session 3

Session Three: Tools for Finding and Organizing Information on the Web

This session will expose you to some tools which can make finding, retrieving, and bookmarking resources more efficient and productive. You will learn about RSS feeds and how to subscribe to feed aggregators so you can retrieve new and relevant information in one convenient place. You will also learn about Social Bookmarking tools which allow you to save all of your favorite websites on a web space and enables you to connect with other people who are searching for information on the same topics.

read

Readings

RSS

* RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators
In this guide, Will Richardson defines RSS feeds and walks you through the steps of creating an account using Bloglines. He then walks you through the process of subscribing to feeds and setting up feeds with student and classroom weblogs.
* RSS Ideas for Educators
Read pages 4-14 to learn more about RSS feeds and discover different ways that you can use them.

Social Bookmarking

* Seven Things to Know about Social Bookmarking
This article briefly defines social bookmarks and the implications for teaching and learning with this technology.
* Storing Bookmarks Online
In additional to explaining social bookmarking and providing links to some of the popular social bookmarking sites which you can explore.

activities

Activities

1. Take the time to set up an RSS aggregator for yourself if you do not already have one. You can follow the directions in the "Quick Start Guide" to set up a Bloglines account or you can read this review of some other popular aggregators and select another aggregator to fit your needs.
2. Find and add some feeds to your aggregator account. The "Quick Start Guide" provides you with some good suggestions of how to get started adding feeds; Most aggregators have built in search features. You might want to start with your local paper and favorite news and education sites. Some of the blogs highlighted in the previous sessions might be of interest to you, and you can add them to your aggregator. Technorati is one of the most popular blog searching tools and you can try to search for other blogs of interest there.
3. Watch the video about Diigo which allows you to clip and highlight specific content. Think about how this might help students to organize information.
4. Add another post to your blog. Reflect on what you learned as you explored the variety of educational blogs on the web.
5. Complete Part III of your planning template, which requires you to record information about some of the sites you found.

6. Optional: Getting Started With Social Bookmarking Using Del.icio.us
Alan November created this excellent step-by-step guide to walk you through the process of setting up an account in Del.icio.us which is one of the most popular social bookmarking tools. For information on other bookmarking tools, you can read the article below.
7. Never Search Alone
This article by PC Magazine reviews five of the top Social Bookmarking sites. Read the reviews and decide if you want to try another Social Bookmarking tool.

discuss

Discussion

1. Share one or two of the feeds that you subscribed to in your aggregator and describe why you choose to include them. Also, share the site feed to your blog so that others can subscribe to your blog in their aggregators.
2. Make sure to respond to at least one other message posted by a colleague in the discussion board.

additional resources

Optional Reading

* Blogging and RSS - The "What's It?" and "How To" of Powerful New Web Tools for Educators
* Focus on Effectiveness: Organizing Resources
* Will Richardson’s RSS Resources