Including an RSS feed on your Blackboard site is a simple and effective way to make it more engaging to students. An RSS (‘Really Simple Syndication’) feed presents a bulletin of key information from an external site, just like having a subscription to your favourite website or online content. When additional content becomes available, it automatically appears wherever you have set up the RSS feed with article headlines that link directly back to the source site. The tool can be used to capture content from a range of sources, but it is most widely used for sites containing blogs, news and content which is updated regularly (such as tips and reviews).

Example RSS feed

Blackboard sites which are most engaging and interesting to students are those which provide a wide array of valuable information; this may range from detailed lecture slides to suggested further reading, course-relevant web resources or information on specific employability skills. Imagine how students’ experience could be enhanced further by seeing live, current information relating to their courses appearing on their Blackboard sites. Journalism students could benefit from live updates from newspaper or journal websites; film and media students could receive a feed from a director’s blog; and Computing and IT students may be engaged by current information feeding through from technology news sites.

Other sorts of information highly valuable to students, particularly those new to the University, include supporting guidance on accessing resources such as the Library, campus maps, health service, and IT help. Blackboard sites may be the ideal forum for providing some of this information, particularly whilst students are still working out how to negotiate shuspace and the other sources of information at the University. Why not try to offer such information to your students at the same time as trying out an RSS feed, by linking to the shuTech blog? ShuTech is a blog for Hallam students, which provides useful information and interesting suggestions on how ICT can enhance the studying experience at Sheffield Hallam University.

Including an RSS feed on your site is simple if you follow these steps:

1. With Edit Mode ON, go into the content area you want the feed to appear (e.g. Support Resources).

2. Under the ‘Add Interactive Tool’ menu, select RSS feed.

3. Find the RSS Feed URL of the website content you want to include (often found by selecting the orange Feed iconon a web page or browser). Paste this into the Feed URL box in the Blackboard site tool. For example, use http://shutech.wordpress.com/feed/

4. Select ‘Submit’.

RSS icon

For more information search for ‘RSS’ in the Online Self-Help Knowledge Base, accessed through Bb-Support in shuspace.