RSS Feeds and myBGSUonline
I spent a few hours messing around with RSS feeds on myBGSUonline.com today. While I’ve had (way too) many blogs in the past… I have to admit that I’m a WordPress n00b. So when I finally settled on this theme (“Light”) I was baffled by the fact that it didn’t already have an easy to find RSS logo and feed on it. It wasn’t until I watched this tutorial video (thanks Terence!) and took his suggestion to add the ‘meta’ widget that I now have a link on my page called “Entries RSS”.
So, if your students are going to use myBGSUonline be aware:
- Some themes come with RSS logos and feeds built in and others must add the ‘meta’ widget.
OR
- They can add the ‘RSS’ widget and use their URL feed (click on the menu part of the widget)
- Example: For the RSS address use http://www.example.com/feed/
- This will provide a little RSS logo that when clicked, adds the feed
- There is a down side to this option: Next to the RSS logo is the title you choose. Clicking on that word and not the tiny tiny RSS Logo will only reload the page and not add the feed. This option may seem a bit overwhelming for first time bloggers.
* Take a look at the sidebar on this blog as I have enabled BOTH features.
Private Blogs – No RSS
There is no way to get an RSS feed on a private blog (or one that you can only view by invitation). However, this isn’t just true on this site, I’m pretty sure it is true on Blogger and elsewhere. The drawback? Your students cannot keep private blogs while you keep the nice RSS Reader (a savior when it comes to grading 40 blogs a week!)
The solution?
I will probably have my students choose the radio button option (Options > Privacy) “.” This will keep the blog from being posted on the myBGSUonline frontpage and therefore secret, but not restricted. At the same time, I can still use my RSS Reader and view all my students’ blogs from one place.
The up side?
Students may create a blog on myBGSUonline that has anonymity. There are no ‘author profile’ pages that automatically link from a new blog. When assigning the creation of a blog I have always made it clear that they are writing in a public space and therefore are free to choose an anonymous blogger identity and blog name.
* Keep in mind that in the past, my blog assignments have been private, i.e. they do not have to share their address with anyone but me. This takes advantage of blogs as an accessible web-log, but not its web 2.0-comment capabilities.
