Professional+Development+Your+Way

=Professional Development Your Way=


 * Agenda**
 * Introduction
 * RSS in Plain English
 * What does it mean to you?
 * Resources
 * Q & A
 * Setting up your feed reader

Introduction
In the past, a person's professional learning environment (PLE) was built around formal course work, conferences, workshops, literature, and possibly a list-serv or two. Today, technology has flattened the world allowing for a richer PLE: management of time that is efficient and effective, connection to a global network of learners, access to informal and formal learning opportunities 24/7, and production of diverse, interactive content.

One such transformative technologies is an RSS aggregator such as Google Reader.

RSS in Plain English
media type="youtube" key="0klgLsSxGsU" width="425" height="350"

What does it mean to you?
First and foremost, it allows you to manage the forest of information in a more efficient and effective way. By developing and implementing the use of a tool like Google Reader, you will have created an access point to the latest information from the various sites on the Web you find valuable. Just as important though, it gives you access to a global network.

Examples of Sites with RSS
 * 1) News([|New York Times], [|Chicago Tribune], [|ESPN])
 * 2) Professional Magazines and Journals ([|Education Week], [|Teacher Magazine],
 * 3) Conferences ([|K12 Online Conference])
 * 4) Authors ([|Dan Pink])
 * 5) Blogs ([|Leader Talk], [|Practical Theory])
 * 6) Wikis ([|All School Workshop])
 * 7) [|Google and Yahoo Searches] (RSS for Top 10 list for any search)
 * 8) [|Google News Search] (RSS for search within news sites)
 * 9) [|Google Blog Search] (RSS for search within blogs)
 * 10) [|Anything you want!>]

[|A Starting Point] [|Google Apps for Educators]
 * Resources**

Getting Setup with Google Reader
There are numerous Feed Readers (aggregators) available but I happen to use