Unlocking Potential Xerte Online Toolkits & RSS Ron Mitchell Pat Lockley

Unlocking Potential Xerte Online Toolkits & RSS - Topics RSS definition Using external RSS feeds with a dynamically updated Xerte object Creating your own RSS feeds using the the RSS Feed template Using the feed template to make a course Using the feed template to distribute resources Automatic feeds on normal LOs using the Properties panel Using the sitewide RSS feed Using your own individual feeds Using your own folder feeds Using XOT to display rss feeds in Moodle topic area Updating learners (or colleagues) automatically via Outlook or any other RSS feed reader. Xpert The Sitewide syndication feed The Sitewide export feed

Unlocking Potential RSS – A couple of definitions... RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated workssuch as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and videoin a standardised format.... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS Rich Site Summary; RDF Site Summary; Really Simple Syndication, a newsfeed technology that standardises the publication of regularly updated Web works, such as blogs and news articles en.wiktionary.org/wiki/RSS en.wiktionary.org/wiki/RSS XOT & RSS: allows dynamic content to feed into LOs and provides automatic and manual ways of sharing LOs via RSS and Syndication feeds.

Unlocking Potential What is an RSS Feed Think of it like a magazine subscription

Unlocking Potential What does an RSS feed look like? A list of links

Unlocking Potential The links in an RSS Feed are clickable Taking you to a resource

Unlocking Potential Adding an RSS Feed into Xerte Online Toolkits A page that updates itself

Unlocking Potential Adding an RSS Feed Insert Misc RSS Feed

Unlocking Potential How does an RSS Feed look

Unlocking Potential Making an RSS Feed in Xerte Online Toolkits Can be used to make a course

Unlocking Potential Making an RSS Feed in Xerte Online Toolkits Or to distribute links to people

Unlocking Potential RSS Feeds in Xerte Online Toolkits Highlight an item Then click properties

Unlocking Potential RSS Options Lots to choose from – remember to make your item public – RSS feeds cant be password protected.

Unlocking Potential The Site Feed All of the sites content

Unlocking Potential Your Feed All of your content

Unlocking Potential A feed for a folder Group your content together Highlight a folder Click Properties

Unlocking Potential A feed for a folder Group your content together Highlight a folder Click Properties

Unlocking Potential Displaying RSS in Moodle topic areas Embed an LO in a Label to display multi- page RSS in a topic area. Tip: change iframe dimensions e.g. 600 x 400 & include a link to view in a new window Or of course just use the RSS block – but in my opinion this isnt a great solution

Unlocking Potential Displaying RSS in Moodle topic areas This can include a feed from a Moodle forum Note: The RSS pages in LOs exported and imported to another online site (rather than linked or embedded from a Toolkits install) will not work*. This is a Flash Player security issue rather than specifically a Xerte issue. *(Cant find rss_proxy.php)

Unlocking Potential Displaying RSS in Moodle topic areas Or custom page types like my Twitter page

Unlocking Potential Displaying RSS in Moodle topic areas Or custom page types like my textwall page

Unlocking Potential Adding a XOT RSS feed to Outlook 1. Select Tools > Account Settings

Unlocking Potential Adding a XOT RSS feed to Outlook 2. Select RSS Feeds > New and add your XOT feed

Unlocking Potential Adding a XOT RSS feed to Outlook 3. Accept the defaults or click change folder & create or select a folder. You can also select inbox.

Unlocking Potential Adding a XOT RSS to Outlook 4. Click Send/Receive – existing and new LOs added to that RSS will appear in your inbox or selected folder.

Unlocking Potential Regional use of XOT RSS What if 8 institutions in the East Midlands shared their RSS feeds?...

Unlocking Potential National use of XOT RSS Better still - What if all the institutions with XOT installations shared their RSS feeds?... Or indeed their syndication feeds!?...

Unlocking Potential National use of XOT RSS...and you automatically receive notification when new LOs are added to any of those installations feeds!

Unlocking Potential Other RSS readers e.g. Google Reader Just select Add a subscription and add the feed link

Unlocking Potential Other RSS readers Even just the RSS feed viewed in the browser can be useful e.g. Saved as a favourite or added to delicious An organisations Site-wide feed can be used to easily share cross-curriculum examples where the material might otherwise never bee seen by other areas/staff.

Unlocking Potential Xpert RSS Feeds of learning content

Unlocking Potential Syndication Getting your content into Xpert

Unlocking Potential Export and Reuse Download ready made items

Unlocking Potential Export and Reuse Download ready made items View/Consume/Link/Embed: Download/Import/Repurpose as normal zip: Download/Import as SCORM zip: Syndication feed:

Unlocking Potential Whats the URL of your installation? Please add rss.php to the end and share in the text chat e.g

Unlocking Potential Additional support/tutorials: Editing, managing and sharing learning objects (part 1) Sharing LO part 1 WordSharing LO part 1 Word (2.2MB) Sharing LO part 1 PDFSharing LO part 1 PDF (874KB) This tutorial basics of editing, managing and sharing Xerte objects including previewing and publishing changes, how to make learning objects public, creating folders and organising learning objects, etc. Editing, managing and sharing learning objects (part 2) Sharing LO part 2 WordSharing LO part 2 Word (2.4MB) Sharing LO part 2 PDFSharing LO part 2 PDF (1.1MB) This tutorial features more advanced steps following on from Part 1 including using RSS feeds, adding notes, sharing learning objects for collaborative development, exporting learning objects from Xerte toolkits, amongst many others.

Unlocking Potential Link to an LO about RSS: and a link to this presentation click here