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RSS Feeds

Display current events from RSS news sources on your Carmen Course Home page.

Many sites, including news sites and blogs, offer RSS feeds featuring their recent articles as a way to share current content without requiring people to visit the site itself.

Using RSS feeds is like linking to an external site -- you have no control over the content or availability of the information. If the source server goes offline, or the RSS feature is removed, your widget will no longer function.

Example

Courses in the Introductory Biology series, assisted by instructional technology staff Emily Jones and Mike Gee, promote science literacy and in-class discussion by including the New York Times’ science headlines on their Course Home pages.

Professor Steve Rissing, director of the series, uses the New York Times as his course textbook for Biology 102. Showing current headlines reinforces the message that staying informed is a requirement of the course.

Dr. Rissing's course home includes a widget for the New York Times Science News.

Professor Rissing holds classroom discussions on selected articles to ensure that students grapple with the social, historical, policy, and scientific implications of current developments, as well as understanding the science behind them. Students also submit weekly article synopses to show their understanding.

Evaluating articles provides a novel way for students to demonstrate comprehension and competencies on complex topics. As an added bonus, use of real-world news sources encourages students to develop as life-long learners.

Instructions

You can create and add an RSS Widget in your Carmen course in three easy steps using our online tool for translating RSS feeds. (Although the Biology Department developed their own application for translating RSS feeds, the principles for this method are the same.)