Tag Archives: iOS

Teaching With SmartPhones

This has been reblogged from my post at PLP Voices of the Learning Revolution.

Teaching with SmartPhones

Posted by  on Nov 21, 2012 in The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning | 0 comments

If you ask educators about cellphones in their classrooms, they will all have a passionate response and a story (good or bad) about their presence.

Most will express frustration at their problematic nature: they’re a distraction; they make noise; they can be used for cyber-bullying or cheating. That said, I think that more and more educators are recognizing that cellphones, and especially smartphones,can be a useful learning tool. But how do teachers make that happen?

As an early adopter of smartphone technology, I immediately recognized the incredible computing power they possess. Many students now have pocket technology that’s much more powerful and innovative than the equipment used in early manned space flights.

Still, like my colleagues, I imagined cellphones as a huge classroom management struggle.

So I set out to test a theory, with this basic premise: If teachers actually direct how students will use their cellphones in class as learning tools, we can minimize their role as a distractive presence.

I am the first to acknowledge that my teaching situation is not the same as many other educators. I teach in a small, independent school. My students generally come from a financially stable background and I teach fairly small classes (15-22). All of my students have some type of smartphone device. I understand this is not the case for all teachers. But most classrooms will include some students who have internet-capable devices, and many of the activities I will discuss here can be done in groups with just one device per group.

Supporting lessons & activities

A good rule of thumb for any classroom use of cellphones: the lesson/activity must be engaging as well as productive. You don’t want technology for the sake of technology (and students aren’t going to be intrinsically fascinated with a device they use routinely when they’re outside of school). If the students don’t enjoy what they’re doing, they will be more tempted to use their phones inappropriately.

In Class Polling/Quizzing – One of my favorite tools to use in class is a program called Poll Everywhere. I wrote about this service in an article at my personal blog: “Poll Everywhere – A Free/Cheap Alternative to Polling Hardware.”

This is a great piece of software to use in the classroom (and it’s free for audiences up to 40). You can create quiz questions for which students text in their answers.  No expensive clicker systems to buy, set up, and maintain! If students register their cellphone numbers (a requirement in my class) you can even track their answers for impromptu quizzes or review!

In-class Backchanneling: Backchanneling refers to the use of networks & social media to maintain an online, real-time conversation alongside spoken remarks.

For example, if you attend a keynote presentation at a conference these days, you’ll often find that some listeners in the audience are using their mobile devices to comment to other audience members about things the speaker is saying, while the speaker is saying them.

Backchanneling  can be a great way to give quiet students a voice, to introduce additional facts and insights during a lesson, or simply to encourage “conversation” during lecture or group readings when you don’t want to actually interrupt the presentation.

While Twitter is probably the most popular medium for backchanneling news and entertainment events (using #hashtags to create an instant network), teachers will probably want a more controllable platform than Twitter provides.
Educators can readily set up a private backchannel using free webtools. One popular program is Today’s Meet, which allows individuals to create temporary rooms to host backchannel discussions.

Poll Everywhere can also be used for this purpose. Plus, it allows you to moderate comments and prohibits any anonymous contributions.

In-class Readings & Handouts: Smartphones can also be used productively in the classroom as eReaders for books and handouts. I place all student handouts into DropBox folders (see my previous Voices article: “DropBox – a Superb Classroom Tool”). If we are reading or doing work in class, they can access our Dropbox space via the internet and open reference material without printing it up or asking for a new copy. It’s literally right in the palm of their hand.

Of course, for traditional reading materials (textbooks and paperbacks), you can use mobile apps like Kindle eReader, Nook App, iBooks, or Google’s Play Books (just to name a few). Many of them host free content and some allow you to load content of your own. This is a great way to save money on book purchases and photocopies. Using these apps, students can even highlight and annotate.

Doing research

One of the greatest active uses I have found for smartphones is in the area of research. I remember the days when I made photocopies, took meticulous notes, and tried to employ a series of notecards in a vain attempt at some semblance of a coherent organized system. Smartphones do a much better job. In this case, the power is in the apps!

My favorite research tools on the smartphone are “camera scanners” (which capture information using the phone’s built-in camera). One of the best apps I have found is a program called Genius Scan+  – available for iOS, Android, and Windows based phones. This app allows you to take pictures of documents (even books with those bendy pages), crop them, and then enhance them for ready viewing. You can create notebooks of documents (if you are copying sections of a book or article) and then store them on the device or export them (as a photo image or PDF) toGoogle Docs, DropBox, Evernote, and more. It’s a great tool for you or your students to organize research materials.

Evernote is another great application that students can use to organize their notes and images, take voice notes, write notes by hand, gather web clippings, sort emails, and more. You can put them into pre-categorized folders (class, project, theme, etc) as well as give them “tags” which makes them easy to search and sort later.

Google Search on the Go!

Most people can grasp the power of having Google in their pocket, but few recognize that the mobile version of Google is much more than a web browser. The Google Search App can be used not only for traditional searches, but has a voice search feature as well. You talk — it searches.

My favorite feature of the Google Search is its ability to perform searches using images! This feature, called Google Goggles, is a creative way to search the internet for image based content (watch the video). I employed it last year in a creative field trip experiment at the local museum.

These mobile Google capabilities offer a great way for students to explore material on the fly, using a variety of media. Any content, images, etc. that they find can be sent to a Google Drive account.

Stepping out with smartphones

I hope these ideas will be enough to stir the interest of fellow educators and encourage you to begin experiments of your own. And if you’re already using smartphones in your classroom and you’re doing something you don’t see here, please share in the comments!

When we combine the modern smartphone with wireless internet access and the remarkable number of cheap and free mobile apps now available, we find that they are truly amazing pocket-sized learning devices. Whether educators like them or hate them, the reality is that cellphones are going to become pervasive in our classrooms, if they aren’t already.

We can choose to be proactive — to employ and direct the use of these powerful tools — or we can continue to exert our energy in combating them.

If we are truly preparing our students for the future, then I believe it is our obligation to incorporate these ever-present devices into our daily teaching practice.

Image of smartphone: BigStock

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About the author

I teach at Trinity Valley School in Ft. Worth, Texas. I’m a student of the human condition: history, philosophy, art, and culture. I am a passionate educator. I am a lover of new technologies and their ability to share knowledge. I blog at Indiana Jenand you can find me on Twitter @teacherjencarey Meet the rest of our Voices.

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Rethinking the Writing Process with the iPad – Karen Janowski

Karen Janowski Twitter Profile

On the second day of the conference, the first talk I attended was “Rethinking the Writing Process with the iPad” with Karen Janowski. I am especially eager for this topic as using the iPad as a word-processor is a common way that it is applied and often meets with ergonomic frustration. I know that as a touch typist, I can write well over 90 words a minute. The iPad cuts that down to at least half.

She started by pointing out the flexibility of the iPad which means that these tools are not limited to older children – that we can apply various techniques and processes to students of all ages using the same tool.

Students of all ages and skill levels often struggle with good writing. “S/he has great ideas. They just can’t get them down on paper!” For many students, the paper and pencil are the struggle – the tool can be the hinderance.

  • What skills are required for successful written expression?

From planning, organization, ideas, critical thinking, knowledge and understanding, communication skills, understanding grammar and spelling, imagination, etc., students need numerous skills in order to be successful writers. To help students achieve success in writing, we need to identify the breakdown in their individual process so that we can effectively intervene.

  • Is what we’re doing working?

Most educators can say that what they do works for most students, but definitely not all. As educators, we generally need explicit writing strategy instruction – planning, revising, editing. These techniques are especially effective for low achieving students.

Word processing alone has had only a moderate effect on improving student writing (about 10%). While not insignificant, it’s not enough for students that truly struggle with their writing.

Karen recommends using various applications, like Videolicious, to help students tell their story. This way, students can first tell their stories visually and orally before they take the next step of writing.

What we need to do to help our students is to: provide strategies, allow our students to make choices, and select tools that are “mistake tolerant.” Going paperless is not only an ecological goal, but it also helps struggling writers because paper is often ‘the enemy’ for struggling writers.

  • Building Vocabulary

A prominent vocabulary is key to developing great writers. There are many tools to help students expand their vocabulary. Karen uses Spelling City as an example of one such tool.

  • Brain Storming

Different brain storming tools are available to students. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Mind Mapping with MindMeister (Mind Mapping in my Classroom with MindMeister). It is, however, a little more advanced and may be challenging for younger children to use.

There are other graphic based brainstorming tools such as Popplet. It is very easy to use and applicable for students at all grade levels.This allows students to organize their thoughts visually and tactically. The finished product can be saved as a .jpeg or exported in various formats. This way, students can take the final version with them for the next steps in their writing.

Another visual organizational tool is Inspiration, which allows you to build thought bubbles and diagrams. It provides students various formats for them to use when they organize their thoughts and ideas.

There are numerous pre-write tools for the iPad and what makes them distinct from paper and pencil is that they can be colorful, dynamic, easily malleable, and image based. The tyranny of the paper is gone.

  • Drafting

©Apple

Everyone knows that the iPad can be used as a word processing machine. However, it is far more flexible than traditional word processors and exponentially more so than pen and paper. Most people are familiar with Pages,  Apple’s word processing software. However, there are numerous other options that are more appropriate for struggling students.

A good diary based writing app she suggested was Emotionary, that can help students to articulate their feelings on paper using various visual and textual cues.

Scribble Press is another word processing app that helps students to develop ideas and stories at a very young age. It includes several stories that require only small sections of text for students to complete. Students can incorporate drawings and sound (including their own voice). These are age appropriate, developmental apps that are more fun, versatile, and accommodating than traditional pen and paper writing.

Another great story telling application is Toontastic which teaches students how to develop a story arc in a fun and interactive application. Students follow the steps of setup, conflict, challenge, climax, and resolution by building a playful cartoon.

  • Revising

©Google

A colleague once told me “There are no good writers, only good revisers.” Revision is instrumental and key to developing good writing skills. There are numerous tools that allow for individual and collaborative revision. Google Drive (formerly google docs) is a great, free tool for peer collaboration. This allows synchronous editing for students and teachers. It is an excellent universal tool for advanced writers.

  • Editing

There are many tools available to teachers to help their students in editing. One is a checklist. There are some great checklists and checklist templates at PBLchecklist. At PBLchecklist, you can create one that will be published to a URL and can thus be published on a course website or distributed to students electronically. Your checklists can be as intricate or simple as you would like and are flexible enough to be created age and ability appropriately.

  • The Finished Product/Publication

There are numerous drafting and publication applications out there in addition to Apple’s Pages. What is great for students with Learning Differences is that there are numerous assistive writing applications. Karen highlighted iWordQ ($24.99), while pricy a great tool for students with writing disabilities. For more free apps, see her page udltechtoolkit and Free Apps for Educators.

There are so many tools for writing available on the iPad that cannot be replicated in a traditional paper and pencil environment. What makes the iPad unique is that it can be used at a variety of age and skill levels and accommodate a myriad of learning differences. From pre-writing to finished product, “there’s an app for that.”

Preparing & Supporting the iPad Teacher – Tom Daccord

The last talk of the day was entitled: “Preparing & Supporting the iPad Teacher” with Tom Daccord. The focus of the discussion is how to prepare and support iPad teachers in the classroom. He stated that the talk is an adaptation of the article he wrote for Edudemic: “5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make with iPads and how to Correct Them.”

There’s NOT an app for that!

Faculty, staff, students, and parents need to be on board with the goal and the objectives of the iPad program. You need to deliver a compelling and concise message to your community.

iPads are not about content specific applications. Rather, it’s about using the available tools to meet your teaching objectives. EdTech Teacher has a great list of apps for the iPad to meet your various, specific objectives and goals. “What is it that you want to be able to do?” You must identify your learning objectives and then select the tool appropriate for those activities.

Failure is Mandatory

Teachers can, will, and should fail. Exploring and learning by doing is far more effective than disseminating knowledge. Experimenting and experiencing is far more powerful than instruction. Overcoming fear and discomfort leads to growth. With technology, you learn from doing!

©EdTechTeacher, talk by Tom Daccord

iBooks vs. ePub vs. PDF

PDF is the best generic format for all platforms – especially the iPad. You can convert documents to PDFs using a variety of tools – even online with sites like PrintFriendly.com.

PDF’s are especially useful in notation – there are numerous applications out there for annotating PDF (I personally love iAnnotate at $9.99 it’s a bit pricy, Notability is a cheaper alternative).

iPad as a Response System

©EdTechTeacher, talk by Thomas Daccord

Another way to use the iPad is as an instant response system.

You can use your iPad for class polling or quizzing and Thomas highlights the easy tools of Poll Everywhere and Socrative. These free software tools can be useful for gauging the pulse of your classroom, a pop quiz, or a back channel.

The American educational system allows teachers great latitude – it is open to innovation. However, we do not have a clearly understood or concise definition of technological integration. We do not know what it is or understand it.

If we are going to integrate iPads into our classrooms, we need to have an objective mission.

We should also keep in mind that the iPad is a powerful tool for creativity. I, personally, believe that children need to create. Creation is a powerful tool in education and one that is oft overlooked. However, creativity is essential in education, critical thinking, and problem solving.

After we have determined the why, educators need to approach – HOW? How do students submit work for assessment? What does this look like in a 1:1 program vs a shared cart format? There are many tools educators can use, Evernote, DropBox, and Google Drive are the most popular. However, these solutions are not always straight forward (especially in shared environment).

If administrators are going to support their educators, they need to be prepared to provide the framework, training, and administrative support to make these programs successful. It cannot be just “add iPads and stir.”

iLessons (on the iPad) for Higher Order Thinking Skills

Sue Gorman Twitter Picture

There are so many options today for workshops and lectures to attend. I elected to go to the talk “ILessons (on the iPad) for Higher Order Thinking Skills” by Sue Gorman. Sue introduced herself as an Apple Distinguished Educator and set up our backchannel via Today’s Meet. Also, if you’re a lover of Pinterest (as I am), you can see her Ed Tech Pinterest Board.

While today’s talk is about using applications, she does emphasize that it’s not about the quantity of applications or even the app itself – rather, its about effectively using a tool. “It’s about how we are going to use the device and how we will get there.” She emphasized that students do not need to follow the same path as long as they get to the same place. The power should be in the students’ hands.

Blooms iPad Apps

If you follow Bloom’s Taxonomy, then you should know “there’s an app for that.” Educators and students can find an application that will help them to learn, explore, evaluate, create, remember, and achieve!

A great free book, published by other educators, is the iBook “Hot Apps 4 Hots” which contains numerous lesson plans and pedagogical suggestions for employing the iPad in the classroom.

Sue also emphasized the need to do more than “add technology and stir.” It is not enough to simply add technology, we need to develop meaningful pedagogy.

She walked us through the SAMR model, which I have outlined below if you are unfamiliar with it.

S – Substitution; e.g. word processing

A – Augmentation, technology as as a direct tool substitute

M – Modification, technology allows for significant task redesign

R – Redefinition, technology allows for creation of new tasks previously inconceivable

While Substitution and Augmentation are not bad, they are not the end goal and objective. What we want, is innovation and creation that are achieved later on with technological integration. Many apps that can be used for substitution or augmentation can also be adapted for modification and redefinition. For example, “Explain Everything” can be a simple drawing or recording document, but can also be used to create powerful screen casts and digital stories. Again, the power lies in effective use of the tool rather than the tool itself.

There are thousands of amazing tools and applications available to students and educators, but what is key is applicable innovation. We, as educators, need to find creative and new ways to apply them. Collaborating with colleagues via blogs, twitter, pinterest, and other means of social media are a great way to do this.

 

Open Yale Courses on iTunes U

Today I would like to highlight Open Yale Courses on iTunes U. iTunes U is a collection of academic resourcImagees for both secondary and post-secondary schools around the world. The Open Yale Courses includes introductory classes on subjects from philosophy to astronomy. All courses are free, downloadable, and playable on your Mac or PC via iTunes or on your iOS device.

Students With iPads Out-Perform their Peers on Tests

With the introduction of the iPad, educators and administrators have been eager to see its potential for application in the realm of education and academics. Abilene Christian University has pioneered an aggressive mobile technology program in higher education (a first of its kind) for the past three years and is about to publish some rather surprising and positive results.

Namely, their findings that in undergraduate study, researchers state:

students who annotated text on their iPads scored 25% higher on questions regarding information transfer than their paper-based peers. In a separate project covering iPad usage patterns, two researchers studying ACU’s first all-digital class discovered that the iPad promotes “learning moments” and helps students make more efficient use of their time. Grad students working in an online program reported a 95% satisfaction rate for online iPad-based coursework. As far as the ACU studies are concerned, the iPad in education is a success story.

To learn more about the study, see the article TUAW and AppAdvice.

Update – Conference Talk: From Enemy to Asset, Cell Phones in the Classroom

Today, I gave my talk “Cell Phones in the Classroom: From Enemy to Asset,” (see my previous post on preparing for it) for the Independent Curriculum Group at the beautiful campus of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, TX. Here was the published summary of my talk:

From Enemy to Asset: Cell Phones in the Classroom
Cell phones have replaced note-passing as the biggest distraction in the classroom. Schools have tried to attack the problem with blanket bans or restrictive policies. But what if instead of viewing cell phones as the enemy, we use them as teaching tools? Most students have more computing power in their pocket than was used by NASA to send men to the moon. This session will explore innovative classroom uses for cell phones.

I was quite nervous about this talk – my colleagues were entirely strangers, I was in a new environment, talking about a ‘controversial’ topic and at the last minute I found out two horrifying facts: that the session would be 75 minutes (I had anticipated 50-60) and that I would be presenting first! The night before, I spent a lot of time tossing and turning as well as frantically changing my content.

The day began and my room ended up being packed – we were dragging in extra chairs and for a time, it was standing room only. Seems like this was a topic that hit home for a lot of faculty – after all, cell phones are pervasive.

Turns out, I had a great audience. They were incredibly talkative and engaging. They asked pertinent questions, brought up legitimate concerns, and shared constructively. In fact, my problem wasn’t that I couldn’t fill up the time, I just didn’t have enough!

We spent most of our time playing with Poll Everywhere. I’ve posted previously about my very positive experiences with the software in previous blog posts. They liked its ease of use, the broad application, and moderator features. In fact, we spent probably 70% of the time talking about this particular piece. Here’s an example of one of our ‘back-channel’ chats

We next moved on to DropBox (if any conference attendees are reading this, remember this is the link that will get you 250mb of bonus space!) – I was surprised by the number of teachers that were unfamiliar with this program, but they all became excited quite quickly at its cross-platform capabilities, file storage and transfer, as well as means of distributing materials to students who now seem loathe to check their own emails (my students often ask me to text them when I email something important). I highlight DropBox in my post about using your Smart Phone to go paperless (or less paper-y).

By the time I finished both of these products, we had only a few minutes left. I showed them a few examples of other products, namely Scanner Applications (like Genius Scan Pro) that students can use in their process of research (and help organize with DropBox or Evernote).

A few of the conference goers stayed after ‘the bell’ to ask me about some of the creative suites (that I used for digital storytelling projects, which you can read about here). I also put out a stack of business cards that were collected up – hopefully to contact me in the future, but possibly to ensure they got the spelling right on their complaints.

I didn’t get a chance to distribute my handout (not sure what happened to my copies). But you can download a copy of it here: Austin Presentation (it includes all of the software I went over, or planned to go over, in the talk).

MacWorld’s App Gem Awards Announced

MacWorld Magazine has just announced its winners for their “2011 App Gem Awards.” They categorize them as:

  • Top Productivity Apps
  • Top Communication Apps
  • Top Photography Apps
  • Top Music Apps
  • Top Reading Apps
  • Top News Apps
  • Top Games
  • Top Education Apps
  • Hall of Fame Apps
  • Honorable Mentions

There are some amazing Gems in here (I picked up a few) and the prices vary from Free to $29.99. See the article: MacWorld’s 2011 App Gems Awards and my earlier article “Best iPhone (iOS) Apps for Students.” As always, add your own!

Best iPhone (iOS) Apps for Students

Today, my 9th graders were working in the library on their research papers. I had put a slew of books on reserve to ensure that all of the students would have access to them. However, this also meant that the students could not check them out of the library to use at home. One of the students was lamenting how many photocopies she would have to make and I suggest that she use her iPhone to take pictures of the pages using an iPhone Scanner App (Genius Scan – PDF). She quickly downloaded it and was thrilled with what she could do with it – especially that she could sync it with her DropBox account. She then mentioned that I ought to write a blog post about the best iPhone Apps for students. So, due to a student request, here it is (PS – most of the time, there is an Android equivalent).

DropBox (Free) – DropBox is by far the single best and most useful application for students. It allows you to sync files across devices – invaluable if you’re always on the go. You get 2GB of storage for free (more than enough for documents). If you join from this link, you’ll get an extra 250MB for free.

Genius Scan + – PDF Scanner ($2.99) – this allows you to turn your iPhone into a pocket scanner and upload documents to DropBox, Evernote, and Google Docs! If you’re in the library a lot and paying your life savings to the copy machine, this can save your sanity and your checkbook. With PDFs, you can even annotate and highlight. There is a free version, but doesn’t have the same syncing option.

Evernote (Free and Paid Options) – Evernote allows you to organize all of your notes via a collective database. You can clip articles, record receipts, leave yourself voice notes, etc. It’s so flexible, that you can adapt it to practically any environment.

Instapaper ($4.99) – allows you to download and save websites for offline reading. So, if you have a lengthy Wikipedia article, to read, simply select to “Read it Later.”

Pages ($9.99) – Apple’s word processing application in iOS form. With the new release of iCloud, you can now access your documents on all of your devices. Great little device for carrying your projects with you, editing, and creating.

Numbers ($9.99) – Apple’s spreadsheet application in iOS form. With the new release of iCloud, you can now access your documents on all of your devices. Great little device for carrying your projects with you, editing, and creating.

Keynote ($9.99) – Apple’s presentation application in iOS form. With the new release of iCloud, you can now access your documents on all of your devices. Great little device for carrying your projects with you, editing, and creating.

Mindmeister (Free & Paid Plans) – Amazing mind-mapping software. Great for outlining and collaborating.

TED (Free) – Catalogue of Ted-X talks.

Google Translate (Free) – Great tool for quick, on-the-go translations. You can even speak phrases!

Merriam Webster Dictionary (Free) – America’s most popular dictionary, free!

Phone Drive + File Sharing ($1.99) – Use your iPhone/iPad as a USB/WiFi flash drive. Play, browse, share, organize, and use your files right on your iPhone or iPad. There is also a free version with fewer features.

Google Search (Free) – Take a picture on your phone and run it through google’s image search! Seriously! Download this application, take a photo of a work of art or a building, and search by the image! It’s amazing! You can also do traditional google searches and even voice searches!

I know that there are many more useful applications out there. Please help by sharing your favorite apps!

RSS Readers – Keeping Up With Your News & Blogs

Tonight, I get the privilege of being in the beautiful city of San Francisco and spent a lovely evening with my good friend and former colleague Michelle. I was totally thrilled that she loved my post about Twitter – “How to Use Tiwtter (and why it’s not a Waste of Time)“, even going so far as to revive her Twitter account. We then started talking about her inability to keep up with mine and other’s Blog posts (we have a few mutual friends that are prolific bloggers). I asked her if she used an RSS Reader and she looked at me a bit blankly. So, I thought “Good topic for a new post – RSS Readers.”

So, what is an RSS Reader and why should you use one? To put it simply, it’s a service that keeps up new posts on your new sites and blogs, all in one place, so that you don’t have to. Instead of having a dozen or more bookmarks that you go to daily or hourly, you can ‘bookmark’ them all using an RSS Reader service and keep it all in one place. A good, visual introduction to an RSS reader is here, at “RSS in Plain English”

Now probably the best, most reliable, and easiest to use RSS Reader is “Google Reader.” The service is free. If you already have a google or gmail account, then Reader is included. If you don’t, then you can sign up for free. Google Reader is remarkably easy to use and organize. Here’s a picture of what mine looks like:

I like to keep it organized under different topics – Headline News, Blogs, Celebrity Gossip, Social Science, Technology, etc. You can easily organize and edit how your own blogs are organized by clicking “Manage my Subscriptions” at the bottom of the screen.

By clicking on manage subscriptions, you will bring up this window, which you can use to add folders, tags, etc.

So, you now have your Google Reader account set up, how do you add News and Blogs? There are a few ways. The first is to go to your Google Reader home page and click on the link “Add A Subscription” and enter the URL or News Feed. This is most effective method for a blog that you visit regularly that won’t have hundreds of updates a day.

Some websites will also have a button that shows you can add it easily to your Google Reader account, click on it and follow the directions:

Prominent news sites (like BBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc) will be much busier and more confusing. If you are like me, you aren’t interested in the 1,000+ updates that you would get a day. I’ll show you how to navigate through that using CNN. Most news sites (but not all) will have the link for RSS on the very bottom of the page. If you cannot find it there, just do a quick search of the page for “RSS” (command – F will bring up a search window).

This will then bring you to a page with RSS feeds for different topics.

As you see, CNN has a link to automatically add to your Yahoo feed (if you subscribe). You can also click on the various links – then return to Google Reader, “add a subscription,” cut-paste-voila. As another point of reference, here is what the RSS subscription page looks like on MSNBC (and there are three pages of categories).

As you can see, there are a ton of services that you can use. New article postings are automatically updated – nearly to the second. There are even portable options for your iPhone (that will sync with your Google or Yahoo account). This way, you can read on the go. My current favorite is an App called Reeder - which has a Mac, iPhone, and iPad version and syncs with my Google Reader, also allowing me to post to Twitter or Facebook!

At the end of the day, this is a tool that can help you organize your information and keep you updated on the go!