Educational Blogs, RSS Feeds, & So Much More!

For this week's blog, I am going to be sharing information with you about educational blogs, RSS Feeds and Adobe Spark.  

EDUCATIONAL BLOGS

Photo Credit:  http://edu214unlv.pbworks.com/w/page/88471148/Educational%20Blogs

What are educational blogs?  

• Created for the purpose of educational use
• Created to help support student and teacher learning
• Created to share information and tips with students, parents, and/or teachers

How can educational blogs be used in the classroom?  

• Educational blogs can be used indirectly in the classroom as a resource.  Educational blogs can provide teachers with lesson plan ideas, instructional strategies, or educational policy.  
• Educational blogs can be used directly in the classroom as a tool for students and teachers to interact.  Teachers could use the blog to share information with students.
• Educational blogs can be used directly in the classroom as a tool to engage students in higher-order thinking.  The teacher could post topics on the blog and require students to share their thoughts possibly through a discussion board.  

Where can you find educational blogs?  

• Complete a Google search for educational blogs

• Here are a couple of useful sites for finding educational blogs.  
• 52 Educational Blogs You Should Know
• EduBlog Awards 
•  Alltop Educational Blogs

How do you organize and stay updated on your favorite educational blogs?  

This is where the RSS Feeds come in to play.  

RSS Feeds

What is an RSS Feed?  

• RSS Feeds, Rich Site Summary, are a way of delivering regularly updated web content, such as blogs.  Sites that offer RSS Feeds allow you to stay updated without signing up for a newsletter or needing to regularly check the website for updated content.   

What do you need to do to take advantage of RSS Feeds?  

• Find a Feed Reader.  Types of Feed Readers include Feedly, Bloglines, or My Yahoo.  I would suggest using Feedly.  Click here to access Feedly. 

How to use your Feed Reader?  

Below are the steps to get started using Feedly.  

1. Log in to Feedly.  You can do this by creating a Feedly account, connecting with a Google account, or connecting with a Facebook account.  
2. Select add content.  
3. At this point, you can search a given blog by title, URL, or topic.  
4. Click FOLLOW on the appropriate blog.  
5. Now you can create collections to help categorize your blogs.  
6. By clicking on All on the left-hand side of the screen, you will be able to see the most recent activity on the blogs you are following.  
7. For more information on Feedly, watch this video.  

Last but not least . . . 

ADOBE SPARK

Adobe Spark is a free graphic design tool that allows you to create images, websites, and videos.  

Steps for using Adobe Spark:  

1. Access Adobe Spark by clicking here.  
2. Log-in to Adobe Spark by creating a new account or connecting through Google or Facebook.  
3. Next, you can create a Post, a Page, or a Video on Adobe Spark.  
1. Post- can be used to create graphics such as memes or inspirational quotes
2. Page- can be used to create photo journals, event recaps, or portfolios
3. Video- can be used for presentations, lessons, or pitches
4. For more information on how to create a Post, a Page, or a Video watch this video.  

Ideas for Using Adobe Spark in the Classroom:  

• Have students create vocabulary posters using the Post option on Adobe Spark.
• Have students create a Web story on a given topic, such as World War 1, using the Page option on Adobe Spark.  

Here is an inspirational quote graphic that I created using the Post option on Adobe Spark.  

I hope you enjoyed my blog this week and learned something new.  Stop by next week for my blog on PLNs, Diigo, and Twitter.