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Embedded RSS Newsfeeds in Course Discussion Boards
Farmingdale State College
The effective practice of embedding iframe news ticker or news wall feeds into discussions or assignments addresses the need to update resources for case study or discussion assignments using real world examples. Also known as RSS feeds, these services are also incredibly cost efficient, because a single licensed user can create the requested RSS feed topic in just minutes and then share back the iFrame code or embed it in behalf of the instructor. Using this content in course discussion boards is a highly effective practice in familiarizing students with current events within a topic or industry, since they will not only read and write about a current news event, but will also read and respond to classmates who are contributing current events summary and analyses.
I recommend the service RSS.app because of the RSS feed generator tool, which collects news sources for you with their automatic generator tool, offers many customization tools within the product, has multiple layout formats that you can embed in multiple computer environments (such as iframe, javascript, wix, etc), and one paid license costs about $120 a year and permits 100 custom RSS feeds.
The attached screenshots demonstrate the different layouts and some of the discussion board prompts, but these news feeds can be used in countless ways in your Brightspace course environments.
https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/2009-3
This practice fits into the innovative online teaching category because the recommended activity is one that faculty can use as a teaching resource, and it is innovative because of the RSS format.
A computer is needed for the faculty and the students. The RSS feed aggregator company I am recommending is RSS.app because of the variety of tools and layouts as well as the value of the tool cost.
Yes, the instructional designer or department will need to purchase an annual license and use a login credential to access this license. The cost for the developer plan is $16 per month. Learn more at https://rss.app/ or https://rss.app/plans
Thank you for sharing this. I plan to work with my team at SUNY Niagara to create and distribute templates like this.
Great idea for current content and student engagementl.
Thanks for sharing!