Syndicated RSS Feeds for Course Information Distribution

Executive Summary Students in higher education today are technologically savvy and expect faculty to use myriad web technologies for course delivery. This includes taking advantage of email, course web sites, and online learning communities. However, expectations now also include RSS, blogs, web-, pod-, and vod-casting, extending the classroom experience to provide active learning materials anytime, anywhere, and in multiple modalities. This contribution outlines the novel use of RSS technology for a course announcement system at Purdue University that aids IT educators without expense or significant time consumption. It begins by describing RSS technology and discussing the different possibilit ies for RSS within the classroom. It also describes the specific RSS application for real-time course announcements, detailing its creation and implementation. The classroom chosen for this study was one that begins to mirror the real world with its many sources of information. The addition of RSS feeds to the course website allowed the students to share information with their classmates, professor, and their real-world clients.