RSS feed now active!

This blog now has an RSS feed. It can be found at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ParrsWoodTech

What is RSS?
RSS is a web service which stands for Really Simple Syndication. In short, it allows a user to receive web content automatically from a given provider - for free.

How do I subscribe to an RSS Feed?
By subscribing to an RSS feed, you will automatically receive updates, news and other multimedia. To do this, you will need an RSS reader (also known as news readers and aggregators). These are free pieces of software which understand the RSS feed and display it to the user in a friendly format.

Most web browsers have them already built in, as do recent mobile phones. I am able to read this through my Sony Ericsson W850i - a phone available free with a mobile phone contract.

How could it be used at Parrs Wood High School?
Teachers could publish information a blog such as this one. This could be a summary of the lesson, learning objectives a home work or even video or sound clips. Pupils that subscribe to the feed would then automatically receive the content on their mobile devices or home computers.

They would be able to interact with this content (even from modern free contract mobile phone) by replying with comments, sound clips or by downloading worksheets from the teacher's blog directly onto their mobile's memory card.

So what's the catch?
Well, there isn't one really! Provided that pupils subscribe to the RSS feed by typing in the address into their mobile device (mobile phone, pda, smartphone or other) they would receive the content automatically.

The only limitation is that without a mobile device that offers WLAN (Wireless) support, pupils would be receiving data through their mobile phone's data billing plan (GPRS or 3G).

A list of RSS readers for mobile phones can be found at http://www.allrss.com/

And Finally...
In conclusion the use of RSS feed enabled blogs would enable pupils to learn independently as they could access lesson content remotely and interact with teaching staff without being in school.

To do this currently requires no special new technology other than a mobile phone with an RSS reader - this is fast becoming standard on many models.

The only problems that I can foresee is that of how students will pay for their connection to the internet and how can we ensure that any resources (video, word documents, presentations etc) are universally available to all students.

I aim to look into this in future posts and provide trials which will test out current hand sets/devices.

- Kev Shirtcliffe