Reading Response : Chapters 3, 5, 7

A discussion in chapter 3 is about using weblogs and how to go about this. The tip is to start small and model for the students how to use them. Once the students grasp the concept and are able to use them for items like retrieving homework or checking grades, then move on to more complicated tasks like using blogs to encourage class discussions. Most of the discussion focuses one Blogger.com, but other educational web sites are mentioned. Chapter 5 was about RSS feeds, something I knew absolutely nothing about. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. It is a way to receive updates from web sites or blogs and you would not have to visit the site itself, it will come right to you. This would be good for education if you have students that use blogs; the RSS will send you any updates on the blogs. Chapter 7 is about using Flickr. Flickr is a photo sharing web site and one that can be used to store photos to use in blogs. The educational application is that pictures of classroom activities can be stored on flickr and then used in blogs.