
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:05 am
I have an “RSS Tips” page both on my own blog and on our staff blog to teach that stuff. It’s not enough, though. I’d like to be able to show our staff how they can use RSS to their advantage.
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November 23rd, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Why do you need RSS if you don’t read online.
I actually don’t know any teachers, besides me, that read blog. Sad, I know.
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November 23rd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
There are other significant uses they (teachers and parents) need to learn about, such as monitoring student posts on blogs, wikis, etc. As for the number reading blogs, I sadly agree, but that’s for another discussion–the need for teachers to become independent learners.
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November 23rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Luckily my student blog http://areallydifferentplace.org is easy to keep tabs on—I just check recent posts and there they are! Happy Thanksgiving–btw I’m from Kansas too. N
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November 23rd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Oops! For some reason I thought you were in Ks., you’re not!
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November 23rd, 2007 at 11:56 pm
No, but I’ll be rooting for the Jayhawks tomorrow!
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