Talking Tech

Welcome to the opening post of Talking Tech.

While I maintain a professional blog, I felt the need for a blog about the tools that are out there and tips for teachers to use Web 2.0 tools with students.

Inspired by Alan November’s words at the Learning 2.0 Conference in Shanghai, China, I am reminded that classrooms should be global communication centers and teachers should be facilitating online learning and problem solving opportunities as much as possible.

This blog is going to share tools with teachers…a one-stop shop for what’s out there and what you can and should be using for yourself or with students.

So let’s get into it.

You can’t go anywhere in web 2.0 without first understanding RSS feeds.

In simple terms, RSS feeds are transmitters of articles or other content to other locations. For example, on this blog, you will see a feed for my other blog, Thinking Allowed. That comes to this site through an RSS feed, which collects the titles and sends them here. By creating a single site called an “aggregator” or “reader”, you can have all sorts of feeds come to one place.

No more surfing the web to find your articles…they will come to you.

Go here for “RSS explained the Oprah way” (no affiliation to Oprah).

Check out this video for a simplified explanation.

So you need to set this up? If you have and use a Gmail account, then I recommend starting with iGoogle (aka Google Reader). If not, check out Netvibes or Bloglines. Also, it’s worth noting that many browsers including Safari on the Mac and IE 7 on the PC have a feed manager built into the browser. Particularly for Mac users (because Safari’s is quite effective), you might find this a better solution. The advantage of the accounte in iGoogle, Bloglines, or Netvibes is that you can access your feeds from ANY computer. Browser solutions will only be on that one computer.

Once you get these set up by creating an account and confirming it from within your email, you will need to add feeds from sites you like to read from. You’ll be able to find some right there within the sites. Others you may want to add from blogs you like (like this blog). By using the feeds, you don’t ever have to check the sites for new articles or posts.

You just check your reader.

Look for icons like this to indicate a link to a feed.

Copy that address into your reader where it tells you to.

Don’t feel like you have to find all of the great feeds out there at once. You will add and remove feeds as you get a better feel for the process and what you do end up reading and what you don’t.

Of course, ask for help when you need it, but the first step is always going to be to check it out and give it a shot. The ONLY time technology is learned is JUST IN TIME.

And now is that time.