We all have busy lives, be that work busy or social busy. But as well as attending lectures, tutorials and session, we all need to read around our subject, but this takes time to find the information on the relevant websites. Wouldn’t it be better if all this information came to you straight onto your mobile device? This is where RSS Readers come in.
RSS Readers allow you essentially to capture blog posts and articles from relevant websites that interest you can then read and digest them in your own time on your own mobile device or computer. Here is a video to explain how RSS feeds work.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/0klgLsSxGsU[/youtube]
There are many RSS readers available, although Google Reader is due to be discontinued soon so this should be avoided. I would initially recommend that you have a look at a range of options and see which one you feel would suit your needs. Some, like Flipboard and Feedly presents the information in a magazine format while others, such as Mr Reader presents it as an uncluttered, image reduced list. The latter application (which is currently my preferred choice) I access on my iPad. This is the next decision you need to make, where and how you want to access your feeds. I tend to only use my iPad, although you may prefer readers which you can access on all your mobile devices and any webpage.
Sharing options is also important if you want to post the articles and sites you are reading onto your other social media networks. Ensure that these are the options to post to Facebook, Twitter or any other site that you use.
So when you have decided, which RSS feeds to you subscribe to? Well initial, for education, I would go for the BBC news pages. They have specific RSS feeds that you can click on and subscribe to. Where ever you see this button then you can subscribe to a feed, or just by adding the website to the ‘manual’ add button within your chosen reader. As well as going directly to the site, have a look at what other people that you follow within your social media network are following. Once you link to these articles, you can then subscribe and get the information directly to your own reader.
So next time you are sat waiting for a session to start or having a drink, why not catch up with some of the important articles from your feeds.
