Week 2 Reflections - Blogging and RSS Readers

Topics:
Blogging
RSS Readers
Dale, 1969 - The Cone of Experience
Siegel, 2003 - Falling Asleep at Your Keyboard: The Case for Computer Imagination

As I began to undertake this week’s Technology Tasks, I was excited to see that I was in for learning something new. I have blogged, although limited, before. However, I have never even attempted to use an RSS Reader or any application of its kind. All I have to say is that I have definitely been missing out.

While writing my first blog for this class, I was pretty indifferent to the whole idea. Although I have some experience blogging, I have not kept up with any type of blog in the past because I have been fairly uncomfortable with sharing any personal information and/or ideas on the web, especially to no one in particular (speaking to the general audience that the internet affords). I did like the ease of use of Google’s Blogger, and was surprised by the types of options such an easy-to-use application offered, such as formats and personalization options. I also really enjoyed being able to read all of the responses from our “classmates,” although I was a little frustrated with switching back and forth between the blog address list and the blogging website.

But, then came the RSS reader! What an awesome tool. Honestly, as much as I enjoy learning and using various technology tools, I am shocked that I have not heard more about this tool or its multitude of uses. It was easy to set up and easy to use. It really is very applicable to my everyday use on the internet as well as for our class format. After setting up a folder for keeping track of all our class blogs on the reader page, I returned to my own blog page and found that the reader program was imbedded into my blog page, and that I could keep track of everyone’s updates from their as well. Also, after reading the information on Wikipedia about RSS readers, it is helpful to see that the basics of the various RSS readers are the same and, it seems, I would not have too much trouble navigating around readers offered through other sites. It is exciting to know this is a fairly easy tool to use and I know that most of my students would not have much trouble learning to use a tool like this and I feel I would definitely be comfortable guiding them through the basics. The hard part would be helping them filter the abundance of information and avoiding the “distractions” (Postman) this technology provides.

In terms of Dale’s Cone of Experience, I feel as though both the RSS reader and blogging fall under many levels simultaneously, as Dale pointed out consistently throughout his explanation of the cone’s purpose and function. For example, you could use blogging as a way of teacher provided “models and mock-ups” of scenarios and topics (Contrived experiences) and move through other “cone levels” in which students can respond and discuss together (visual and verbal symbols). For example, I could post science lab experiments that might be far too complicated or expensive for me and the school to produce (including directions, pictures of the lab in process and/or results) with which the students could later discuss, add to, and/or change to meet their individual needs. They could also work on changing variables in a simulated format and predict further outcomes of the lab and its purposes. From beginning to end, I would expect my students to be able to move through the various levels of Dale’s Cone, including virtual study trips with videos and virtual interactions, exhibits of certain lab tools and supplies, as well as results of each lab. Stemming from the blogs and websites that could be produced, students could then create an individualized RSS reader account in which students could track various science news and studies that might relate to the experiments discussed and completed, as communication and discussion are key in the scientific fields. Furthermore, students could create and post their own experiments in which they build on the findings of others and hypothesize and synthesize their information into new applicable formats. So we can then see, just as with blogs, the RSS readers then start to encompass all levels of the Cone of Experience, although I would think that with the amount of language and reading involved, students would mostly be interacting with the upper levels of the cone. Using blogs and RSS readers become an easy way to solve the issue of insufficient budgets that often lead to a lack of meaningful, interesting and/or applicable experiences that are so necessary to successful education of our students (as pointed out in the building of the Cone of Experience and the various levels we try and should reach with all of our students).

What do you think? Let me know!