RSS

The first site I looked at was Prismatic. I was able to sign up with my google account, but then I had a hard time using the site. I could not find a way to add sites that I wanted to follow. It started by generating stories and then I could delete them or save them for later. My understanding is as I save more articles it will get more specific and learn from what articles I save or delete. I looked up directions for how to add sites, but I couldn't find anything that explained what to do. The one site that I did find was not helpful as the directions did not match what I saw on my screen. This seems like a good site for keeping track of news articles, but not for following student blogs if it is this tricky to add sites to follow. Maybe one of you can figure it out, but for now I'm stumped.

Next I looked at Zite. This RSS looks great, but it is only available on mobile devises. As a teacher that is not necessarily the most beneficial or useful. I did not look into Zite anymore after I saw that it was not available for my school desk top computer (where I would be doing most of my grading of student blogs).

Finally, I looked into Edmodo some more. I mentioned this site before because my school has recently joined. It is a free social network site that looks similar to one of Facebook's older styles. The benefits of Edmodo is that the school can create the student account and students are not able to message each other privately (this reduces chatting and cyberbullying). Students can still participate in class wide discussions. For younger students the fact that private messaging is missing is not as big of a deal. I can see where private messaging would be beneficial for older students especially if they are working on a group project. While this is not a RSS site it does provide teachers with the space to have students turn in work. With a teacher account I can add assignments along with due dates. Students can then submit their assignments (word documents, blogs, or other attachments and links) to the site. It is similar to Moodle, but has a more primary look to it. Edmodo would allow teachers to log in to one site and see all student submissions. Teachers can see when students have posted assignments, questions, or in forums. It requires students to use the site instead of a regular RSS which would allow a student to post on any site because the teacher is subscribed to those sites already. It is easier to get students an Edmodo account, than say Twitter, since it is free and monitored by the school. It provides more privacy for students. Maybe RSS sites and tools are going away because other sites are including that aspect along with other tools.

Prismatic and Zite would definitely help you stay connected with news articles and updates, but more inclusive sites like Edmodo might be better for collecting student work.