Google Reader

Not one to really explore new technologies or websites on my own, I was very unfamiliar with many of the learning tools included in Thursdays class. And, even ones that I heard of before, such as RSS, Google Reader, and Prezi, I knew only by name, and didn’t understand how to navigate them.

In spending a few minutes visiting each site and learning about their various features, Google Reader intrigued me the most. With Zach, we decided to delve into it further.

Essentially, Google Reader allows you to “surf the web” without “surfing the web.” Many of us have our usual sites we visit on the internet. Using Google Reader, you subscribe to a given site, and it sends you stories posted to that site to your Google Reader account. Therefore, depending on what sites you visit and subscribe to, you can simply visit Google Reader to use the web.

Additionally, if you happen to subscribe to sites that cover similar stories, you can group them together in a folder that puts their stories in one message. For example, I subscribe to Speed.com and Autosport.com, both motorsports sites. I have them grouped together under a “motorsports” folder, which sends news stories from both sites to me in one bulk.

In a classroom, this tool can be utilized to offer students additional resources and information without having to send them to multiple websites. So long as you provide them a link, they can subscribe to any given site and receive updates on it. And, creating a Google account is obviously free (and many may already have one, assuming they use Gmail.). So long a student has access to a computer and the internet, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Personally, it would have helped me during History classes, which for me included presenting a news story/current even to the class at the beginning of the period. In that case, a simple subscription to CNN.com would send news stories to your Reader page, allowing to access them by visiting only one site.

In all, it is a very handy tool that has nice potential for a classroom.